金瓶梅第2部

The two remaining humans had captured Isidor. One had his arm hooked around Isidor's neck and was pointing a knife at... his head?

The second human pointed a sword towards Tycondrius in an attempt to appear threatening. The man's knees buckled like he was about to piss himself and his sword hand trembled terribly.

Tycon did not feel threatened.

"Whatttt.... should I doooo?" Isidor asked.

Tycon pursed his lips. The situation was absurd.

The two humans, a Bronze-Rank and an Unranked-- had just captured a disguised magical beast with a Gold-Rank physique and were threatening him... with a knife.

Sasha tugged at the fabric of Tycon's cloak, "Th-they've... captured Brother-Isidor..."

Tycon's mouth twitched, "Yes... yes, they did."

Lone strode up, standing beside Tycon, "Let the kid go and no one gets hurt."

No one gets hurt? Tycon turned to glare at Lone. And why would they believe that? *How* would they believe that? Five adult men had just been murdered or were inflicted career-ending injuries, and he had done that, himself! There was no way they'd even entertain the thought.

Tycon looked back to the two ruffians. They didn't believe Lone's words, either.

Tycon took a deep breath and sighed, "Isidor, just uh... kill them, I suppose?"

Isidor frowned underneath his head, "Brother-Tyconnn... I... I don't know if I should."

"Shut up! You're just a HOSTAGE!!" The swordsman screamed.

In his foolishness, the sword-wielding human backhanded Isidor across the face... which threw back the hood hiding his form.

Underneath Isidor's cloak, his humanoid form resembled a beardless dwarf. He had a thick, heavy build of muscles and was capable of using his Gold-Rank physique, though he stood a head underneath Tycon. It was strange that Isidor had to look up to look at the humans. In his natural form, that was definitely not so.

Reptilian scales covered his skin... unlike any dwarf Tycon had ever seen. Isidor's was so untalented with his alternate-form ability that he'd... become a unique creature.

The human that struck Isidor immediately began to scream. He held up his hand, his flesh torn...

Isidor grimaced, looking apologetic while revealing his pointed teeth.

Besides the scaly skin, Isidor's form also had sharp, thin teeth like... a crocodile's.

...Tycondrius had no idea why they were like that. His natural form was nothing like a crocodile.

He frowned. They needed to end the fight and quickly relocate. They'd made enough noise that would attract undue attention... and while he couldn't stop Lone from yelling out his attack names at the top of his lungs, reducing the noise Isidor's captors made would be reasonable.

"Brother-Isidor, please. Silence the human," Tycon ordered.

Tycon had no idea what Isidor would do. He realized that the notion slightly worried him, but it was too late to take back the order.

The Titan Snake turned scaly dwarf had no idea how to fight in his new form... but a clumsy punch or even a bite from a humanoid with a Gold-Rank physique would be... messy. If his cloak were to be drenched in blood, they wouldn't be able to take him into any public places without being questioned.

...And it would be a pain to clean. It would stink if they didn't. Tycon, however, did keep a bar of scented soap in his pack. He considered it necessary adventurer supplies.

Isidor walked forward, dragging the human at his neck along with him. Hesitant for a moment, reached his burly arms around the swordsman's lower back... and squeezed.

The human stopped screaming very quickly, unable to breathe. He even dropped his sword.

Trash.

The human with a knife began to panic, stabbing at Isidor... It did nothing-- not when he stabbed his back, not his arms nor his neck. Even stabs to the thinner parts of flesh on his face were unable to make Isidor flinch. The human stabbed so hard that his hand slipped off of his blade, cutting deeply into his palm.

Tears in his eyes, palm bleeding severely, the human pulled at Isidor's arms, he punched ineffectively at his face, even trying to poke his eyes. Isidor was undeterred.

Really, what he should have done was run away. But with the way he was fighting so desperately, maybe they were good friends?

Finally, Isidor released the human. The body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless, its eyes rolled into the back of his skull.

"I broke... hiss ssssssspine," Isidor looked back to Tycon with a small, polite upward curve of his lips.

Nice. He learned to smile. Tycon was very proud of his friend.

Tycon turned back to Barza Keith, the Lone Shadowdark, "Lone, help me grab their wallets and let us quickly leave this place."

Lone frowned, "Boss, there's one more guy."

Tycon took out his hand crossbow and shot the remaining human in the eye.

The man collapsed backward.

"...R-right, I'll get the guys over there," Lone pointed.

Tycon nodded, "I'll search the other half."

...

Following a brief introduction of Isidor, Lone led their small party to their target destination, a particular inn and tavern, the sign marking it displaying a drum with a hole in it.

Tycon entered the establishment first, loudly declaring, "Holy Drum!!"

The mustachioed gentleman behind the bar counter looked over, unsurprised by the outburst, "Nope. Care to try again, adventurer?"

Tycon crossed his arms. He was so certain... The rest of Sol Invictus entered, behind him.

"R-rhythm Heaven," Sasha suggested. She pulled her peaked hood down with both hands, hiding her embarrassment.

"Nice try, young lady." The bartender shook his head. "We're just called the Broken Drum."

Tycon pursed his lips, "I was hoping for something... more creative."

"We can't be beat," The bartender shrugged.

"...I stand corrected." Tycon admitted, "That is indeed very clever."

"They got me too, Boss." Lone nodded, "I thought it was a cracked barrel."

"Cracker Barrel," Sasha softly suggested.

...

Sol Invictus sat down for a meal. With their ill-gotten coin, Tycon was confident of a short, comfortable stay in Caeruleum, to include meals and a private room that fit the four of them.

...He doubted the stay would be short, though. In the morning, he'd search for a way to earn more coin.

"Boss..." Lone grinned, "I've finally... reached Iron-Rank. What do you think?"