The First Legendary Beast Master

Karl frowned in confusion as he saw the scene at the city walls.

[Rae, were you already here?]

Rae walked over to admire the work, then transformed into her humanoid form.

“They’ve got great taste, but this isn’t my work. I left one like this on the east wall, maybe they’re copying me?” She replied as she inspected the Ogre corpses pinned to the wall with large metal spikes.

There were two bloody spikes with no corpse attached, marking the spot where the Ogre had escaped from.

“Sloppy, not making sure they were secure. I know this smell, though. It’s a Vampire, likely a System User with Earth and Shadow Magic.” Rae explained.

“There just isn’t any good news today, is there?” The Dwarven Warrior sighed.

Rae shrugged. “Maybe it’s on your side?”

The mere thought of that made the Dwarves laugh. The Undead were never on anyone’s side but Lord Bomgon’s. There were no native Undead clans in the region, they had long since been eliminated, so any Undead that you found here were all invaders.

Lotus sniffed the air. “There is only Ogre blood here, though. I can see the damage from the fight, but there is no Vampire blood.”

The Dwarves frowned. “So, whatever vampire did this, managed to do it without suffering any wounds?”

Lotus shrugged, but Rae had an idea.

“They might be the sort that regenerates and pulls their blood back in. I have a skill like that, to empower myself with blood. They might have just cleaned up some of their mess.”

The Dwarves turned to each other and shrugged. “Well, let’s go look for living Ogres. The faster we find them all, the faster we can get back to the tavern to celebrate.”

However, the sounds of fighting were dying down all over the city, and Hawk’s updates mostly covered Ogres being engaged by multiple pairs of Dwarven Totems. There were now more capable Overlord and Totem Ranked defenders than Ogres, and the fights that remained were on the far side of the city.

So, Karl’s mission turned to rescue.

As they passed by the damaged buildings, everyone listened carefully for anyone who might be trapped or wounded, and Lotus kept her healing totems active at all times, just in case they needed a little help to make their presence known.

She could also feel the condition of everyone that they healed, but so far, none of them were in critical condition.

The spell covered a city block on either side of their route, but the actual destruction was more limited in scale. The Ogres had mostly been engaged near where they had appeared, unless they chased a group of Civilians. So, entire blocks were destroyed, and then for dozens of blocks around them, there was little to no damage.

The remaining durability of the Dwarven stone structures was quite impressive. Karl had expected the aftermath of the battles to cause more destruction than one city block at a time.

The Dwarves led them through the city, searching for damaged sections, and making notes of what parts of the city were in the worst shape, in need of immediate repairs. That data would all be added to the battle damage, as the entire city would need renovation after this.

Realistically, it would make more sense for this to be a historical site, not an active city, but Dwarves loved places with loads of history.

“The state of the city is even worse than I remember it. With the illusion in place, nobody was doing the essential repairs and maintenance. This could be the end for the city, at least the above ground portions.

The underground and tunnels weren’t part of the spell, so they’re all still in good shape, but I’m not sure that anyone but the Dwarves would want to live down there.

Can you imagine a whole city of subterranean beastkin?” One of the Dwarves joked.

Cara shrugged from her spot on Karl’s shoulder.

“Oh, right. Some of them share the genes of burrowing animals, don’t they? I suppose that we might not lose everyone else, but we are going to have to relocate a large portion of the city until the repairs can be made.”

Dana gestured toward a building that looked pretty good.

“You might be able to get away with fewer relocations than you expect. The buildings that aren’t going to fall down at any moment can remain occupied. Were there many vacant homes in the city?” She asked.

The Dwarf laughed and shook his head.

“None. New arrivals all have to move to the underground. So, we don’t get many new residents. Homes on the surface only come vacant a few a year, as our slums and low-income areas are all subterranean.

It’s not lost on me that the slums are the one part of the city that didn’t take any damage in the attack. I saw the reports when the monster spawn started, and there were no Ogres underground, even in the areas where they could stand upright.

That tracks with the history books. The Monster Spawns are always on the surface, and there has never been one inside a buried Dwarven city, even when the entire mountain they were built on was besieged.”

Dana smiled. “So, there is a way to make this painless.

You can remind the city of that fact, and point to it as a safe place to wait for renovations. Those whose houses have been lost can be encouraged to move below ground for safety while the city is rebuilt, and then back into their homes when everything is fixed.

I don’t know what sort of arrangement you’ve got for the rebuilding, but it should work well enough that you won’t lose too many of your skilled craftsmen.

That will kill a city faster than anything else.”

The Dwarf gave her a surprised look. “Wise words, young lady. There is a renovation fund because all the buildings are historic, and the City Lord put rules on changing them. I don’t know if there is anything left in it at all, but it is supposed to take care of fixing things as the buildings age.

It is part of the taxes that everyone pays every year, like a Condo Fee, if you come from somewhere that is familiar with the concept.”

Karl chuckled and wondered who might be living in his condo in the GDN capital right now.

Dana nodded. “Yeah, we’re familiar with the annual fees. Bunch of vultures, always easy to collect, slow to make any repairs.”

The Dwarf snorted in amusement. “Sounds like you know exactly the issue we’re about to face. Bureaucracy.”