The hivemind is conquering for me?

Chapter 845: Immoral Betting

As Skaja and Apollo made their way to the other side of the camp after giving back the body, Artemis continued to observe Apollo closely. That death energy was still bugging her and it was irking her that she didn’t know why.She knew it felt familiar, but it also made no sense. Cursing her lack of memories in this department, she decided to distract herself by recalling how she did not immediately attempt to impale Apollo when he touched her on the shoulder.

Usually when mantling, being touched by a man grossed her out. That kiss... The other month made her go blind with rage, so she was curious why now contact was fine?

Was it because they were friends? It was true that she never had male friends before. The closest being her siblings and cousins, but that was a whole twisted ordeal in itself.

Artemis shook the thoughts aside, she assumed it was something to do with Skaja’s impression of the man seeping into her. She was broken after all, her host filled in the cracks so to speak.

Still, the odd phenomenon was still there. What was so different about this human? And just what Death energy touched him without killing him outright?

...

Making it to the south side of the outpost, as I approached, I loudly heard a friendly bald man yell. "Hahahaha! I told you he was fine. Pay up yee of little trust!"

A lot of groans came from the mercenaries as a betting pool of some type went around. Walking up to Iilr, I asked. "What is this about?"

Before he responded, he got up and gave me a friendly bro hug. "Good to see you in one piece, brother. As for what this is?" He said, holding a bunch of trinkets in his hand. "Just me having trust in your strength. These other fuckers thought you and the others were dead."

"You all wish I was dead?" I asked, turning to the group.

Ulf then stood up and shot that down. "No boss. Not at all. It is just... Most of us here could not survive that long behind enemy lines. The longer you were gone, the more it seemed you were... You know."

"Theron Ulf... That is disgusting. How could you bet on your leader losing his life? That is unforgivable and honestly, immoral." Skaja said to my left, folding her arms disgustedly. She then turned to Iilr and asked. "Where is my cut?"

Iilr then threw her what looked like a silver bar from his pants pocket and chucked it to Skaja, at which point I gave her a shocked look.

She turned to me and shook her shoulders. "What? Betting that you would live? That’s easy money."

Deciding to change the topic away from my death and its monetary value, I asked. "So, aside from putting you back in charge while I plowed the Drakoshi from behind, how have things been?"

"Boring. For them at least. But to us, boring is easy money. So thanks for that. In truth, we haven’t been up to much. A lot of drinking and gambling to pass the time. We had a few skirmishes with the Drakoshi, but honestly. Even without the Phalanx, we could have taken on those numbers ourselves."

Listening to what Skaja just said, I turned to the rest of the group present and nodded my head. "Fair enough. Now, I hope you all haven’t gotten too lazy since we last met. In two days we begin our final assaults on the world. The campaign will be rough, it will be bloody. So I will be counting on all of you to be at each other’s and my side when the fighting resumes."

Ulf then stood up and raised his warhammer. "Worry not, Sentinel. If anything, this absence of a good fight has us eager to take the fight to the Drakoshi. Isn’t that right!" He yelled, turning to the rest present. Who yelled in affirmation.

I smiled at them hearing their eagerness. "Good. Now, has anyone seen the Praetorians? I was told they were already here?"

Iilr chimed up, "They are over there Apollo. They said they needed to remain in place until you arrived for safety reasons." He pointed to his right so I just smiled, gave a nod and made my way over to them.

I left Skaja behind for a moment as I made my way over, I felt something stalking me, trying to sneak up on me. I smiled at the attempt. That was until I lost track of them suddenly? Looking around amidst the active area, I grew confused before suddenly realising where they were.

’How did they get up that high so fast?’ I asked myself as I looked upwards. At which point I saw two large whips of fire on a direct course to me. Not feeling a threat, I allowed them to wrap around my arms as they propelled their user directly towards me.

"Bestie! You are back. I missed you like crazy!" Lena said, dropping her whips as she proceeded to hug me.

I returned the hug and smiled. "Hey Lena. I missed you too. How have you been- Ow! What was that for?" I asked as she flicked my forehead.

"Could you not have left like a few minutes later? I ran all the way from my post to come hang out and kill Drakoshi with you. But no, you ditched your bestie. How could you? The amount of sleepless nights I had because I was too busy crying at the betrayal! You need to make it up to me... Can you burn me? Just a little?

Tearing the human Koala off me, I put her on the ground and shook my head. "I almost believed you there for a second. You made me feel bad for you. But you pushed it one step too far."

Lena looked up at me, tears ready to burst before suddenly shifting her demeanour by snapping her fingers. "Drats. What gave it away?"

"Mostly the part of you asking me to burn you with an almost sexual look on your face. That’s the main factor."

Lena snapped her fingers again. "Ah man, I thought that was subtle. Oh well. How about doing it anyway? Can I at least see your flame again?"

I smirked at Len and gave her a playful wink. "I’ll do you one better. Put out your hand and close your eyes."

Lena giggled and did as I asked. "Ok, but you better not put your dick in my hand. I’ll burn it up. Haha. Just kidding."

"So not my dick? Got it, that’s a shame, looks like my balls will have to do. Open up." I said playfully, catching Lena off guard, prompting her to open one of her eyes first, thinking I might actually do that.

But as her one eye opened, the other did as well, wide with pure delight. "I’m controlling your flame? Such a beautiful ball of pure Pyrokinetic energy... How? Wait! Shut up!" Her breathing began to increase as she noticed her own Psionics feeding the ball of flame in her hand, keeping it stable.

"Heh. Hehehehe. Hehehehe!" She giggled maniacally before suddenly switching and becoming stone cold in the face as she looked up at me, then at the flame, then back at me again before shouting.

"Mine!"

I then watched as Lena began to run away, clutching the orb like a prized commodity. I had planned to ask her how she was doing, what she had been up to, but I forgot just how much of a fire nut she was.

I shrugged my shoulders. I would have a chance to catch up later when she runs out of Psionics to keep it alight.

Continuing on, I eventually spotted the group who I had been in the field with the last few months, they were looking around nervously.

As I approached, Gabrielle looked like she sniffed the air then turned towards me hastily, though I don’t think she actually sniffed, just looked like it.

"There he is!" She yelled, gathering everyone’s attention. At which point they all began to look at my hands, going wide upon realising something was missing.

Getting close to them, I whispered. "I took it back. Don’t worry, it’s safe back in stasis."

Like a looming Antimatter bomb had been removed from their vicinity, the group immediately relaxed.

Rhea then walked up to me, arms up and to her sides. "Can you believe this? All that planning for today and the fuckers just leave? What a let down, I was excited to blow this place out of existence."

Willow then added, jumping onto Rhea’s arm. "Right? Imagine our shock when we got into position and as we began our assault we saw a bunch of Phalanx running about instead of Drakoshi. Talk about a buzz kill."

"Were there any issues? I almost got shot after I began my charge." I asked at which point Nerissa spoke.

"No. Upon seeing Rhapso and I, the Phalanx escorted us here and upon arriving back, we all just stood here and waited for you to appear, hoping you would not activate the weapon by mistake. Fortunately everything worked out, even if it was in this quite peculiar scenario."

"Fortunately indeed."

Morrgan then spoke up. "You know, I feel quite edged by this whole ordeal, and not in a fun way. I don’t feel all that fortunate. I’ve grown to enjoy our working together and I don’t want that to end. So, Sentinel, do we have further orders? I enjoy the prospect of continuing to work under you."

Judging from everyone’s facial expressions and body language. They all felt the same way in some shape or form. It was true, we worked well together. Now however, instead of this small group, going forward we would have the entire band back together.

The thought made me smirk.

The Drakoshi owed us some more Kaboom and this time everyone was getting a piece.