-

Succubus Homeland, Special mining area

 

Four old dwarves and a gnome were arguing. This was after Rex had left.

 

Rex hadn't been able to find out much about the dwarves, he could only guess their circumstances. The dwarf he had mistaken as being tanned, was actually of a special species of dwarf they called the bronze skin. This was because their skin is as hard as a metal, and they have a very high status in their clans. This dwarf's name was Grendle, and he had been the brother of a clan head.

 

The underground of most of the world is comprised of caves and tunnels that run through the crust. You also have large pockets that appear underground, and even entirely new biomes not seen on the surface. This whole area was a monster-infested nightmare for the dwarves, but they were unable to separate themselves from the underground. This was due to the photosensitivity that had afflicted their race, they had to wear thick cloth to hide from the sun.

 

Right now the 5 were in a small tunnel they had hidden, it was a small workshop for forging.

 

There wasn't any light in this small round workshop, but Rex would be shocked at what they had developed. A large forge was set in the ground and made of hardened clay, it didn't produce any smoke. They had used a steel pickaxe head to forge a pipe and used another to make a drill. They had bored this pipe out and made a simple gun.

 

It was a smoothbore musket, they used TNT as the gunpowder. A fuse was set into a hammer with a spring to drive it.

 

“Are ye mad, we should just keep our heads down?!” The red-haired dwarf yelled. “Why should we take the mines over?”

 

Dwarves didn't like to fight, even finding gunpowder was a complete accident. They were throwing ash into an old sewer tunnel, and it happened to have potassium nitrate and sulfur. They had discovered why it exploded, and cracking powder was made. The dwarves primarily used it to seal off tunnels that breached into monster zones. Guns were considered a wasteful use of a rare resource.

 

“We can't go back to our clans anyway, we should show them we're dwarves!” The gnome said angrily.

 

The gnomes and goblins were subspecies of the dwarves, and much more hot-blooded than them

 

“The numbers ain't on our side though! It's over 5 to 1!” Another of the dwarves added.

 

The gnome pounded his little fists on the table.

 

“Who cares if we can just blow them up! He never said how many of the prisoners to drive out!” The gnome laughed like a madman.

 

“You are just trying to fix your image in front of Kira!” The dwarf yelled back at the gnome.

 

“Shut your mouth! She looks at me like I am trying to steal her man! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” The gnome yelled as thick tears poured out of his eyes. “If you won't help me I will take the mines myself!”

 

The 4 dwarves all looked at the gnome in shock as he began to grab TNT and pile it in his arms, thick tears streamed out of his little eyes.

 

“Okay, Bentley, we will help you...” The tanned dwarf sighed.

 

Grendle finished sighing and buried his face into his thick calloused hands. He was happy to be sent here as it meant an easy life. The gun was only made for protection using the TNT and was only to be used in an emergency.

 

The dwarfs had asked the succubus stationed here a lot of questions, she wasn't restricted in what she could tell them after all. As an engineer, Rex often made oversights like these, and the dwarves took full advantage of it.

 

The dwarves knew the succubi were just scaring the prisoners, this was just to increase the output of ore. Most of the elf and beastman prisoners did the bare minimum and stayed in the mines for protection. The succubi were not effective in the tunnels, and the prisoners could fight them.

 

Rex had no problems with contracting, this was a very common thing on Earth. Why try to take things into your hands that you are just going to bungle? The succubi were already enough of an anchor on his back, and he didn't want to add the weight of mining as well.

 

-

3 days later...

Succubus Homeland, Rex's Lab

 

Rex was listening to Kira's report with a dumbfounded expression. Kira had just told him the amount of ore the succubi had brought to the mountain for the day.

 

“How much TNT did the dwarves buy?! They doubled the size of the ore stock!” Rex yelled at her as he began hyperventilating.

 

Rex had known the bearded bastards were holding out on him, but he never imagined it was to this degree. They had the most complete maps of the underground and had efficiently moved all the ore to the special mining area. This was something he could never have expected out of a prisoner faction.

 

“They distorted my words, I didn't mean any dwarf could buy explosives...” Rex muttered.

 

“It was all that gnome, they just handed it to him and he bought it all!” Kira said gritting her teeth.

 

Her sisters needed to be told carefully what was allowed, otherwise, they just didn't care. The succubi loved TNT, why would they ever limit something that was so fun? They made it constantly, there was always a batch being made somewhere. The number of times Rex was woken up in the middle of the night from a small succubus shack exploding into rubble. Then hearing the angry resident complaining loudly to the observers.

 

Rex had no idea how Kira slept so peacefully through all of it. The worse part was she no longer stayed on her side of the bed. She had decided it was nice being warm when she slept and made Rex into a pillow. She was stronger than him, so he couldn't escape, and struggling only made her hold him tighter. Rex realized this was a predatory instinct, as she would even use her tail as a rope.

 

“I guess it is okay if they can take over the mines. If the prisoners can't hide, then the succubi can keep them in check.” Rex said as he patted her head.

 

Thinking of TNT, Rex had yet to see the ramp the succubi were carving. In his mind, it couldn't end up as anything but a hole in the ground. A massive one, with the amount of TNT they were consuming. Rex wasn't sure if they were just playing around at this point. On a brighter note, at least they could produce concrete. They hated doing it though, smashing limestone was a lot of work after all.

 

I need a reliable workforce! As soon as possible!

 

Rex had told Dora to purchase anyone who looked even slightly useful. This would probably cause him some issues in the future, but that was a problem for future Rex. Working with the succubi felt like being a snake oil salesman. Constantly having to think of how to dupe the pitiful creatures.

 

At least there is Kira.

 

The succubi were so bad that they just brought out all of her best features. Rex was certain she would never be like those lazy creatures, she was like his own child!

 

“Your ramp is almost finished!” Kira said happily, Rex had been rubbing her head this whole time. She quite liked this feeling after experiencing it for so long.

 

“What? Already!” Rex exclaimed.

 

Rex was shocked at the speed, it had only been about 4 days. They didn't have a calendar, and each race was different. Rex was waiting for a full year to pass so that he could calculate one. Rex was thinking a year was almost 397 days here and was having issues making a calendar. Originally he just wanted to use Earths, until he realized it wouldn't work.

 

“Yes, the sisters have all reached a great mastery with the small weapon of the succubi!” Kira announced with some pride, like a little general.

 

Rex was shocked because Kira had a general idea of what he usually wanted. If she was proud, it couldn't have been that bad of a job, otherwise, she would not be proud of it.

 

“We also began to make thread!” Kira announced.

 

Her horns were pointed straight to the ceiling, and her flat chest was puffed out. Rex's hand was moving mechanically this whole time. There hadn't been any mistakes this time, Kira almost cried in happiness. Cotton was incredibly forgiving, and if they failed they could just try again. The ramp was much easier, as the succubi had general enthusiasm for it.

 

Kira had finally begun to understand Rex's frustrations, as she was the one in charge of motivating the succubi. This crown was truly heavy, and she began to wonder if her mother was just trying to pass it off to her. Kera had been living it up at the Succubus HQ, spending almost every day in the hot springs with the mamas. That was supposed to be a command center, and it had become a resort! This made Kira want to tear her hair out, as every succubus who passed by wanted to spend at least a day there.

 

Cotton was added as beds, and it was well stocked with everything a succubus could need. The best part was that nothing else could go there. They wanted the elves to hurry up and attack the beastmen, they wanted to begin to exploit the labor in the plains. They wanted nice cotton mattresses and clothes, hardwood floors, and nice furniture!

 

When Rex had solved their food issue, this had completely freed up the succubus to think of greed. Why did they need to live in little shacks, many had learned from Kera. Rex had destroyed her home, and she finally built one fitting of her. Now all of them were embracing this ideal, they made nitroglycerin until they made a mistake. Once the shack was gone, this allowed them to create something entirely new!

 

All kinds of new designs for succubus houses had begun to emerge, and many new ones were being built each day as more succubi came back. Rex had no idea some of these midnight explosions were intentional, and Kira was too embarrassed to tell him the truth.

 

“How has the training been going, and how many guns do we have?” Rex asked as the slaves would soon need a boat.

 

Currently, Dora and the succubi had set food and supplies along the way. The goal was to steal an elven ship and pick up the slaves outside the elven lands. They would then sail calmly to the land of the succubi. Rex had desperately wanted to name it something besides the Succubus Homeland, but Kira had denied this. She had the worse naming sense he had ever seen, and he was a filthy engineer!

 

Most engineers or scientists named whatever they discovered after themselves, no matter how useless it was. Even in the modern-day, this had not changed, and Rex often saw articles about it.

 

“We have trained an elite team, and we have all the guns we need now!” Kira reported proudly.

 

Rex needed to be able to take over an elven ship, the plan was to send in a group of succubi to capture it. Boats disappeared all the time, and they only needed a merchant class. The guns would be throw-away items, and they would be useless after this operation. Rex just needed a ship or two that he could use to take supplies to the island. This was until they could build their own boats to rule the waters.

 

“Alright, contact Dora and begin scouting out targets to steal a ship from. For now, let's go look at this gorge.” Rex said as he stood up from his stool.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Imperial Elven Training Camp, Camp Ivangor

 

The elves, if that's what you still wanted to call them, had continued their transformation under Ivangor's care. Their sharp hands could cut right through their enemies like blades, and their feet were flexible wrecking balls. Their skins had completely thickened into a tough hide, as long as you ignored the permanent bruise color.

 

These elves would all happily chase Ivangor into the battlefield, and push him onto the enemy's weapons! They hated their expressionless overlord with every fiber of their beings! It had been less than a week and yet so many had died. From 10,000 to 1,000 and so many had died trying to escape. They knew they would never be able to convince their fellow elves that they were the same people.

 

They used to talk to each other about their dreams of waking up from this nightmare and being normal again. One poor elf had not adapted to his physical changes and tried to scratch his balls with his sharp appendages. That poor elf was now a eunuch, his hatred for Ivangor could fill an ocean!

 

“Alright, you have made it through your first week of Camp Ivangor.” Ivangor said as he looked over all of the gathered elves.

 

He sat at a table with a wooden chair in front of all the gathered elves.

 

“I will now teach you one of my greatest secrets.” Ivangor said blandly. “ The weakest part of a creature is its organs, they think it is impossible to fix this issue.”

 

Ivangor signaled a lieutenant next to him who nodded respectfully. The lieutenant ran into a large tent and came out with a silver tray and a folded cloth.

 

Ivangor took out the folded cloth, and carefully tucked it into his vest like a bib.

 

“There are many different things in nature that can assist in hardening one's organs, and are amazing sources of power.” Ivangor said as he reached for the lid of the silver tray.

 

Lifting the tray it revealed an empty silver tray, he then took this lid and threw it into the air.

 

Snap!

 

A tree branch was felled off a tree and landed onto the plate. He reached forward casually and snapped a piece of it off. He then took this piece of wood and popped it right into his mouth, it snapped a few times as he only lightly chewed it.

 

“This will thoroughly cleanse your bowels, as it gives them a good scraping. You don't want to chew it too thoroughly as it is training after all.” Ivangor looked at all of them flatly. “If you feel the wood isn't enough for you, you can move on to digesting dirt. Then you can truly fight anywhere.”

 

Finished eating his branch, he used the napkin to wipe his face. Before setting it gently on the tray. Then a transformation happened to the elf as a mad gleam appeared in his eye.

 

SMASH!

 

His fist caused the table to erupt, as the elves saw the first real emotion out of him. It was a mad excitement.

 

“THEN WE CAN BEGIN COMBAT TRAINING!” Ivangor yelled excitedly.

 

The elves felt a cold chill run down their spines at this declaration.

 

First, you want us to eat dirt than you want us to kill each other? Haven't enough of us died already?!

 

The elven warriors of Camp Ivangor looked at each other in sorrow, none of them ever imagined things would be like this.

 

Why?! We just wanted to be like Ivangor!

 

-

Meanwhile...

Succubus Homeland, The Docks

 

Rex was standing before a rough-cut valley that led straight to the ocean. It certainly wasn't clean, and it was fairly wide at the top and sloped down giving it a rough look. This was way more than he had ever expected out of the lazy succubi! It got better and better the deeper it went, showing they all were practicing seriously.

 

“This just needs to be cleaned up...” Rex muttered as the designs for the dock began to slowly come into focus.

 

For now, he would use the wood that they had from cutting down the palm trees and nails. They would have to sink rubber-coated steel rods into the ground to support it. Later Rex would replace it with steel and concrete. The cliff face would be turned into a stronghold, and the rest of the island would be fortified.

 

“Kira, I think we can get the dock finished in time.” Rex told her happily.

 

This had deeply worried Rex, if the slaves had to swim through the shark-infested waters they would have problems. The dwarves hadn't been at the mining area when Rex and Kira went by earlier, and they could only hope that they were working in the mines. This was the best chance Rex had to expel the prisoners from the mines.

 

Rex didn't want to waste the succubi's lives on a possibly even more unreliable workforce. At least with Kira, he could utilize them for the things that they liked, but this would change if they quickly started dying. Rex and Kira had to plan carefully with this in mind so as not to have any sacrifices. Kira had to have firm control over the race before they could take any risks.

 

“I sent a message so Dora will begin to target a ship, I will need to go to lead our team.” She said sadly as the two watched the waters together from within the valley that was carved.

 

Rex chuckled happily at this.

 

“We planned everything carefully, and we also carefully trained for this. Nothing should go wrong as long as they don't make any mistakes.” Rex said as he sighed out. “This should all work out brilliantly, as long as you do everything I told you.”

 

Kirna nodded to him with a determined look on her face.

 

“You don't need to worry, I have carefully trained them with the new weapons of the succubi. The elves will have no idea what hit them!” Kira assured him.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Port City Amyllyr, In a private yacht

 

Calling this a yacht was an understatement Dora thought to herself as she stood on the deck. In her hand was a mixed alcoholic beverage, and she had a small plate of food. She tossed these off the deck when no one was looking.

 

This boat belonged to one of her customers, they bought tons of her soap. Rex had no idea the sales of soap would eclipse weapons by far, the elven women didn't like cleaning themselves with rocks. This had made it so that Dora was invited to all of their parties, she was living it up!

 

This yacht was larger than most cruise ships and belonged to a very wealthy lady friend of hers. The two of them had done so much shopping together, and she only had to send Rex back some stupid rocks to please him. These were some of the best times of Dora's life, she could do whatever she wanted.

 

“Beautiful lady, I brought you some food!” A male elf came up to her with a plate of various light elven cuisine.

 

Dora took one look at it with a bored look on her elven face. She grabbed a small piece and put it in her small mouth, moving it around a few times before spitting it in his face.

 

“This is disgusting, go away!” Dora said flatly.

 

Rejecting her food like this was incredible! It gave her such a good feeling inside! Like saying she is a strong independent succubus and she doesn't need anyone. Before the male elf could say anything else she reached forward and grabbed the plate, shoving the food into his face. She laughed evilly as she began to strut away from the male elf.

 

The female elves began to cheer for Dora as she put the male in his place, she was the life of the party after all. Her friend seeing Dora drawing attention to herself decided to go talk to her.

 

“Trish, you really shouldn't cause trouble like this on my new boat.” The elf scolded Dora.

 

Dora stared at her with a blank face, while they were friends, Dora didn't care for her attitude most of the time. To Dora, this was more of a passing thing and she wouldn't care when she leaves here.

 

“I don't like getting hit on, you know this.” Dora said to her.

 

“Trish, what if you had stained the carpets! You have no idea how much this thing cost me! You only sell soap, you will never be able to afford a boat like this!” Her friend had now lost her friend status in Dora's mind.

 

“Next time I will just toss them off the deck then.” Dora said flatly.

 

“Trish! You might scratch the paint on the boat! Why can't you just accept my brother's advances, he isn't that bad of an elf!” The woman began preaching.

 

Dora began to ignore her as she began to gush about all of his good qualities, as she just stared at a corner of the boat. She was trying to figure out how to get revenge on this annoying elf.

 

-

Meanwhile...

The border between the Elven Forest and Beastman Plains, A river

 

In a wide river, surrounded by tall trees a white bear could be seen calmly swimming down the river. A little elven girl rode on his back, and lightly shivered in the cold water.

 

“I was best fisher, even as wee cub. They always fight to take Bear on their fishing boats.” The white bear laughed as he explained his life story for the 100^th time.

 

“Little girl, you not need to worry! You can count on Bear to get you to island safely!” The bear declared for the 1000^th time.

 

Welch had never imagined anyone who could talk so much. If he wasn't talking, he was “singing” which sounded like he was angrily roaring at the heavens. She had lost her grandmother and everyone she cared about, and the heavy collar on her neck was her only keepsake. She was sold to a demon in hopes of getting somewhere safe. Dryfys wanted to kill her to avoid a future threat.

 

“Do you really think it will be somewhere safe...” Welch muttered.

 

The bear looked back at her with shock on his furry face, it was the first time she said anything to him. He quickly swallowed his shock as he tried to reassure her.

 

“Look at Bear's beautiful necklace, you think bad people make something for Bear?” He asked.

 

It was clear beastman had been his first language and learning elf gave him a weird accent. Welch wished she could think as simply as the bear. They were getting close to where a ship would soon pick them up, they had seen many other slaves making the same journey.

 

The slaves were all kinds of different races, that the elves had conquered over the years. Welch had seen so many things she never knew existed. She saw a female with scorpion features who came from some desert insect tribe. A walking fox with many tails, from a near-extinct beastman tribe. A massive hairy creature that was 15 feet tall, and hailed from a giant race.

 

The claims the succubus had told them had been ridiculous, they wanted to start a faction that could accept anybody. They would avoid war unless they were attacked, and they would destroy anyone who attacked them. The new land they were building would have no slaves, and as long as you worked you would be able to survive.

 

The succubus had them put them on their way. Some slaves had tried to escape, but the elves were really cruel masters. The issue was that even if they sold out the succubus they had no idea where the island was, nor were they able to pinpoint her exactly as she could just change her shape. The succubi could just blame it all on the demons anyway.

 

Food was delivered everywhere the succubus said it would be, and the slaves had all eaten very well along the way. This had lead to some of the slaves having hope. Right now they were approaching the meeting place. It was a large sandbar that formed between the two sides. The succubi chose this area as it was really out of the way, and neither side paid attention to it.

 

“Look, How wonderful! They are already fighting!” The bear announced happily!

 

How could so many different races possibly get along?