I know we didn't have watertight security, but I wouldn't think this asshole would sink so low as to blackmail us.

"Woof! Woof! Growl! Bark!" I bark and growl loudly to engulf his voice and try to get this shit out of their short-term memory. I'm glad he whispered to them, so these idiots that couldn't find North even if their mothers' lives depended on that.

"Scruffy, calm down! Easy boy!" A flustered Helen tries to talk me down, but no good. Marcy is glaring daggers at Cloude.

Intimidating presence! Ferocious Growl! "Bark!"

The shitheads back off even though my current stats are even shittier than them. The steel-willed troll hunters are afraid of a barking dog. If they only knew the irony.

But now I have enough room... To run away, of course! I dash to a narrow space between the warehouse and the rear wall of the guild complex. Shape-changing into a bird, I fly up to the roof and dismiss the transformation once I am sure I am over a support beam. The roof creaks but does not break. Here there is no way people below can see me.

I need to change jobs to a magic-using job for a bigger MP pool. Lay low for a while and recover MP using meditation.

I cast {Invisibility} over me and take off the roof using dragon wings. Now I have line of sight to everything I need.

"Dynamic Illusion!"

And there goes Scruffy. He jumps over the guild fence and runs to the nearest gate out of town. The illusion can follow your simple orders without concentration. Now to stealthily approach Cloude.

"Where did Scruffy go? Scruffy! Scruffy!" Helen is anxious, flustered at the situation. Marcy is still immobile, frozen in anger. She would blow up at any moment now.

"Hey, did you hear this? Where is this draft coming from?" Some of the less moronic of the idiotic party Cloude assembled to hunt my impersonator seem to have noticed me approaching from above.

"Dunno. Isn't it just the wind?"

I stop to increase the Possession and the Tracking Beacon skills to level 5. Marked everyone. And now I'll use it to get in Cloude's shoes, quite literally.

Smooth as a hot knife through butter. It feels like my body is sucked up inside Cloude. It is a disgusting and annoying sensation, but soon after I am flooded by the sensory input of his body.

"Wow! This is disorienting!" I mumble using Cloude's voice.

"What is wrong, Cloude? Afraid of the doggy? It already ran away from us!" One of the idiot five slaps my back... No, Cloude's back. It is really disturbing being in another person's body.

"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy," I answer to the idiotic party member.

"Marcy, where did Scruffy go to? We need to..." Helen shakes Marcy out of her rage-induced stupor. I'm glad she didn't blow up.

"That is not important now, Helen. You know he... Scruffy can take care of himself. We need to address the issue in front of us here." She glares at me again. At Cloude. I shudder from the confusion. I would loathe myself if I earned that enraged look from my girls. It will take more than a while to get used to this.

I access Cloude's status. Heck, I want to mess with his status. Spend his SP. Change his job. Freaking SS skill. It is like I am him. And as long as I can pay the maintenance costs, I am. I won't just do this kind of stuff for kicks.

"Hey, idiots, who is the leader of this shitty party?" I ask the five goons behind me.

"Watch your mouth, pipsqueak. We only let you in because you are a magician."

"Bah. Kick me already! Who would want to go out in the wild with a bunch of ugly assholes like you when I can go with these two beauties here? Just me and them! And that dog!"

"We are not going anywhere with you, Cloude!" shouts Helen. There is already a peanut gallery cheering on this latest soap opera episode.

The big ugly asshole threatens me, "Watch out, idiot. I'm breaking your teeth if you don't apologize."

I'll call his bluff. "Bring it on! Hit your own party member, better yet, hit another guild member inside the guild!"

"Fuck it. Hemmer, kick this guy out. What do we want with a shitty level 12 magician anyway? Goodbye, loser!"

Cloude has been kicked from his party.

I even get a peek at his system messages. Cloude has been kicked from his party. The five idiots leave. There are tracking markers on them, they can go anywhere for all I care.

Marcy finally talks, or to better word it, yells at me, "What is wrong with you, Cloude? What was all this about? Blackmailing us? What do you want?"

"I'd like to figure it out too, Marcy. But not here. We should leave this place before more trouble happens. We already drew too much attention." I answer in a low voice.

Helen stares at me, "This way of talking..."

"Come, Helen. I know where Scruffy Dee is right now. I'll take you there." I try to grab Helen's hand.

Marcy slaps Cloude's hand when I tried to reach for Helen's, "Hold it right there! What do you think you are doing?"

"Marcy. Come with me and away from here. Actually, invite me to your party."

"No way! You are disgusting, Cloude! I hate you. I can't believe I kissed you. It must've been the death willow poison." Stop, too much information!

"Don't say that, Marcy. I know a hilltop house that serves a nice Rosemary Roasted Rabbit you will love."

She freezes for a while then gets even angrier, "How the hell you know that!" She is so angry she is not reasoning anymore.

Helen cuts in and tries to calm her, "Marcy, I know what is going on. Let's get out of here with Cloude." Especially if you have any love for my MP pool.

"Helen, would you follow me to the pits of the bug dungeon again?" I reach out my hand to her.

"Always." She takes it.

"What are you doing, Helen!"

Helen grabs Marcy by the arm and drags her out of the guild. "Marcy, you need to trust me on this one. Come."

We were almost stopped by a receptionist, but we just grabbed our cards and dashed out. And out through the east gate, the one nearest to the guild we go.

We haven't even gone 100 yards out of the gates and Cloude's body is already aching. Seriously, this guy has no stamina even with the possession bonus. Also, too slow.

"Keep moving, girls. We are being followed." Cloude's former party is following us. My guess is that they want to settle the score with Cloude.

"What is going to happen?" asks Helen.

"I think they are going to beat the shit out of Cloude. Maybe even murder him. I bet they think they can have their way with you two if they take Cloude out of the equation."

Helen stops to think, but she seems to dislike all the outcomes she can imagine, "That is horrible!"

"They are horrible people," Marcy adds.

Skill MP recovery level 6.

My MP is running dry. "I won't be able to keep Cloude under control for too long. We need to decide what to do now."

Helen still looks for a peaceful solution, "Can't we evade them?"

"Not with Cloude's level 12 magician legs. This body is already winded from crossing the fields. Sooner or later, they are going to catch up. And when I leave Cloude's body, I'll be left with zero stamina and MP."

"I'll kill them," Marcy readies her bow.

"Stop. Killing people is no good. And if anyone is doing the killing, it will be me. Job Change: Cloude to Warrior." I'll fight using Cloude's body. Once more, that is an SS skill for you. All of my skills are available in Cloude's body, and on top of that, his are available to me too. I could even use it for a perfect assassination-suicide as I leave unharmed if the target dies.

I feel strength filling my host's body after I forced him to change jobs.

"Title set: Man Eater."

Helen hears me saying the command and is slightly disgusted, "What the heck! What an ominous title!"

"I have committed many sins, Helen. I'm no saint. Now go, my dear brides. Both of you. There is no need to stay and see what is to come. Better yet, stop people at the fields from coming here."

I'll fight at the rim of the forest. Some farmers will see the fight, but the blame will fall not on us. Will Cloude survive? I don't know.

"Big guy. You can't let Cloude die, do you hear me?" Marcy says with a serious tone.

"Don't worry. I'll even level up your friend a little."

She shakes her head, "No. I don't care about Cloude. He is trash, already dead for all I care... after he betrayed us. I just don't want people seeing your troll form. There are some farmers watching us."

"I'll drag the battle deeper inside the woods then. Cloude's stamina improved now."

We retreat back into the woods and out of sight. They are still coming in the mini-map. All five of them.

"Now go and get away from here. I don't want you two to see this combat. Circle around and go back to the edge of the woods. Make sure nobody else comes this way."

I ready the living shield but it rejects Cloude. Damn. Back to the item box. I'll use a normal shield. With the horn spear? I have a sword master skill now. Low level but still it is a 'master' type. I'll use Cloude's own weapon. I'll need to drink an MP potion. Expensive as hell.

The five ex-party members reach my location.

"Now, now, Cloude. It is no good getting the girls all for you. You should share them!"

"Where are the women, Cloude! I'm throbbing here in excitement already!"

Scum. Cloude draws his sword. Iai Master only works with katanas anyway. Rather useless here. I've never seen a non-European sword this far.

"Oh, the little magician wants to fight. Come, fight us then!"

The five of them ready their weapons, some 200 feet away from me. Rough terrain. I still don't have any AOE attack spell. Hold a second. I do.

Lava Bomb

Cost: 450 MP. Casting time: 21 seconds

Creates and throws a volcanic bomb with a think rock shell and a pressurized tephra core. Explodes upon impact, dealing massive Earth and Fire damage to all targets in a large area. Skill level increases accuracy and damage. Magic attribute increases damage and area of effect.

Is this the basic spell of this school of magic? Heck. What is the ultimate? Nevermind, I can guess.

I begin casting and they charge at Cloude/me. I don't have the MP to fully charge the spell, it will be fired at a lower power.

The chant is longer because of the MP deficit. "Lava Bomb!"

A big rock about five feet in diameter appears in front of my outstretched palm and flies to the middle of the ruffians at high speed. They are too close to me. It bursts and blows right when it hits the breastplate of their leader. Smoke and flaming molten volcanic matter fly out in all directions. Four trees that were close to them break and fall down.

Even Cloude that was ten or fifteen feet away takes heavy damage. He would be dead if he had only the magician HP pool. His body HP could regenerate with my skills... But I am completely out of MP. Before he can fully recover I can't pay the cost of the possession and forced ejection happens.

I am dizzy, sick and weakened. There is a big smoke and vapor cloud all around us. MP Exhaustion and Stamina Exhaustion, a combo status I've never seen before. It will take a while for the two stats to recover. There is no 'HP Exhaustion' though. It is called death.

"Cough! Where am I? Where is Marcy? What is this thing?"

"Hey, Cloude. Glad to see you alive. Remember me?" I approach the wounded boy.

"Rabbits bite me, a talking troll! What the hell!" He crawls backward for a few feet.

"Easy boy. If I wanted you killed I would have done it already. Do you remember me?"

"How the heck would I remember a troll... Oh, fuck!" And he is shaking like a bamboo shoot in a hurricane.

I pin him down until my status clears a few minutes later.

Skill Stamina Recoverylevel 6 Skill MP Recovery level 7 Skill Max Stamina Increase level 6 Skill Max MP Increase level 6 Abnormal exhaustion conditions cleared. MP and Stamina recovery will resume now.

"Yes. But what troll am I?" By the way, I'm going to cast healing pulse on him now that I can.

"A troll that speaks! You are Grendel!" he doesn't even register that he is being healed.

"Yes, but I am the real one. That one you were going to hunt was a fake. But don't you remember when we first met?"

"What?"

"The campsite. When you ditched Helen behind."

"That troll... were it you?"

"Yes. Do you remember the second time we met?"

"Oh, swarms of biting locusts. When was it?" He has a bite fetish. That is the only explanation I can think of.

"When I saved your ass from being fucked by an orc's club. Do you remember the third time we met?"

"What? Did you save me from orcs? But it was the hero that did that!"

"The third time we met was when I came back to Mirfield with Helen and Marcy at the beginning of winter."

"Are you trying to tell me you are Beowulf? Don't fucking fuck with me!" He is out of his mind.

"Do you remember when we met earlier today?" Helen and Marcy are not coming back. They were far beyond the range of the spell, so they might be stalling the curious farmer that wants to come into the forest to check it out. Maybe summoning the guard or something like that. I might have time to pull it off. I must test Cloude to the limit now.

"NO! There is no way I'd have met a troll or Beowulf earlier today and not remember it!"

I make an illusion of the great dane with the collar and the saddlebags in place. "Woof!"

"Fuck! Do you mean you were Marcy's dog? That is crazy! It is impossible!"

I was going to kill him. But he might have some value alive. Besides, even being a douchebag, he is still a childhood friend of the girls. It would sour our relationship if I murdered him here. If I can turn him, I can use him. I am going to turn his brain into putty and then shape him into a useful tool.

"It is true, I am Beowulf. You can even check my guild card, it is in your pocket." he gets my card with the name and rank written. I snatch it and send it back to the item box.

"That is crazy! Why would a monster be also the hero?! It is crazy! Impossible!" He is spinning in circles now. His mind has become slush. "I really hate you! What did you do to Marcy?"

"I did this and that, none of your business. I also killed Helmholtz and the Shining Blades. Grant, that freckled mage and the long legs archer girl."

"You bastard! Why are you doing this to me!"

"And I ate them after I killed those so-called champions."

"I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!" He tries to stand up, and barely manages it. His HP recovers slowly, but he received damage beyond just HP. He probably broke something or has some internal bleeding.

"And last, I was the one that forced the orc tribe to migrate and attack Mirfield."

"Why are you telling me all this? Die already, bastard!" He draws his sword.

"I am the villain of your story, Cloude. What do you say? Do you want to die or join me?" I screwed that one. "Join me... and together we can rule..." No. Messed up again. He cut my speech short.

"Don't fuck me! I am going to kill you right here, right now."

"As if you can kill a newborn troll, much less me. I am going to capture you. Make you my prisoner, take you to my place. I'd show you what I have built and tell you my plans for the future. Without a single lie or omission. I'd let you roam free in my domain with a guard. It would be a goblin, so you would probably try to escape and succeed. And then you would become a major headache as all the information about my plans would leak to my would-be enemies. Do you want to join me?"

"You are crazy! What sort of nonsense are you saying! I'd never join you!"

He comes at me and I draw the living shield. Using shield mastery and evasion, I keep dodging and blocking his blows while activating animal transformation. Different from humanization, I am not incapacitated and the transformation happens at once after the activation timer. In the minimap, Helen and Marcy are entering the map range. The arrows showing their direction have become dots. Presence detection focused in that direction shows several humans coming with them.