Skeletal Dragon Avatar

Interrogation and Negotiation

“Well first off, this little one got to go…”

Matt looked down at the arrow that was still firmly planted in his stomach and sticking out on the other side on his back, grabbed the arrow head on his back and pulled the arrow out rather easy, the fact that it is a slim arrowhead specialized in penetration powers helpful when one needed to remove the arrows

‘Not that any normal person would ever need to remove the arrow willy-nilly like me…’

Matt looked at the arrow in his hand for a bit, then he shrugged and threw it aside before he walked over to the corpse of the swordsman, then he removed the metal paw that had flattened his chest before he tore through the skin and found exactly was he expected, the organs of the swordsman had turned to mush, but besides that there was a clear core in the middle of his chest

“Guess if this is a monster core…”

Matt gazed at the monster core in his right hand before he looked at the smaller core he had just tron out from a corpse

“Then this is a people core? Something like that, maybe?”

Showing a smile at his own macabre humor, Matt walked over to the corpse of the other swordsman and pulled an arrow out before he used it to cut open the chest of what used to be a person before he ripped out his 2nd people core before he chuckled a 2nd time at his own joke, then he walked back over to the 2 unconscious people and patted them down for weapons, he found another dagger on the archers back, this definitely wasn’t an excuse to feel up an unconscious woman, his thoughts at the moment had not a shade of lust, only a strong will to get stronger

“Well then, wakey-wakey-eggs-and-baky… Hello? Oh well, at least I asked nicely…”

Then a dark green light shone through Matt’s eyes as he took the last arrow out of the archer's quiver before he grabbed the short man by the wrists and lined them up with the trunk of a tree, then he stabbed said arrow through his palms and bent the end of the arrow, nailing him to the tree. This of course woke up the short man, with a cry of pain

“For fuck's sake!”

“Looks like someone’s awake?”

“Shit… Kill me already, Wildman!”

Matt looked at the short man before he asked

“What makes you think I am a so-called ‘Wildman’?”

“Well, your butt ass nude for one thing! Then you came jumping from the trees like some sort of monkey! What else could you be other than a Wildman!?”

“I see, then if my clothes had not been ripped to shreds by monsters and if I walked through the forest like a normal person, just begging to alert more monsters to my presence, I would be a normal man?”

“Hell no, you smell far too much of blood to any normal person! And here you are torturing me, you are a Wildman for sure!”

Matt nodded, then he leaned in real close and asked

“So… Let me get this straight, I yelled out ‘here to help’ when you guys were struggling with a mental beast, and then you tried to kill me in return? I don’t buy it, you are fishy, you smell of fish… You are a fish gnome”

The eyes of the short man lit up with anger before he yelled

“I am a proud Dwarf! You are a gnome, your whole family is gnomes!”

‘Clearly there’s no reasoning with this guy…’

Then Matt’s eyes turned cold before he forced out a palm bone spike and stabbed the Dwarf in the neck, leaving him to choke on his own blood as he turned around and looked at the archer that was still unconscious and muttered

“And then there was one…”

Matt reevaluated his interrogation strategy before he came up with a bold plan as a dark green light shone in his eyes, then he turned and slashed open the chest of the Dwarf and ripped out his core, then he stripped the leather pants off the swordsman that was crushed before he wore them himself, feeling his junk not flying freely in the wind for the first time in what was properly a few months Matt stuffed the cores in his newfound pocket before he walked over to the archer and sat his knee right in the stomach of the archer waking her from her beauty sleep as he grabbed her hands and held her down, the archer looked into his eyes, fear was clear in her eyes. Then Matt spoke

“What’s your name?”

“...Samantha”

“Okay Samantha, here’s the deal, I am right now in possession of your life, I will end your life unless you exchange it for something I want… Think carefully, your next words have to be more worth than your core”

Samantha fell silent as she began shaking slightly, her eyes darted from side to side nervously as she attempted to find anything that could save her from her current situation, Matt sighed before he spoke

“No, you are not thinking about the right thing, Samantha… Maybe this will help you understand?”

Then he snapped one of her wrist, the archer let out a cry of pain, Matt however kept speaking, clearly ignoring her pain as her purposely loosened his grip on her right wrist slightly

“Is it okay if I call you Sam? Sure it is, now then… You are going to give me the information I want, then I can just let you go”

“What is it you want!?”

Matt loosened his grip on her left wrist slightly before he showed a slightly lustful expression and leaned his face slightly closer to hers

“Shh… What I want is—”

Then it happened, the archer freed her wrists with a sudden burst of strength before she kicked him off her, then she hurriedly scrambled to her feet and dashed off into the undergrowth, Matt rose from the ground and showed a smile, then he leaped into the trees above before he followed after the archer, keeping further away that he had been the first time she had spotted him

‘Now lead the way… that or run into a monster on the way, I don’t care, though judging by their lack of supplies, a main camp is likely nearby…’

Matt followed after the archer for about 15 minutes before he saw her run into a clearing with a few dozen tents in the middle, she opened her mouth and screamed

“HELP ME!”

The camp was instantly alerted to her arrival, but then Matt appeared behind her and grabbed her by the neck before he lifted her up and held her slight to the side as he called out

“Hello there, civilized people!”

The band of adventures grabbed their weapons but were clearly confused by him yelling at them, soon a person walked out from the crowd of around 20 people, she had long graying hair and an eye patch over her left eye, she carried a long spear and wore battle scarred leather armor, Matt felt a slight sense of danger from her even as she stood there, he yelled again

“My name is Matt, I happen to have been lost in this forest for a while, I would like to return to civilization!”

Matt looked straight at the eye patch woman while ignoring the other people, he waited for her response, soon she spoke in a clear loud voice

“My name is Felicia, I am the leader of this exploration… Can you let Samantha go first?”

Matt showed a smile as he spoke back to the leader

“Sure I could do that, then you would attack me before I escaped back into the forest, unable to find me you would eventually run out of supplies and be forced to return from where you came, in which case I would follow you and return to civilized lands… Or”

Then Matt squeezed the archer's neck, snapping it cleanly, ending her cries for help before he threw her aside and spoke

“You could throw aside the person that caused this incident in the first place, leading to her companions getting killed and pissing me off, and hire me as guide… I believe the last choice is more beneficial to you all, after all I have survived in this forest for a few moon cycles now”

Felicia glanced at the corpse of the archer before she clicked her tongue and asked

“What makes you think we won’t just kill you instead?”

Matt shrugged before he spoke as he pulled out the arrow that still sat in his shoulder

“The fact that I am very hard to kill? Or maybe the fact that I know the forest better than you?”

Felicia thought for a few moments before she spoke

“I have some conditions, I want to know whether or not you are speaking the truth… Sister, if you would…”

A woman clad in a gray rope with white embodiment nodded and stepped forwards a step and was suddenly covered in a soft golden glow before she spoke

“Ready”

Felicia nodded before she looked back at Matt and asked

“Were you attacked by Samantha’s party?”

“Yes, I offered to help them with a metal panther, then they launched a sneak attack on me and tried to kill me”

Felicia glanced back at the nun that nodded before she looked back and asked

“Do you have any idea why they attacked you?”

“Yes, one of them kept calling me a ‘Wildman’”

After confirming with the nun that Matt spoke the truth, Felicia showed a frown as she spoke

“I see… Those greedy recruits, in that case I accept your offer”