ROTLE- Chapter 186- Nosrath (Patreon)

The tree smashed into another, uprooted with enough force to take the soil with it. Taynid ducked, avoiding it.

“COME AT ME!” he roared at the savage monster.

Nosrath stood tall, a massive hulking monster. It towered over jepats and men very easily. Its body was thick and rough, barrel-shaped, built like a walking boulder rather than an agile creature. Its rough and leathery skin was colored in dark muddy browns and greys. It was almost stone-like, as if it was part cave creature and part monster. For whatever its size or internal structure, its back arched forward slightly, giving it a constant looming posture.

For all the intimidation of its size, its broad and brutal head seemed to be in competition. Wide jaw lines with thick blunt fangs, stared at any who looked. Small glowing eyes were set deep beneath a heavy brow stared back at everything as if they were nothing but living nuisances. From the side of its head rose two curved horns, worn and chipped like old bones.

It turned, batting a man who ventured too close with a ball of fire in his hands. Enormous and oversized in comparison to its torso, its forearm was larger than the man, and the blow sent him cascading into the trees around them.

Taynid wasn’t sure if the man was lucky its heavy claws designed more for crushing than slicing hadn’t hit him. Then again, he could just as well have flown into the trees and broken his neck as well as his spine.

“Come on, then!” he roared at it, lightning spear raised high in his hand. “Make my night!”

He heaved the spear at Nosrath. Lightning crackled from it, reaching out to connect its streaks to the ground, growing with every distance covered. Those he was with knew better than to get in the way.

They ducked and dived, scrambling away for safety from a skill that knew neither friend nor foe.

A proper hit, that was all Taynid needed. To add his own mark to the many scars and rough patches of countless battles that marred the creature’s body.

But Nosrath refused him that glory. It turned, massive arms swinging, and leapt away from the strike. Metal shackles and armor pieces hanging from parts of the creature clanked and made sounds as it moved through the air, heralding its departure. They were not worn equipment but embedded trophies, maybe restraints, that had become a part of it over the years—over its cycles of death and rebirth.

Taynid’s bolt of lightning hit the ground. It lingered there for a moment, pinned down, before dissipating in a wide blast of red streaks.

A frown marred Taynid’s expression. The beast was a nuisance. It batted everyone aside as if they were no issue. It took blows that it knew it would survive and dodged anything with too much firepower.

It was learning. Taynid knew this as strongly as he knew the gods. And it wasn’t just learning from this fight as men and women hurled skills at it and fired from afar, unwilling to get too close.

He growled as he stepped forward. His rage surged to him and he clamped it down like a hunter would a rabid animal. Men and women came from all parts of Nastild just to fight this creature every two years. For some it was about glory. But for most, it was about leveling up and claiming its heart for some rich bastard somewhere.

Taynid was none of the two.

For him, it was personal.

He had fought the beast only five years ago. A member of a large party that worked under the banner of some nameless king in the east, he had marched his way into this forest and crossed skills with the creature.

Back then, he had not been alone. His party had consisted of powerful classes. [Mage]s armed to the teeth. [Ranger]s ready to cross any paths. [Guide]s who knew how to use blades and bows. Even [Enchanter]s so that no weapon did only one thing and every armor was as much a defense as it was an offence.

He had been the weakest of the group then. In the irony of life, he had been one of two only people to survive. In its dark humor, he was the only one of the two who still had enough of what it takes to keep fighting.

So, for those who had lost their lives making sure that he had gotten away from the beast, he had trained and readied himself. He had missed his opportunity on the monster’s last spawning. Making it to the forest in time, he had not gotten to face the beast.

When the rumors spread this time, Nosrath spawning a year too early, he could not miss it. He had given up on every other aspect of life: wealth, love, family. All for this moment.

And yet the damn beast would not grant him victory.

“FACE ME!” he roared, activating [Call of Madness].

[Call of Madness] was an aura skill, designed to draw the aggression of monsters about. It worked scarcely on people, but unintelligent beasts were drawn to it.

He let the roar of the skill rip out of him. It bathed Nosrath in its demand and Taynid watched it, felt it.

Nosrath turned to him. It raked massive claws through the ground as it did, raising clumps of dirt, powerful and massive. They flew forward like fired projectiles, slamming into people. Some clomps were too massive, large as people. It slammed into a few, sending them off into the forest.

Taynid activated [Bulwark]. The ground erupted in front of him and a clump slammed into it, stopping it in its tracks. Dashing out from beside it, lance tucked under arm, he charged, knowing that the beast would be on him.

Nosrath met his charge head on. Taynid activated [Call of Thunder]. Lightning streaked through his lance, charging it, increasing it in size.

He roared as he met the beast. The rest of his comrades, the few that still remained, stared in awe. They knew it was madness, and they were not wrong. Only madness would spur a man given a second chance at life to return to the beast that almost took his life.

They met at a point, clashed… Or so he would’ve liked to say.

Nosrath ignored him completely. It blasted past him and barreled straight into another of his comrade, impaling the [Mage] on one of its fangs. Blood and guts and ruined bones and torn flesh stuck out of the massive gouge in the woman’s torso.

Her eyes were dead on impact.

Blood pooled down its teeth and into its mouth as it turned its attention back on Taynid. He could’ve sworn he saw a grin, something cocky in its eyes. It was an intelligent beast. Immuned to [Call of Madness].

The others stepped back in fear, beginning to believe that they had bitten off more than they could chew. It was weakness. The beast was toying with their minds even as it killed them. The possibility of dying here had crossed Taynid’s mind on multiple occasions, but he was determined to make sure the beast died with him.

It was not about the beast dying, but about him standing above his limitations. It was about him killing the monster.

“Slow down!” a voice called out from among the trees. “Only mad people run to the sound of fighting.”

Four men, burst out from the trees. One was large, almost corpulent. He carried a massive cleaver in his hand. The other was dressed normally. The last wore a robe, probably a [Healer] or a [Mage]. He carried a man perhaps in his thirties or forties in his arms as if he weighed nothing. Behind them was a young boy.

Taynid did not have the time to take it all in because the large man leapt into the sky with a reckless disregard for his own life. Cleaver raised high above his head in two hands.

Nosrath turned to meet him, as if he was the true threat here. As if Taynid was a waste of his time.

Anger bubbled within him as the large man came down on the beast.

He refused to be ignored.

His interface lit up in front of him.

[You have used Class skill Call of Madness]

[You have used Class skill Fury’s Lightning]

[You have used Class skill Warrior’s Heart]

[You have used Class skill Ascending Warrior]

[You have used Class skill Heart of Madness]

[You have used Manifesting skill Warrior’s Domain]

The weight of too many active skills bore down on him. Taynid felt heavier even as he grew lighter. His mana suffused the entire world, birthing his domain of madness.

The large man flew through his domain with his cleaver, unbothered by the existence that was Taynid. And he came down on Nosrath like a falling star.

They clashed. It left the impact of a massive boom, shockwaves displacing the air around, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Taynid felt the mana from his manifesting skill buckle under the weight of the blow.

Then the large man hit the ground. He hit it hard, bounced off it. He cascaded down the clearing, bouncing and turning and stumbling. Then he brought himself to a stop with his sword in the ground. It tore through the soil and grass until he came to a stop.

Half of his cleaver was gone.

Taynid turned to Nosrath and rage built up within him, standing by its side was shame.

A massive horn lay on the ground. It bled from where it had been severed and sparked with streaks of crackling mana.

Nosrath had lost its horn and the world had to know.

It opened its mouth and let out a world shattering roar.

Taynid had been waiting for this.

[Nosrath has used skill Wail of the Immortal]

Pain streaked through the air from its roar.

[Nosrath skill Wail of the Immortal has applied a debuff]

Some people fell to their knees around him.

[You have received debuff: Pain of the Trespasser]

…

[Skill Resilience detected]

[You have high enough Resilience]

[You have resisted debuff Pain of the Trespasser]

Taynid grinned.

He took a step towards the beast, then something in its roar changed. He watched someone’s head explode in a spray of blood and brains.

The man carrying the body of an unconscious man from the new group, turned and kicked the youngest of the group back. The boy shot away, disappearing back into the forest.

The other young man grinned and brought his hand together in preparation for combat. He said something, but Taynid did not catch it.

Nosrath stood in its rage, a creature of living calamity. Its roar continued to split the air.

…And sound became everyone’s enemy.

…

When Oncot hit the ground in a terrible fall, Ted had, for a moment, wondered if the man was fine. He had been in charge of killing most of the creatures they had met since Aiden’s unfortunate departure, and by being in charge, Ted meant nobody had been willing to step in his way or stop him.

His eye brows rose in intrigue when the monster’s oversized horn hit the ground in blood and mana. That had been a powerful blow. He’d even felt the mana in the air shake from it.

“He has raw power,” Elami said, as if to himself. He sounded like a man assessing a potential hire.

“Careful,” Ted told him casually, “he only has eyes for my brother.”

“That will not be a problem.”

The second thing to draw his attention was when the blade of Oncot’s cleaver hit the ground at another part of the clearing.

“And he loved that sword,” he muttered, then paused. “Wait. Did he love that sword?”

Elami shrugged. “No idea, Master Lacheart.”

Ted ignored the title. Elami had been calling him that ever since Aiden had become absent. They had left Zen and his sister behind somewhere. With what he knew about them, Ted had decided not to bring them into a situation he could not protect them in.

Aiden would probably break down if Zen died. As for Valdan… well, there was really nothing he could do about it. Elami had insisted on coming when Ted had followed after the creature he had called [Life Eater] because it felt like it had wanted him to follow it.

And with Elami came Valdan.

As for the [Life Eater]? It had brought them here and simply vanished.

With anger in its eyes, Nosrath took one look at its horn on the ground and threw its head up.

Elami frowned. “This is going to be unpleasant.”

The beast let out a savage roar that tingled in Ted’s ears and shook the air above and the ground beneath his feet. It was a powerful roar, strong enough to incite the interface.

[Nosrath has used skill Wail of the Immortal]

…

[Nosrath skill Wail of the Immortal has applied a debuff]

…

[You have received debuff: Pain of the Trespasser]

…

[Skill Resilience detected]

[You have high enough Resilience]

[You have resisted debuff Pain of the Trespasser]

Behind Ted, Fjord staggered.

He spared a glance at the boy, wondering what gamble he had made when he was following them. From what he knew, Aiden had told the boy to make large gambles whenever he thought he was getting into a situation that he might not survive.

Up until now, they’d gotten into situations that Fjord should not have survived if not for the barbaric love of violence of Oncot.

Nosrath’s mouth widened a little more. The body stuck in its massive fang shook a little, splattering blood about.

Ted sensed something, knew something was about to be different. He just did not know what.

Elami, however, did, because he turned around and kicked Fjord in the chest, sending him flying into the forest.

To Ted, he said, “Brace yourself.”

Ted obeyed, squaring his feet.

The roar changed now. There was no interface to tell him of what was happening, only pain. To hear became a painful ordeal. It was as if his brain was interpreting any and every form of sound as pain.

But it was bearable pain. It was tolerable.

Aida, that battle hungry junkie was not even here for this. A grin touched Ted’s lips at that knowledge, and he rubbed his hands together.

Oh, this was going to be a hoot.

He tapped into that single connection he had, the one that gave him power, and let it run rampant.

A hand reached out from the air behind him. It held in it a sword.

Ted took the sword regally, the action second nature to him. Then they came.

They rose from the darkness, stepping out as if from behind veils, ready and willing. Their numbers were not uncountable, but they were much, a lot.

And Undying.

His interface finally deigned it fit to pop up.

[You have used Manifesting skill Gates of Hell]