ROTLE- Chapter 197- The Heart (Patreon)

“He did it,” Elami barked in laughter, running out of the cover of the trees. “He fucking did it.”

Ted ignored him, staring at his brother as his monsters continued to tear at Nosrath. Those who were still alive were hesitant now. They had feared whoever Aiden was fighting and had feared Nosrath and Ted’s summoned familiar. Ted could not blame them, he’s [Basiliker] had grown to something terrifying in size after all.

Now, however, those who still lived were hesitant even as Elami ran through the clearing, a curious expression that Ted couldn’t quite place on his face.

Nosrath let out a painful shriek as it finally fell, the spear Valdan had thrown into its chest still very much there.

Aiden dropped to his knees, looking up at the face of the man he had been fighting. Ted could not tell if he had won or lost, not until a notification popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations! You have slain Nosrath Lvl ????]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

Oh, he thought to himself, dismissing the nottification as he watched Oncot fall onto the beast from an unreasonable height, roaring as if he was declaring his very presence.

Telma held her bow, arrow drawn, but she did not let it fly. She looked flabbergasted, confused. She looked angry too for some reason as she stared at Aiden.

Then another notification popped up.

[Aiden Lacheart has slain The Immortal]

Ted paused. “Uh… am I supposed to get that?”

Melvet walked out of the clearing, her hood raised over her head to hide her face. She strolled up to stand beside Ted as if the chaos of battle did not bother her. Then again, she was the beloved of Valdan who had not hesitated to cross sheathed blades with Aiden.

“I want to say impossible,” she said, staring at the air in front of her. It was clear that she was looking at her interface, probably the latest notification of Aiden’s victory.

“But?” Ted asked.

“But Valdan has always been one to be attracted to the impossible,” she finished.

“And my brother has always been one for the impossible.” He paused. “Just out of curiosity, are we supposed to be seeing this notification?”

Only now did he look at her.

She shook her head very slowly. “The only time the interface deems a person fit to see the notification of another’s kill is if the person had a hand in the kill.”

“I didn’t attack the Immortal,” Ted said, then pointed at her. “And you didn’t attack the Immortal.”

“And yet we are seeing the notification.”

“Fuck me on a bamboo tree,” Ted swore. “How many people are seeing this notification?”

Together they looked around, found everybody staring at the air in front of them with great levels of confusion, horror, and awe.

“Please tell me that is because I killed Nosrath,” Ted begged, knowing that it was not.

“Nosrath dies every two years, lord Lacheart,” Melvet said simply. “The Immortal never dies. We should collect your brother.”

“And Nosrath,” Ted said quickly. “Everyone’s going to want to get its heart.”

“Everyone’s going to want to get your brother,” she pointed out, taking a step forward.

“We came here because my brother needs the [Heart of Nosrath]. I am not allowing it to fall in the hands of someone else.” Ted turned his gaze to Elami, for some reason, he was always aware of where the man was. “ELAMI! TO THE BEAST!”

Elami turned, changing trajectory without hesitation. He had been going for Aiden before. Now, Aiden was nothing but a foregone existence. Slipping past one of the few men who had survived this fight, he dodged what looked like a glancing blow. It was as if that was all that was needed to remind everyone of the real reason they were here.

“THE HEART!” someone cried out.

She got an arrow in the neck for her worries, compliment of Telma. Ted didn’t trust the large woman, but he could not argue about her accuracy with the bow. Aiden was better though, but that was a different conversation to be had.

With a shrug of will, Ted sent a command. His summoned creatures gathered around the corpse of Nosrath.

Melvet moved from his side.

Ted grabbed her hand. “Where are you going?”

“No one else can touch that spear,” she said, releasing herself a little too easily. “I must reclaim it.”

“Through that chaos? How are you going to get to it?”

Melvet ignored him, rushing into the chaos as people scrambled in Nosrath’s direction. For some reason, Elami was weaving through everyone easily. He was like some kind of Lord of the Rings elf with inhumane agility. He wasn’t even paying attention to anybody.

Only a few steps into the chaos, Melvet stopped and held her hand out. The spear flew from the corpse’s chest and cut through the air. It came straight into her hand and she caught it as if that was where it was always meant to be.

She spun the still sheathed weapon, then simply placed it on her back. It remained in place as if there was some kind of strap there. Ted was amused, but his attention was focused more on Aiden. Valdan stood next to him and the Immortal. With everybody’s attention on Nosrath, he had all the time. He looked contemplative, as if he was not sure of what to do. In the end, he picked Aiden up and walked towards them.

Melvet, unhesitant, started walking towards him.

Ted looked between the both of them, then left them to whatever lover’s behavior they were about to exhibit. Aiden was safe, safeguarding what Aiden brought them here for was now his duty.

His familiars were currently fighting off the few people present, trying their best not to kill anybody even as their numbers dwindled to swinging weapons and flying skills.

Ted’s eyes glanced around, took in what was happening. Not everyone was actually going for Nosrath. Some people, it seemed, were supporting others in their charge to Nosrath. Whoever got to Nosrath had to be quick in getting the heart.

He frowned as his mind worked on figuring out how they intended to be quick enough. The answer came to him immediately.

[Loot].

From what Aiden said about the skill, all it took was a touch. It was a rare skill, apparently. But with it, all it took was a touch. Ted redirected his attention. He didn’t have to fight everyone off, he just had to identify those who were being supported.

Oncot stood on top of Nosrath’s corpse, hacking at it with some type of battle axe. It didn’t look like he was finding much success in what he was doing.

Alphonset was fighting off some people, holding them back without taking any lives. The [Mage], Estabel, did not seem very interested. She seemed more interested in the Immortal’s body as he just stood there, unmoving, dead. She was helping nobody.

Ted assumed there would be no help from her.

Telma was the only member of the team interested in killing anybody. And she did it without remorse, taking her time from over a distance, changing position from time to time.

Ted turned to Valdan and Melvet and found only Valdan approaching him. He frowned.

Valdan’s eyes moved from Ted to his sword. “Is this a new thing?”

Ted looked down at his sword and found his hands rested comfortably on its pommel while it was stabbed into the ground. He blinked, then sheathed it.

“Where is Lady Melvet?” he asked.

Valdan nodded behind him. “She is consecrating the corpse of the Immortal.”

“Why?” he asked, confused.

“She is a member of the church, an important enough one. It is in her nature to do what is expected of her. Consecrating the body of a person she deemed to have died a worthy death is one of such things.”

“So… she’s a priestess?”

Valdan shook his head. “No, more important. That said, we need to get Aiden to a safe place and have Elami heal him.”

“I would love that,” Ted said, drawing the attention of his [Basiliker] to return to him. “We can do the safe place, but Elami’s currently occupied with the hunt for the heart.”

Valdan stepped beside Ted, watching Melvet as she stood before the Immortal’s standing corpse with her hands clasped and her head bowed.

“What’s she doing?” Ted asked. “Praying to her god?”

“No idea,” Valdan answered. “Let’s just get the heart and… what’s wrong?”

Ted was scowling, someone had successfully gotten past his familiars. The person was terribly close to Nosrath.

“How fast does the [Loot] skill work?” he asked.

“A touch will suffice,” Valdan answered. “Why?”

“Won’t they have to fight over the rewards then?” Ted asked, remembering being told that while everyone went after Nosrath for the heart, it still dropped other valuable items.

Valdan was already shaking his head. “If you have the [Loot] skill and sufficient mana and willpower, you should be able to have things you loot connect directly to your storage space. The only thing they will have to fight over is the heart.”

That was good. It meant that there was still a fighting chance for the heart. Having the other valuable items would be good, but they were here for the heart. Anything else would be considered a luxury.

Still, Ted didn’t like this. The person that had passed was a woman in light armor. She had her hand held out to Nosrath as she continued to sprint. Elami was right behind her, but anybody with half a brain would know that she would get to the corpse before him. Their only chance was if Oncot stopped her.

Looking to Oncot on top of the corpse, Ted knew that he was in no position to even consider the woman.

His brain worked itself, trying to find a way to stop her. He found none. The only way was for one of his familiars to be fast enough and none of them would be fast enough. That left him with only one answer, they had to kidnap her as quickly as…

The woman’s hand landed on Nosrath. Whatever she did, the effects were immediate. Nosrath turned into a cloud of smoke and Oncot fell from his place that had once been on top of it.

“Get her!” someone shouted, only for everyone to pull up short.

Elami stood right behind her with a knife in the woman’s neck. She drowned in her own blood, confused horror on her face. It was as if she had not expected to die this way.

“You are an unfortunate child,” Elami said, Ted reading his lips. “Truly unfortunate.”

With his words said, he placed his hand on her shoulder, and she erupted in a cloud of smoke.

Elami had just looted the woman.

Nosrath’s cloud of smoke cleared up first. At its heart Oncot stood with a heart as large as a man’s torso held to his chest. It was a deep green, and motes of green floated up from it. Ted did not have to be an indigene of Nastild to know that the heart was brimming with vitality.

Everyone froze, eyes on the prize. Ted wondered what was about to happen next as the world stood still, everyone ready to burst into motion at the slightest action.

“We should get Aiden out of here,” Valdan said.

Ted nodded. “Move, the [Basiliker] will guide you to Zen and Feira, make sure Fjord goes with you.”

Valdan nodded and turned into the forest, not the least bit scared by the terrifying size of the serpentine [Basiliker].

He disappeared into the sea of trees, only for Melvet to start heading towards them.

“May his soul rest in the bosom,” she said as she passed Ted.

The bosom of what? Ted wondered, keeping the thought to himself. It didn’t matter, however, because even if he had wanted to say anything, Oncot’s action usurped everyone’s attention.

He held the single heart high in the air with one hand and roared: “FOR THE BLOOD MAN!”

Then he leapt high into the sky, straight in Ted’s direction.

That was all Ted needed to know.

“It’s time to blow this joint,” he muttered, turning into the trees.

They would lose their pursuers in the sea of trees.

…

He shuffled over one way then the other. He sighed, looking down at his leg. It was acting up again, spilling divine mana all over the place. Just successfully finding a way to sever the leg while keeping its affinity for divine mana had almost taken everything out of his thinking capacity. But he had succeeded.

As for how his body would react to divine mana, that was not going to be a problem. He had his own level of affinity for divine mana. It didn’t matter if the gods did not match or agree, assimilating divine mana would not be a problem. And it was not.

Still, the leg acted up every time. With a single-minded focus, he closed up the leak, superficial as it was, and returned his attention to his latest project.

He hummed a tune to himself as he moved through the room. It was a tune his father used to make when he was a child. Even now, he had no idea what the words were supposed to be. He had no idea if there were even words to the tune.

It was a sad thing to think about. His past had been fun enough, being a child had been good. Then he’d grown up and discovered that he preferred more fun things, like playing with the lives of others. Unfortunately, things like that were frowned upon.

So… here he was, in his own space, a room filled with body parts of every living thing he had ever been able to get his hands on that was of any worth.

Discarding sorrowful thoughts, he reached for the lung hanging from a fishhook attached to the wall. He turned it one way, then the other.

“Still not dried out,” he muttered to himself. “Maybe another day or two.”

He released it and turned to the jar on a table close to him. He bent a little, looking into the jar. Within it was water, plain and simple water. Inside the water was a woman’s head. Without a body, he had found a way to keep her alive. Curious, he had placed her in a jar of water, trapping her in an endless cycle of drowning. It was an interesting thing because despite having no lungs to properly drown with, the water still filled her brains and nostrils and eyes.

Every time he saw the woman, she looked like she was drowning and dying. Quite painfully at that.

With a sigh, he turned away from her. Today was not the day he was to release her. She had drowned over fifty people before he’d found her. It was only fair that she suffered for it. So, here she was, drowning for long. Every decade she drowned counted for one person she drowned. It was fitting. At least he liked to think so.

His interface popped up in front of him, informing him of the destruction of some place somewhere. He discarded it without a thought. It was just his father looking for him as he had been doing for so many years.

It always amazed him how his father always found these places long after he had left them. Yes, he was using the principle of his father’s concealment technique to hide himself. That his father was still finding some of the places that he had been was interesting.

But his father would not find him here, though. He could not.

With the divine mana leaking from his leg stopped and the woman still drowning, he had confirmed that everything remained as they were supposed to. Now, he turned his attention to an interesting notification.

He stroked his jaw in contemplation as he looked at it, studied it. Among all the things he had expected and not expected in this life, this was not one of them.

[Aiden Lacheart has slain The Immortal]

Perhaps it was time to pay this… Aiden Lacheart a visit, whoever he was.