Monster

by Sergey Belsky

  But another result of this victory was an encouraging message, which appeared after I took a crystal of energy and ten yellow leaves from the enemy’s spatial pocket.

  The Spatial Pocket ability is up! Current Level: 20!

  This ability level extends the maximum amount of load you can carry and the number of cells.

  The available number of cells: 32 (+5).

  Now I had a sufficient amount of free space in my inventory and apparently, I knew what to put in there. Something very explosive, which would definitely help me in the battle against numerous opponents.

  ***

  We spent the following days exploring the city, destroying spawns, and just talking. Skal became much smarter than when we first met, and it was amazing that it was hard to perceive such dramatic changes as a friend.

  The necromancer told him he had not seen his relatives for a long time because of the constant experiments in his laboratory. Skal also developed his brain, just like me.

  In all that time, Skal and I made a harmonious and perfect team. The zombie slave trader took on most of the enemy attacks, I took the ones that he missed, and Skal would finish the enemy off with the energy of death.

  I already gained a thousand experience points, which I decided to save and use directly during the battle. In any case, I will develop my armor, claws, jaws, the circulatory system, or whatever I happen to need.

  Sometime later, I got to the traps with explosive balls, and this time I did the job quite adequately. I gathered thirty explosive balls, although I almost died a couple of times.

  I still had to be very careful, but now I knew I could throw a fun party for the spikers. After that, I headed for another trap to stock up on lightning charges.

  After several blows, I had to eat a rubitus, and then repeat the procedure. And when I gained the maximum amount of energy, I saw the following message.

  The ability “Accumulation” up! Current Level: 10!

  A new opportunity is available! You can absorb two types of energy!

  Available charges: 15

  That's a gift. I immediately went back to the city to absorb the Cold. It is this energy that should help me in the battle with the spikers, but I will not waste the lightning.

  The Cold will be enough for five charges. I was worried about this type of energy since the cold used to give me trouble. I still needed to develop my accumulation ability in order to reduce the influence of energies on my own body.

  It was strange that the energy of death was affecting me much less than it used to, I need to ask Mohr why this was so. Having dealt with all our issues, we headed to the meeting place.

  Skal was amazed by the little frosty haze that began to circle around me. But I was afraid that if I did not get rid of this cold in a couple of hours, I would freeze to death.

  Chapter 67

  Meeting with mercenaries. The Equipment. Preventive strike.

  All the mercenary squads were already waiting for us. The beetle warriors looked impressive. The dwarf made interesting armors for the leaders, as well as for the heavyweights, but there was not enough time for the rest.

  However, the dwarf managed to make sturdy swords for almost half of all the mercenaries, and another half was equipped with the weapons from stocks. Metal helmets covered their heads, part of their shell and claws, so now they will be difficult to beat.

  I don’t even know if the spikers could kill a single beetle knight. Mohr put on a strange amulet in the form of a skull and some sort of mantle, and he wore metal gloves with long claws.

  The rippers were overjoyed to see us since they could hardly wait to go into battle. The dwarf stood with a big ax that Lintirionel had given him, saying that she got it a long time ago, and she didn’t want to sell it. The dwarf took good care of this weapon and cherished it, feeling the refined work of a master.

  “Everything is prepared, Sel Er,” Derergon greeted me. “So, take command, you hired us.”

  “Hmm...” I hesitated for a minute, with so many eyes on me. Everyone was impatient to attack the enemy, so I didn’t want to stop them and I only said, “Fight!”

  The mercenaries supported me with raised blades, without shouting, so as not to attract unnecessary attention. Our small army moved toward the spikers’ liar.

  Mulf, Tirliora, and a couple more killers shot the guards. Great, now there will be no one to report our invasion. We crossed the tunnel connecting the den to the main cave. Strangely, there were no traps. It seems that they have never been attacked at all, so they decided to ignore the traps. Well, at least they had guards.

  The spikers were not relaxed, and they had been preparing for the upcoming battle, but they clearly did not expect an attack at this moment and were going about their business. Many of them were sharpening their blades, some were polishing their armor, while others were discussing something important.

  “Derergon, I’m not going to be a good commander, so you take command,” I said, assessing the situation and the spikers who clearly outnumbered us.

  “Good,” the leader of the mercenaries bared his teeth and began doing what he does best. “Gard, take the heavyweights and go straight through the whole den. Rand, you cover up Gard. Mulf, you and your men go around and cut out the isolated ones. If you see something strange, eliminate it, if it is a threat in any way. Then you will wait until we face them, and you gradually cut them from the back.

  Mohr, you, as usual, raise the dead when their losses are substantial. The rest of you, do not let the spikers go behind our heavyweights. Come on! Move it!”

  “Yes,” the heavyweight rumbled, and the big beetles headed to smash the enemy.

  “Everything will be done in the best possible way,” Rand smiled two pairs of his jaws and led several squads to help the heavyweights.

  “I’m going to massacre them,” Mulf’s quiet voice sent chills down our shells, and he disappeared.

  “Even after death, they will serve me,” Mohr bared his teeth, and his eyes flashed with pale green fire.

  Warrior beetles gained speed, and like a bolt from the blue, attacked the spikers. Enemy warriors were not dazed for as long as we would like, and after a dozen dead, they quickly got their bearings, which is commendable.

  But these few precious seconds of delay continued to do us a favor, hmm... a strange expression, perhaps my memory is telling me something. Heavyweight warriors mercilessly crushed the spikers, Rand and his men slew those who tried to resist. Some enemies drew their blades and rushed at our warriors, quickly falling under the fierce attacks of mercenaries.

  It seemed that, despite the orders of the enemy commanders, we would beat them right there. The enemy commanders were very strong and, together with their comrades-in-arms, met our heavyweights, who immediately ran into the enemy’s lines.

  You could see all sorts of emotions in the spikers’ eyes. Rage, anger, bloodlust, and indignation. Apparently, our surprise attack hurt not only the personnel of Narr Nutt’s army but also their vanity.

  Rand used two blades, handing out blows left and right. His squad tried to keep up with their commander, and everyone was eager to demonstrate their skills in combat.

  Warriors on both sides fought fiercely, and at one point we suffered our first loss. The blade of a spiker cut a mercenary’s head off, and his body fell to the ground, flooding everything around with blood.

  The spikers rejoiced and doubled down, and several more beetles died. However, the mercenaries decided to show their strength and ruthlessly cut through the scores of spikers, cutting off their arms and severing their heads.

  Blood and body parts flew everywhere. It was hard for me to look at this, and the haloptiriuses I ate not long ago were about to come out. If I were a living dead, I think I would not have experienced such sensations.

  I would have had different urges – I would want to gobble up what was left of the enemies. This thought almost finished off my digestive system, so I promised myself that I would definitely improve i
t after the battle.

  But the mercenaries stopped dying soon - a new force came into play. Alyona began to heal the badly wounded, at the same time resurrect the dead.

  In the intervals between these actions, she updated the buffs she had imposed on all the mercenaries before the battle. The two-legged was guarded by Lintirionel’s squad, who was now standing with Derergon on a small hill.

  When the first fighter returned to service, the spikers wavered, and their fighting spirit noticeably waned. It is hard to fight against an army that can resurrect its warriors.

  Alyona cast healing spells as fast as she could, but still did not have time to heal everyone, and she was still weak. The spikers gradually retreated, and then I decided to make my contribution.

  Moving closer to the mercenaries, I began taking out explosive balls from my spatial pocket and throwing them at the retreating spikers.

  Deafening explosions thundered among the enemy’s ranks. The energy of the bombs was too weak to kill a single one of these high-level warriors, but the effect was still enormous. The explosions frightened not only the enemy but also the mercenaries who hadn’t seen anything like it.

  “Hold the line!” Derergon ordered threateningly. “These are just Sel Er’s pranks, you don’t need to jump!”

  The commander’s words inspired the warriors, and they began pushing harder, continuing to slay the enemy soldiers whose blood was already everywhere, but there were still quite a lot of them.

  At one point, the enemies stopped and began successfully repelling our attacks. And it became noticeable that the health of some enemy warriors was gradually recovering.

  Chapter 68

  Furious attack of mercenaries. Unexpected surprises. What to do?

  “This can’t be happening! The spikers also have a doctor!” I was amazed.

  “Mulf is there for that,” Derergon grinned, coming closer. “We need to save our strength for the fight with Narr Nutt. We will use all our means and skills against him.”

  A detachment of killers systematically destroyed one warrior after another, and soon Mulf noticed the spiker healer. Dissolving into the air, he was already close to the doctor, but he had to dodge a powerful strike of a big spiker.

  The rest of the beetles surrounded their doctor, keeping the killers away and successfully repelling their attacks, taking down a couple of mercenaries. Mulf had a very difficult task before him.

  The invisible warrior decided to take a very dangerous gamble and ordered the squad to destroy the singles who were heading up to the healer. One of the mercenaries did not listen to him, knowing that he could die, and attracted the attention of the enemy unit to himself.

  It was impossible to miss such a moment, Mulf broke through the line of spikers and struck, and then received several blows at once in response.

  “Enemy doctor defeated!” shouted one of the mercenaries, and the troops drove the spikers from their positions.

  The enemies lost their warriors and retreated, with their blood flooding the earth. The spikers still snapped, but there were already less of them. I could already see the first glances of victory, but they were immediately overshadowed by the darkness.

  “Hold on! The warriors!” we heard the voice of a beetle, appearing on a flat stone hill nearby.

  Narr Nutt, The Head of Spikers, level 89

  The head of spikers was wearing sparkling metal armor, with a red royal mantle attached. On his chest hung an amulet, a gray metal rat on a silver chain.

  His hands were protected by strong metal parts. He was holding a large shield and a long sword, many times larger than my blade. The spiker’s dark orange eyes stared at us. There was no anger, hatred or resentment in them, just anticipation.

  “You dared to attack us,” the head of all the spikers smiled and, looking at the half of the remaining troops, continued. “Commendable and highly effective tactics.

  But you did not have complete information about your enemy, so you will not win. You have defeated many of my soldiers, but this will not help you, because you cannot defeat me.

  The two armies continued to fight under the loud voice of Narr Nutt, and the mercenaries tried in every possible way to prove the spiker king wrong. Their attacks were now more accurate and effective.

  Another beetle appeared next to Narr Nutt, vaguely resembling a gravedigger, only a larger one. He had some sort of ripper magician mantle on but slightly modified.

  The amulet and the rings that hung from his claws were flooded with energy. In one hand he held a carved staff crowned with the familiar Efilioll’s crystal, and in the other, he had something called an orb if I remembered correctly.

  Karag Garak, The Charmer, level 77

  “My faithful servant, open the gates that restrain my power,” grinned Narr Nutt.

  “It will be done,” the exorcist nodded and struck a firm stone with his staff.

  Efilioll’s crystal lit up, you could hear something like a cage-rattling, and then a loud roar sounded, drowning out the battle. Both spikers and mercenaries froze in place, and fear filled the hearts of the fighters.

  A large monster that ran out looked like Potapych I had seen earlier, only this one had thorns on his back. There were so many teeth in his mouth that it was incomprehensible how they could all fit there. His long claws were about the same size as my blade. But the most terrible thing about this creature was its level.

  Brabon, Fierce Marsh Dweller, Level 150

  “Holly crap!” cursed one of the two-legged.

  “May a granite boulder of Quartz Karn smash me if we can beat this bear!” the dwarf tugged at his beard.

  “Now I understand Narr Nutt’s confidence,” Derergon squinted. “But we still have to beat him.”

  “Come on, guys!” Lintirionel commanded. “It’s our turn now!”

  “Let’s kick this pigeon-toed loser’s ass!” shouted the magician and threw a large fireball, which crashed into the beast, but did not hurt him. “It will be a little harder than I thought,” the wizard grinned and continued to create something very powerful.

  “Mohr, you go next,” the mercenary leader turned to the Death Herald.

  “Good, but then I will kill Karag, and this scavenger will not escape,” the necromancer replied and began to create a powerful weaving.

  Brabon did not wait any longer and ran towards us, throwing his spikers around. At high speed, he crashed into mercenaries and killed five at once.

  A few strokes of this monster's claws, and another pair of allies went to rest, their broken remains falling on the ground.

  The bear did not distinguish between our soldiers and spikers, he was punching left and right.

  He used his claws, bit off heads and trampled warriors into the ground. Our blows did not harm him, and even the special attacks of the two-legged from Lintirionel’s squad did not lead to anything.

  Brabon killed and ate everyone around him, pouring out his rage on all the beetles in his sight. Our army began to retreat, and in order to save at least some lives, Gard stepped up to the bear, starting a hand-to-hand battle against it.

  The heavyweight's powerful hands looked like the little fellows’ claws compared to the giant arms of this bear. However, the mercenary did not allow him to attack his comrades, firmly holding the bear in place.

  The monster was dreadfully strong, and it was inexplicable where in our cave he came from, and how Narr Nutt managed to imprison and subdue him. But Gard was still not alone: the two-legged were helping him.

  The archer shot his arrows into the monster’s eyes, the magician covered it with fire, Alyona maintained the team’s energy level and buffs, while Lintirionel and Hyde struck from the sides.

  Gard began slowing down, and his legs began to pop, his shell was filling with cracks. Heck! I could not stand aside anymore, and it was time to get rid of the excess energy.

  Two waves of cold went by the mercenaries and the two-legged, freezing the bear’s hind legs and spit dripping from his mout
h, and the third wave covered his eyes and nose with an icy crust, forcing Brabon to roar.

  In a single blow, he smashed Gard’s armor and his shell, instantly killing the main heavyweight. With two more strokes, he sent Hyde flying, but he survived the fall.

  Lintirionel applied some strange ability, and the bear’s claws could not kill the girl, but hit a translucent tape, enveloping the space around the elf like a dome. The monster doubled down and began throwing the mercenaries around like pebbles.

  The bodies of the dead began piling up. First a dozen, then another dozen, a third, and so almost up to a hundred. It was scary. The dead army, both the spikers and the mercenaries, moved towards the monster.

  Many corpses stuck their jaws into his thick skin, taking away the slightest bit of health. Someone used blades and remnants of limbs, but Brabon threw them around. Nothing could be done against such a high-level opponent.

  I threw explosive balls at him one by one, and only one shot turned out to be successful. The ball flew into the monster’s open maw and exploded right there, knocking out a few teeth and making the inhabitant of the marshes even angrier.

  “Squad, get away from Brabon!” Derergon ordered. “Regroup!” and added quietly. “There is only one thing left, and I wanted to avoid it.”

  Chapter 69

  The fury of Brabon. Old acquaintances. The anger of the king spikers.

  The mercenaries did not give up, even despite the terrible power of the enemy, and even dying, they continued to cause damage to this creature. Alyona used the resurrection and returned some of the dead back to the line. It was too bad that we retreated so far back and the spell did not reach Gard. Three powerful flashes of lightning could make the bear stop. But I should not have gone too far.

  You used too much energy! Energy channels temporarily damaged!

  Time to restore energy channels: 10:00, 9:59, 9: 58...

  I swore, and resentment settled in my soul. How did it happen?! It is unfair that such creatures like Narr Nutt have so much strength! But alright, I was going to fight hard, despite my level. At least I could distract the bear for a while.