The Land: Monsters

by Aleron Kong

  The chaos lord finished his spell and once again slashes appeared on his brown skin. Blood flowed from the rents on his body and his health dropped by two hundred points. His mana dropped by more than a hundred. The magic descended on the alpha ravager wurm. It struggled against the spell’s power and Richter’s own will, but it succumbed just like the last one had. Richter wasted no time ordering it to retreat.

  To the orcs’ surprise, and the surprise of the other wurm, the alpha pulled back. Richter could have ordered it to attack the monster next to it, but he didn’t trust the orcs. They needed to stay occupied for a bit. So while the other wurm continued its battle against the Warriors, Richter ordered his blood slave to kill the one that was still healing.

  Without hesitation, it dove at the wounded monster with all the speed of a Tier 2 predator. It struck the still-healing wound made by the orcs’ attacks and literally ripped the other monster in two. This didn’t destroy the wurm completely though. Both halves started attacking Richter’s blood slave. His controlled monster fought back. Each of the wurms stabbed their talons into each other’s bodies as fast as possible. In seconds, orange ichor was raining like a small storm. The sounds of tearing flesh filled the cavern. The chaos lord turned his attention back to the Tier 1 worms.

  In just seconds, the golem’s health had fallen by over a hundred points. If it wasn’t for Sloth’s high defense, it would have already been destroyed. Still, the innumerable attacks from the two dozen worms were wearing it down. The golem wouldn’t last much longer. As far as Richter was concerned, it didn’t need to.

  The battle had been split into three sections. The four orc Warriors fighting their wurm, the blood-controlled alpha killing its former comrade, and the largest section, Richter and his golem against the Tier 1 monsters. The worms might have been a lower tier, but they still weighed more than a hundred pounds each and had a strength greater than an adult man.

  Richter healed the golem. The Earth construct couldn’t do anything more than stand there, weighed down by the sinuous bodies of the worms. It was basically a punching bag, but that was good enough for now. The chaos lord summoned reinforcements and evolved them.

  Know This! Your spell Akaton Evolution has evolved your Saproling into a Whip Vine Elemental, a rank 2, Uncommon Evolution. This is 1 of 4 possible evolutions. Max Tier of evolution for this creature is Tier 1. There are 3 other known evolutions: Thorn Saproling: (common rank), Hardwood Saproling: (common rank), White Arborast (unusual rank)

  Attack increased by +7. Defense increased by +5.

  Special abilities:

  Burrowing Tendrils – Can sends attacks underground to attack from beneath

  Briar Patch – Makes a defensive mesh of sharp thorns that surrounds the Whip Vine Elemental; the patch’s thorns are coated with a stamina poison

  The saproling he’d summoned had originally looked like a large badger made out of vines and branches, but now its body looked like a Venus flytrap. It forced roots through the rocky ground, losing its ability to move around. At the same time, a circular wall of two-inch-long thorns sprung up around it. The tip of each was tipped in a blackish-green residue. Richter had finally unlocked the fourth evolution of his saproling. There was no doubt it was more powerful than the base creature.

  His chokespore arachnid evolved into a new form as well. Just like with his saproling, his evolution into a chaos lord had unlocked a new evolution. Luck was with him and it changed into one of the strongest forms!

  Know This! Your spell Akaton Evolution has evolved your Chokespore Arachnid into a Springdrill Spider, a rank 2, Uncommon Evolution. This is 1 of 5 possible evolutions. Max Tier of evolution for this creature is Tier 1. There are 3 other known evolutions and 1 unknown evolution: Solvent Spider Queen: (common rank), Mesmer Spider: (common rank), Cinderspore Arachnid (common rank), unknown (uncommon rank)

  The two-foot-tall spider doubled in size. Its forelegs now ended in spears with broadhead-like points. Its abdomen lost the fungal spore holes and turned thin and sleek. With a hard shake, a new set of legs popped out of its thorax. The entire thing shouted one word: “dangerous!”

  Attack increased by +8. Defense increased by +3. Speed increased by +6.

  Special abilities:

  Armor penetration – +25% Attack vs armored targets

  Lunging Jump – Double speed during jumps

  Richter ordered both creatures to attack. Tendrils shot up through the ground, raking the worms’ bodies with hardened thorns. Somehow, the whip vine elemental could even burrow through solid rock. The spider dove forward so fast it blurred. Two worms were raked with deep wounds before it even landed. It then set to attacking anything within reach.

  The spider’s hardened legs easily penetrated the monsters’ bodies and more orange ichor stained the rocky ground. The summoning had only taken twenty seconds, but the golem’s health had already dropped down to 60%, despite the healing. With the intervention of the summoned creatures, some of the worms were pulled away and the golem could get back on its feet.

  Richter didn’t stay out of the fray. After making sure the orcs and Tier 2 monsters were still occupied, he went in swinging. The spikes on his club easily cut through the worm’s bodies. There was a kind of symmetry in using a ravager’s talons to rip apart the monster’s less evolved cousins. Most of the worms were level twenty. They would have torn him apart when he’d first come to The Land, but that Richter was only a pale shadow of his current power. Every blow was powered by his sixty-seven points of strength and hit like a hydraulic press, splattering his enemies. Each swing of the studded mace ripped through the worms’ bodies like they were made of gelatin.

  Even with that fighting prowess, his plan wasn’t to kill the dozens of monsters by hand. Even with his newly summoned allies and golem, that was a risky proposition. He was just making room for the next phase. The raider worms were only the appetizer of this battle; he had to plan for the main course.

  Richter’s head was splitting from having depleted nearly all his mana. Almost any other fighter or mage would have had to rely on their mana regen. The chaos lord wasn’t known for his patience.

  As soon as he’d cleared the monsters within immediate reach, Richter called on the power of Earth. Green light surrounded his fingertips and a sphere of forest-shaded light sprung up around him. The mana expenditure nearly bottomed him out. If not for his high magic regen, he wouldn’t have had enough MPs to enact the last phase of his plan.

  With a migraine and the edges of his vision blurry, he cast one final spell. Ruby light surrounded his fingers and connected with the bloody remains of more than a dozen orcs that had been slaughtered by the monsters. The wood sprites had a saying, “Tsini cha nu majresu-shi.” It translated into, “Always fear a Blood mage, and always kill him first.” The worms were about to learn why.

  Battle-drunk laughter spilled out of Richter’s throat as streams of ruby light rose from the bloody ground. In his mindscape, more blood flowed toward his mental fortress, but his Tier 2 mind was more than safe behind its high defenses. His magic was siphoning mana from the life blood of the orcs. Each blood source could restore one mana per second for every skill level of Blood magic Richter possessed. At skill level twenty and with so many bodies, his mana bar filled as fast as pouring water into a glass. Not only did his MPs get replenished, but the max capacity of his mana pool increased at the same rate. For the next hour, he was able to harness more mana than he ever had before. He stared out at the worms assaulting his Earth shield with an almost sexual anticipation.

  “Let’s play.”

  Weak Rending Talons, Weak Sonic Wail, Weak Acid Sphere, Weak Thorns Underfoot!

  Every offensive spell he had in Earth magic shot from his fingertips. They might all be rank 1 spells, but that didn’t reflect the damage they could wreak against opponents that couldn’t fight back. The worms desperately tried to get through his defensive shield, but that would have taken long seconds they just didn’t have. With every s
pell, the worms were injured further. His summoned creatures and golem literally tore them into pieces. Richter knew the pain and anguish of wanting to kill a mage that was just beyond reach. It was the most frustrating thing in the world to not be able to attack someone that was hurting you with abandon. Now that he was on the other side of the coin though, he realized this wasn’t half-bad!

  The last spell he cast was Grease, catching half a dozen of the worms in the AoE. After that, he stepped backward while casting. His back touched his shield, banishing it. Showing perfect timing, he finished the incantation for Fireball at the same time. A sphere of pure flame shot from his hands and detonated, burning three worms and killing one of them outright. The edge of the explosion set the grease alight and the monsters that had been trying to escape joined their brethren in the hell of being burned by a merciless god. Like the Chinese, Richter had a lot of hells.

  The monsters that were still able to move whistled like tea kettles at seeing their quarry finally come out from behind his defensive wall. Richter was still moving backward though. One hand was casting another spell and the other presented his middle finger. A new spell shield sprung into existence around him. The ruby-red streams of Blood mana passed through the Basic Element walls like they were nothing, but the monsters were stopped cold again. It was true that Weak Static Life Shield had both lower HP and defense than Weak Static Earth Shield, but there were only a few raider worms left. Most importantly, he could now cast Life spells through his defense.

  Healing magic flowed onto his summoned creatures, bringing them both back up to 100% health. The golem couldn’t be healed that way, but with its high defense, it was fine for the moment. Over the next minute, his minions slaughtered most of the remaining worms. A few were left for their master who dropped his spell shield again and waded back into the melee. Again and again, he cast Soul Trap on monsters that were near death, netting him another seven common ranked souls.

  Every last raider worm got that treatment, except for one. Richter chose the lowest ranked worm that was still alive, a level twenty. Blood-red magic surrounded his fingers. He cast Tame. A higher-level monster would obviously have been stronger, but it would also have been harder to control. To fully tame a monster required it to stay under the thrall of his Blood magic for four days for each level it had. That meant he had to successfully master its will over and over. Yeah, a higher-level monster would be stronger, but a lower level monster was easier to control. This was clearly an ’a boob in the hand is worth two in the bra’ kind of situation.

  This time, the prompt was a verdant shade of awesome.

  Congratulations! You have tamed the Level 20 Raider Worm!

  A silent resonance pinged both of their souls and the magic brought the raider worm’s spirit in sync with his own. For the next forty hours, its will was trapped behind a lattice of Blood magic. With his skill level of twenty-eight in Beast Bonding, the Tier 1 creature had an almost zero chance of breaking through before the barrier elapsed. Richter had just gained another ally!

  The XP from the battle chimed pleasantly in his battle log.

  You have slain a Level 47 Ravager Wurm (Tier 2). You have gained 5,018 XP.

  You have slain 26 Level 18-35 Raider Worms (Tier 1). You have gained 4,611 XP.

  XP deficit remaining: -3,826,797

  He was less than excited to see how much he still owed on his XP debt, but he’d also gained almost ten thousand experience for half an hour’s work. He really couldn’t complain. Richter turned his head and took in the rest of the scene. The entire time he’d been killing the Tier 1 monsters he hadn’t lost sight of the larger battle, so he knew everything was well in hand.

  His puppet ravager wurm had finally slain the wounded one. Both monsters were built for resiliency, but between his controlled monster’s higher level and the fact that the other one had already been grievously hurt, his puppet had won the day. More than half of its health was gone, but that fit in with Richter’s plans perfectly.

  The last part of the battlefield was about to quiet as well. Working together, the four orc Warriors had managed to chop the final ravager wurm into pieces. All of them were injured, one quite seriously. The green-skinned fighter had two wurm spikes sunk deep into his chest. From the red froth on his lips and his agonized breaths, Richter knew a lung had been punctured. Wounded or not, one of the orcs brought his axe down on the last segment of worm that was still quivering. He must have hit a vital organ because it stopped moving.

  The chaos lord examined the four orc fighters. Their names were Ryuu, Darkensi, Kenae and Drafna. The highest leveled was Darkensi. The plate armored orc was Ryuu, who was hurriedly quaffing a health potion. The others were drinking potions as well, ready for whatever was about to come next.

  The Warriors looked at Richter, not letting their guard down at all, not that he blamed them. As impressive as their musculature was, it had nothing on his hulk-like body. In fact, his overall appearance was something to give a grown man nightmares.

  His body and hair were drenched in blood of different colors. The still-gleaming gauntlet on his arm made him look part-Terminator. His spiked mace was dripping gore, and they had all seen the streams of Blood magic flowing into him. That marked him as one of the most dangerous types of magic casters in The Land. They’d have to be fools to trust him. The still-burning bodies of monsters he’d just massacred served as a backlight, clothing him in dancing shadows.

  The chaos lord stared at them, flanked by his puppet ravager wurm, tamed raider worm, evolved summoned creatures and golem. The Warriors stared back, each of them bleeding, bruised and overall unhappy about the situation. The silence grew thick before he asked the four of them in perfect orcish, “Any of you fuckers know how Bond takes his martinis?”

  Five sets of eyes stared back at him in anger, fear and curiosity.

  ~ The Story Continues ~

  Thank You

  This journey started four years ago. I never saw my life taking this turn, but I am so thankful you’re sharing the path with me!

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  As always, Peace, Love, and the Perfect Margarita!

  Aleron

  INDEX and Epilogue

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