Chương 97: 159- Burn It With Moss

Vraxious- The Forsaken Lands Vrax sighed deeply as he turned to confront the two colossal monsters currently tearing into each other. Sunshine was being held over the head of the troll while it tried to rip the flower in half and couldn't because its arms were utterly bound in hooked sawing tendrils that also had gnashing maws on the end snaking down into the troll's throat. Of course that all barely even slowed the damn troll down, it started smashing sunshine repeatedly against the ceiling.

Vrax really didn't want to have to fight the fucking troll again; last time had not been fun. And he couldn't get Duchess to help, or she would probably get all pissy about him stealing her Mimic Feed. Vrax didn't just leap into battle, thankfully, he still had at least a while of Sunshine and the troll trying to eat each other. He took the opportunity to consider his damn options. All he theoretically had to do was get a hand on the troll briefly and channel Adapt Life.

Predator's Gaze told him the thing hadn't leveled up much and he should have enough mana now. But—and this was a big one—the damn thing still could one-shot him if it got a good swing off. Magical armor didn't mean shit if he got hit by a club that weighed three of him that was swinging with enough force to just break a horse in half. The play had got to be something decisive I don't want to just keep throwing adapted monsters at it and hoping for the best.

No my best shot is definitely going to be trying to do massive damage to it quickly… Hmm, a shit ton of smelter moss and a primed smite to the head? That could work, might still get me pasted, though. Vrax shrugged; it was as good a plan as any, and he wasn't too worried about Sunshine getting a bit singed. He was pretty sure it couldn't feel pain or any emotions other than maybe rage and hunger… And at this point he was convinced the fucking thing was just immortal.

The number of times Sunshine had been burned to near ash. Had its body literally torn into pieces or been partly or mostly eaten and just crawled or twitched its battered body away was getting kind of silly. On that note, he cast his Cistern into the room to try out its new evolution. The fungus and moss exploded into life all across the room, actually crowding the two battling titans with its density. Then almost immediately patches began wilting away, sending life-giving healing energy into Sunshine.

Tendrils regrew, and its torn-open maw stitched itself back together. Yeah… that healing passive effect I added to the cistern is fucking ridiculous. Vrax leaned his spear against the doorway for a second so he could pluck nearly all of his smelter moss vials off the bandolier across his chest.

"Sorry, buddy, but I'm not going to get clubbed by you." He threw the vials in one big handful. The sudden outpouring of heat and light from eight unleashed adapted smelter mosses was impressive. The room went from dully lit to piercing green in a single heartbeat. Instantly followed by the air practically simmering with heat. Even the vegetation Vrax had just summoned started smoldering. The troll had a really, really bad time. The smelter moss crept across its large frame like malevolent, hungry lava.

The troll's regeneration was nearly unparalleled, but even it couldn't uncook itself faster than that much smelter moss could turn it into a roast. Its chest and arms were first, falling limp as muscles simply lost function and flesh sloughed free from bone. Then the smelter moss slinked into the creature. Stone was starting to glow and become fluid in the small chamber, and Sunshine was on fire at this point, so Vrax decided to act before he accidentally actually killed the troll for real this time.

He ran into the room and sent Sunshine straight back to its favorite hellish sanctuary, then slapped a hand on the troll as fast as he could. The creature had given up all semblance of resistance. It was a hollow, smoldering husk from the ribs inwards, with only really the head and legs still being anything other than charcoal. It wanted to resist it just couldn't there was no functioning spine left to send aggressive impulses to the rest of the body.

Vrax started channeling adapt life before the moss moved upwards and proved why people used fire against trolls. He knew he wouldn't be able to do much with a beast of this power, so he went with the old faithful. The trolls' simmering red eyes flickered and suddenly burned with a deep inner emerald hue. Its expression slackening from one of sheer aggression to just one of confused pain. [Mana 12/406] Okay, yeah, couldn't have done that before the level up. Still a damn close call, though.

I'm actually quite a bit higher leveled than this guy now too. The smelter moss slowly dripped free from the troll's ribcage and cooled down noticeably now that it didn't have prey right in front of it. Then Vrax witnessed one of the most impressive displays of his life yet. The cistern-born plants began sacrificing themselves in droves to heal the troll in concert with its own insane regeneration. The room around him melted away in vast patches.

Dripping off the ceiling like a candle and down the walls in vile black smears. At the same time winds of green healing energy drifted across the room to a singular focus point, the troll. Lighting the creature so vividly that its hollowed ribs cast shadows across the ancient keep hall. The beast's charred flesh fell free in silty clouds of ash as new flesh burst forth. It started from the heart and built outwards. Then the spine crumbled away as new bone and nerves wound their way into existence.

Organs oozed from blood that built upon them, and finally muscles followed by flesh. It was horrific and wondrous at the same time; the creature went from utterly incapacitated and on the verge of death even for a troll. To being completely whole again in under a minute.

"Holy… hells im glad that's on our side now… I think…" Vrax muttered loud enough for the evil little inquisitor to hear him. Slev rushed into the room in sheer ecstasy over getting his grubby mits on his newest guard and then right back out again as the intense heat and overriding scent of burned flesh and offal hit him straight in the face." Ill just.. wait out here for you and my newest monster!" He shouted back.

Vrax walked around collecting the few smelter mosses he had room for in the menagerie and stuffing a couple more into jars. He hadn't quite figured out how to get them back into vials yet once they were unleased. His normal strategy was just to put natural smelter moss in a vial and Adapt it there. The troll lumbered past him going outside squinting at the light and staring around rather dumbly. Slev for once in his life apparently knew how to appeal to a monster.

Vrax should have been less surprised considering the cruel nature of trolls. His inquisitor walked right up to the foot of the monster and tilted his head back to stare into its beady eyes. It stared back down at him.

"Yes, my new Thrall, we shall kill our way across the kingdom! Conquest, power…erghh…duties…" He finished weakly and glanced nervously at Vrax. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The troll gave the most chilling toothy grin imaginable a single tusk fell free hitting the ground with an audible thud after another healthier one grew out behind it.

"K.. KKIILLL" It rumbled happily and then actually licked it lips. Vrax just shook his head.

"Just…don't get eaten… It's adapted so it's less likely to eat you while you have the mark, but that's about it." The troll swung its head over in Vrax's direction.

"E… EEAAATTT" struggled out, and then it looked back to Slev expectantly, who cackled and gestured for the troll to follow him. He had seen some deer in a nearby field, and he figured between the momento him and the troll, he could kill some snacks for his new friend. Vrax watched in astonishment as the troll lumbered after Slev with the Momento flapping along above curiously. Okay. I have to be having some kind of negative effect on the people around me.

We are like a four-hour walk from the capitol, and he's still just wandering off with his new friends. Whatever… I have preparations to make. Vrax gave Slev some quick directions to Grandma Chitters' cottage and set off back to his capital. It was time to get ready for a long journey so he could shirk all kingly responsibilities.

Vrax hadn't left right away, hells he had actually messed around in his capitol for nearly a week before stereos finally found him and made him sit the hell down and stop making abominations for long enough to get accurate directions to where the Blood Drake's were last located in the ancient Grove records. Vrax looked up begrudgingly from his latest experiment towards a map that Stereos was unfolding across his wall.

His interest was instantly piqued; it was a full map of the Forsaken lands filled with notes and scribbled small details. Stereos had obviously penned it himself. Most of it was still empty space or just symbols depicting expected biomes. But that was the case for practically all publicly available maps. Hell most of them just showed a forest with a few spots marked with skulls where scouting parties died. Then a smattering of landmarks.

The only thing they all had was the dead center of the forest marked as the fallen Elysian Capitol. Vrax stared at the small symbol denoting the greatest city to ever exist almost wistfully. Someday.. someday ill be strong enough to go there to explore like none have before. The things that lurk within that Aberrant zone, the treasures, the unique life, gods even just some hints at what the hell happened.

Vrax stood up fully interested in Stereos's briefing now and walked right up next to him to inspect the map closer. His finger traced lightly across its surface going from hopes end then due east about a fifth of the way into the forsaken lands where the Ravenous grove was located. People who hadn't explored here or seen maps showing scale underestimated how vast the Forest was. It wasn't quite as large as the empire of strands but it was pretty close.

It acted like a blighted bulwark keeping some semblance of a neutral zone between a half dozen nations and dozens of factions. Vrax's finger traced slightly farther into the forsaken lands to the Grove of Vurune and then the Hunting grounds he tapped on the spot marked with the symbol of a tree. Really want to go back to that massive magical tree I just know there is good stuff in there… maybe on the way…

His traced even farther into the forsaken lands to where he had confronted the Emerald predator and completed his last trial. There was a cheeky little symbol of a bark armored paladin being eaten. Stereos obviously was still a bit miffed Vrax hadn't gone on a more sane hunt. Vrax patently ignored it to continue his imaginary journey across the map.

He traced his finger way up then swooped around the Elysian capitol to a craggy looking area marked with lovingly detailed drawings of Drakes with drops of blood flying around them." Right here im guessing?"

"What an astoundingly astute observation sire. Truly your investigative skills will be an invariably pivotal element to this excursion" Stereos said with surprising sass. He wasn't thrilled at how long Vrax had been dragging out him being in charge of the grove's day to day operations.

"I know, I know. You want your damn blood puppy, and you want it now." Stereos's brow twitched slightly.

"That.. is a crude way of putting it but yes it would be vastly preferable to you continuing to skulk around for an indeterminate amount of time while I deal with merchants, trade guilds, knight orders, mercenary companies inquiring if we need additional warriors.." Stereos kept going for an uncomfortably long time really driving home the point of everything he was dealing with while Vrax flitted about in the woods.

"Alright, point taken. I'll leave tomorrow, man, so what do we need to go over?" Vrax gestured at the map. Then he started for real getting ready this time, picking magbane worms from the mound of dirt they live in in his workshop and slowly repacking his travel pack.

"Well… to start with I believe this would be by far the farthest you have ever ventured into the forsaken lands. To travel there you need to fully skirt north of the capitol. That is in addition to whatever you encounter on the way and the fact that you will have to go into the frozen stretches if you wish to stay a safe distance away from the capitol." Vrax nodded and held up a smelter moss vial "Yep I have the heat bit down between adapt life and my armor I should be okay.

Im more curious about what you dug up about this stretch." Vrax stood up so he could poke a spot slightly northeast of the capitol roughly the area he would trek through before reaching the craigs that held the blood drakes. Stereos nodded.

"The frozen stretch is in a constant state of flux, meaning that its thawed grounds flow into this region. The few reports I could find described it as beyond lush. Filled with flora and fauna never seen before and with treacherous stretches of bogland."

"Really? That same description could be used for half the damn forsaken lands." Vrax interjected"I wasn't done…" stereos said with a deep sigh. Vrax piped back down so the bookworm could continue.

"Several reports indicated fungal life, savage and immensely powerful fungal life. Myconid ravagers and worse things abound in this area. And based on what you have told me of your trials, I also believe this may be where the mycelium of death resides."

"Oof, okay, as much as I do want to see what that thing is like, I will do my damndest to not poke the ancient holy beast."

"That would be wise..." Stereos said seeming deeply relieved that Vrax wasn't immediately chomping at the bit to go and bother something with the name "Of death" as its damn title. Vrax froze suddenly in place startling the hell out of stereos when his head snapped upwards with unnatural grace and speed. He abruptly dropped the pack he was holding and his spear then bunched his legs and leapt straight up reaching for something on the ceiling At the same time summoning his armor.

Vrax snatched something from off the ceiling; it writhed in his hands, shaving off hunks of wood and gnashing its teeth across his armored fingers. Stereos stumbled back, readying a spell, thinking they were under attack from some random creature, which wasn't entirely inaccurate.

"Ha! Motherfucker! Finally ive been trying to get ahold of one of you little shits for days!" Vrax victoriously held the Emerald Predator overhead. It stabbed at his hand again a few times and then just grumpily went limp with a bizarre little croaking hiss.

"Oh, don't sulk..." He reached around in his pack until he found an egg. The predator held out its little grabby hands eagerly, suddenly not so upset about being caught. Vrax and Stereos addressed a few more matters before he left, and he decided on who and what he would be taking with him. Torvald, Edward, and Jonathan were all happily busy doing their own thing at the moment, and honestly, he figured they would mostly just slow him down or impede his stealth. The hardest choice for Vrax was to not bring Lux.

The little bundle of murder and unbridled instincts was growing on him by the day. Honestly the Spriggan was just fun. But and this was a big but he was still far, far too impulsive for this particular trip. If lux decided to run off and "Hunt" something randomly like he did so often the odds of it getting Vrax killed were fair. He wasn't as tough as the little guy was, and this was a trip that was going to rely on his woodcraft and judgment as much as his combat abilities.

If he ended up in any life-ending situations because of stupid impulsive decisions, Vrax preferred it be his own stupid impulsive decisions. He was bringing the emerald predator, though. He was pretty sure if he let the little bugger go it would be months before he found it again. So Vrax added it to his menagerie and started working on the last of his preparations. Alright, a good night's rest, and then I'll set out in the morning for Stereos's new pet. And maybe check out the ancient Vurune treehouse on the way…

Who am I kidding? I'm going to the treehouse first, there has to be some good shit there.