Chương 17: Landogre

Time until next Elemental Storm: 3 Hours and 57 Minutes There's still stuff left? Ethan realized with horror. And what the hell was a Landogre? What was a Hearttree?? Ethan felt acutely all his wounds over the day. Tired, cold and wet. He didn't even have the luxury of drying himself out. The sky was dimming again, and it would begin to drizzle again soon. Just… I just have to keep moving on. He didn't need answers to his questions nor escape from his own wounds.

He just needed to complete the quest, and the rest was out of his hands. The monsters kept looking towards the centre of the jungle, ignoring everyone and everything around them. They moved in a line towards the newly built bridges, walking on them slow and slack-jawed. He didn't know what business they had there, but he wasn't going to be there later than the monsters. Boost. He leapt up platforms, gradually making it to the bridge before taking off in a sprint.

While he ran, he pulled life force from his core and pushed it across his body. Most of the wounds and cuts he'd taken healed up fully, leaving Ethan in top form. [Health: 97. 3%] None of the monsters even glanced towards him, their eyes transfixed ahead. Even Ethan found himself squinting from what he saw. He couldn't believe his eyes, because it looked like a wall of life force appearing out of the horizon.

He shouldn't have been able to see it so far away, but the strength of the life force made his Talent act up. Can I… Can I take all of it? He wanted to devour every piece that was on the horizon, and that hunger made him speed past the other monsters to reach it. He stopped when he found the source of that giant life force. It was a tree, wider and more massive than any other he'd seen before. It was so wide that he could see scores of other monsters walking across other bridges to get near it.

But more than the size was the colour of the thing. It's orange… just like the hearts of the treants! If those were the hearts of the monsters, then this must have been…

"This is the heart of the jungle. The Hearttree." He walked ahead, and noticed a small ramp curving slowly around the massive tree and going upwards.

"The Landogre is up there," Ethan said aloud, anticipation and fear mixed together in his voice. The monsters stood in front of it reverently. The treants on the higher platforms, and the golem monsters at the bottom. The trunk of the Hearttree extended down below into the spiky depths, but there was something amber and glowing there. That must be the heart of the golems, then. How did I never notice it before? Glimpsing his map, the massive tree finally appeared there.

The place must have stayed hidden as long as the pedestals were unactivated. Ethan finally reached the end of his bridge, and dropped down to a platform coming out of the massive hearttree. Even that felt more solid than any other platform Ethan had jumped towards. He reached the giant trunk, and placed his hand against the surface. All the essence is bound inside. If I grab it, could I just shoot up to E-Rank? He readied his hammer to try chipping off a piece, but before he struck, he heard a growling.

A thousand green eyes looked at Ethan, claws bared and bile ready to fire. They'd kill him if he tried. Fine. I won't take any… for now. He stowed away the hammer. The only other thing of note were the bones that two wolf treants were bringing. He watched as they laid those bones down in front of the hearttree, and began to howl in a low tone. The other wolves around them joined in, and a magical branch extended from the hearttree to grab the bones.

It formed the bones into a new wolf treant right in front of its eyes. The monster looked as surprised to be here as Ethan was to watch its conception. So, that's how they make new treants. The notes hadn't been clear on that aspect, but at least Ethan knew now. The new passive wolf treant reminded Ethan of the panther. He looked around for it on the platforms, but all he found were deer and other woodland creatures. There wasn't a single trace of the strange panther, which made his heart drop a little.

At least some of them survived... Though he wasn't sure why they revered the Hearttree as much as the golems or treants had. They didn't derive their lives from them after all. He knew everything there was to know about the dungeon now, and he couldn't wait to leave it. He started up the curving ramp, and his mind wandered back to the first few days he'd spent in the Realm Trial. Pride swelled up in his chest at having made it this far.

Maybe other Trial Goers had found an easy way across, but he wasn't any lesser than them for the way he'd chosen. Let's get out of this Realm. The ramp took nearly an hour to climb by itself, and Ethan ate and drank during the period to get his strength back up. Eventually, he even passed the clouds and their drizzling. Some tiredness did creep into his head, but he staved it off until he was finished. Finally, he reached the top of the ramp, and went into a narrow straight tunnel surrounded by branches and leaves.

Ethan couldn't see past the branches, and his Talent only showed life force on all sides, so he just followed it to the end, where he saw light. The bright shining light turned out to be the binary suns of Skiland. He hadn't seen them in so long that they pinched his eyes. And then he saw where he'd ended up. A gigantic circular arena of wood, where the edges curved up into wicked orange branches. There were corpses littered all over the place. Wolf and gorilla treants, golem ants and worms, and even animals. Even…

panthers. Ethan let out a sigh, but there was only death essence streaming off the corpse, not a single sign of life. Tsk, I was hoping you'd survive. Beyond the corpses lay a single figure, standing tall with a massive club placed around its shoulders. It looked out to the other end of the arena, opposite to Ethan's, giving him time to walk up to the panther corpses laid about. I… I don't know which one of these you are, but you should be proud of yourself, buddy. You made it this far.

He patted one on the head, stroking its fur before standing back up. The Landogre turned at the same time, facing Ethan and Ethan alone.

"You're not going to give me time to harvest, are you?" He asked. Orbs of light shone where its eyes should have been. The colour of them shifted between gold and green with every moment. And the skull they sat in was shaped like that of a goblin, only bigger and fatter. Its body was bigger and fatter too, with an etched skeleton poking out in certain places, but most of it was wooden strands wrapped around each other in the place of muscles.

The monster wore no clothes, and the only decorations were plates of stone beneath the surface of the wood, and spikes of stone in various other places across the creature's body. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. In his Talent's vision, the life force across the monster's body was even thicker and bigger than that of the Hearttree. And for a weapon, the monster had a giant club of wood, orange just like the Hearttree below it.

The monster wasn't just a threat to Ethan, it was the conflux of everything this realm stood for.

"You probably don't even understand me. But you're not going to stop me, no matter how strong you are," Ethan barked.

"Rhuuu….." [Translating Atherian into GPA Standard…]"I…. am a…. failure…." The monster's guttural voice made Ethan freeze up.

"And so…. Will you…. Beeee….." The Landogre took the club off its shoulder quicker than Ethan could see. Boost! He jumped backwards on reflex, avoiding the monster's overhead smash. The attack landed on the ground instead, spreading thick cracks and caving it in.

"You can talk?!" But the monster didn't reply. It swung its club sideways with its right hand, forcing Ethan to jump up. That was a mistake, as it backhanded him with its left. The blow took the air from his lungs and sent him rolling. Life force came from his chest to heal the blow, and he got back to his feet before the monster was on him again. Ethan barely kept up with the monster's blows as it swung its club wildly. One misjudged swing was all it would take for him to get turned into paste.

But reacting wasn't going to win him the fight, and he was running out of time. Come on, Ethan, or did you forget everything you learned? Death essence gathered in his finger tips, and after another missed swing, he hit the Landogre in the eye. The monster cried out in a sickeningly human scream, and Ethan brought out the hammer. DE Overlay! Ethan fired a boosted hammer strike right into its chest, but the wood only cracked a little. Chips of stone fell from the impact point, and the monster recovered.

Ethan backed off to gain some distance. Another blow from the Landogre cracked the ground, and Ethan came back in for its knees. DE Overlay! The full force of his hammer crashed against the monster's kneecap, and its heavy frame fell. Death essence unravelled the wood there, revealing more stone plates hidden underneath the surface. It's protecting most of its bones with that! Ethan realized, before the monster tried grabbing him once more.

"Pest…." Ethan dodged the hand, but he felt something wrong in the air around it. Is that… ozone? Lightning crackled in the monster's hands, shooting off into the edge of the platform. Not as fast as true lightning, but it would've killed Ethan regardless. How can he do that?! It made no sense to Ethan. Controlling wood, shooting acid, it made a little bit of sense, but the lightning came out of nowhere! Ethan found his answer when the Landogre wound up another lightning blast with its off hand.

It swung its club wide, hoping Ethan would jump to the air to avoid it. Instead, he jumped backwards, narrowly missing the club. He was on the ground again, and he dodged out of the way of the lightning too.

"Pest!" The Landogre repeated.

"Failure!" More lightning bolts fell in between swings of the club, forcing Ethan away from the monster. Fine, if that's how you want to play it, I'm glad! He readied DE Shots in each hand, firing them off towards the monster. But it raised its club to block, and the death essence died on it. In return, it threw another lightning bolt, one that missed Ethan by inches. Shit, I let myself get too far. He's going to pick me off at this rate! He needed to close in again to get any real damage.

He Boosted his legs to do so, and started running. Before he could make too much progress though, the runes across the Landogre's leg bones started to glow. It let out a mighty roar, and slammed a foot down into the ground. The tree began to shake, and Ethan lost his momentum. He fell and slid across the ground, leaving himself open. Before the Landogre could ready another lightning shot, Ethan jumped behind one of the bigger golem ant corpses, and steadied his breath. Another trick? How is it doing that?!

He was getting frustrated with all the moves it was pulling out, and even more so on how to beat it. The monster fired more lightning bolts against Ethan's cover, breaking it apart slowly but surely. I need to go for its heart, but I can't sense it! Its life force is too thick! Another lightning bolt broke rocky bits off a golem's corpse, and Ethan shielded his eyes. He forced himself to look while the monster was charging another blast. No, I have to be wrong.

If it was made of the Hearttree, it should all be orange just like it. He'd learned by now how to push his Talent and toggle his life sense, but now he needed to take it further. Ethan focused, his soul shaking and struggling to pierce the thick veil of life force that made up its body. But eventually, the hazy life force solidified, and Ethan glimpsed something beneath the surface. Just above its belly, hidden by layers of wood was the beating heart tree, large and thick.

Every pulse from it reinvigorated the monster, helping it forward to kill Ethan. He was happy that it was real, but frustrated that it was hidden behind so many layers of defense. Doesn't matter. I just need one crack at it and I can unload all the death energy I have inside. He ran out of the cover once he heard the next lightning blast. When the Landogre saw him approaching, he switched back to his club and tried to smash Ethan with it. Boost! Ethan jumped forward, out of the reach of the club.

Before he landed on the Landogre's chest, he shifted the energy from his legs to his arms. His hammer struck the monster in the chest and sent it three steps backwards. Ethan landed on his feet, the Boost having transferred back again. Where he'd struck, he saw loose rocks fall out and branches rot away. The Landogre growled at him, its voice more hoarse now than before.

"Pest…." The repeated Pest… was getting on his nerves, but he didn't let it show. He just readied his hammer again, channeling death energy onto the head. But the Landogre didn't come in for another attack. Instead, the runes around its throat and spine muscles began to grow, and it breathed out onto its club. Red flames burst from its mouth, singing its lips and clinging to the club like an enchantment. It swept the club downwards, and the flames trailed right behind it.

Ethan turned and ran, as the Landogre slammed its foot down again. Ethan stumbled, but he made it out of there before the monster could hit him with its burning club. It landed on the wooden arena instead, creating a bonfire where it left a mark. Ethan readied more DE Shots as he gained distance, firing them into the Landogre's chest to widen the hole. But it blocked again with the club, and slammed it down repeatedly into the floor.

Ethan wasn't even close enough to be hit, but that didn't stop the monster from continuing its rampage. Oh! It's making sure I can't run over there! But how the hell is it going to survive the fire? The answer turned out to be simple. Once the Landogre was done tearing up the land, it simply walked through the flames unaffected. Which put Ethan on a second timer. He couldn't keep his distance from the monster or else it would burn up more places he could run, so he had to get close once more.

DE Shots fired into the Landogre's arms, legs and chest, rotting away the wood and slowing down its movements. Once he was close enough, the Landogre tried to grab him, but Ethan met it with his sledgehammer. A Boosted strike knocked the hand away, crushing bones in the process. Ethan tried to wrangle the recoiling sledgehammer back into position, but the move forced him into a fatal mistake. He didn't expect the second hand to grab him from behind, and pull him into the air.

Ethan began to panic, but he got himself under control. He dropped his sledgehammer and started firing DE Shots into the Landogre's elbow, hoping it would break off and drop him. But the hand held tight, and its other limb started to fix itself into a fist. No, no no, nonono— Lightning and flames gathered in the fist, and Ethan's panic rose. He tried ripping off the piece of armour the Landogre was holding him up with, but it was no use. The Landogre's grip on him was too tight. DE Shot, DE Shot, DE Shot!

More and more death essence spread across the elbow, but not nearly fast enough. The fist sailed towards him, and Ethan focused all his life force into his chest. A white flash of pain erupted across his body as the blow landed. One second, he was there in the monster's grasp, and the next, he spat blood and bile out onto the floor, as something large, heavy and blurry came towards him. His armour was breaking apart right in front of him.

He could feel several bones cracked around his chest, pushing and piercing against flesh. What metal was left on his armour had scorched his skin, leaving severe burns that threatened to overtake his mind from their ferocity. Rain fell upon him again, washing away the blood and freezing him where he wasn't burnt. Fear took hold of Ethan, and he tried to force life force through his body as fast as he could.

But using Skills was mind and body over matter, and his body was convulsing from the shocks flowing through it. Get up, get up, damn it! GET UP! He shouted at himself, but his thoughts wouldn't reach. He saw the Landogre raise its fiery club at him, ready to come down like a guillotine. GET UP, ETHAN! The ogre brought its hands down and— Missed by an inch. A dark shape had appeared across the Landogre's elbow, biting what was left clean off.

It'd turned the monster's aim just slightly askew, saving him from his gruesome fate. The move also left the Landogre reeling in pain, giving Ethan the time he needed to put his bones back in place. When his eyes finally focused enough to see, Ethan was shocked to find the panther standing there. Its claws were sharp and ready, a chunk of wood was in its mouth, its twin tails were in the air and stars shined even brighter than they had before across its body.

With its appearance, the tide of the battle shifted once more.