Chương 44: Chapter Forty-Four: Breadcrumbs in the Forest

FORTY-FOUR Roan launched the spear with a grunt, the long weapon sailing with deadly precision as it punched through the large goblin. The creature gasped and staggered, but didn't die. Roan cursed as he ran faster toward the eight foot behemoth that was swinging around a tree trunk sized club. Still forms lay at its feet, climbers who had tried and failed to kill it already.

This was his fifth fight already and was looking to be his first failure at reducing or at least directing climbers towards Darren's makeshift camp. Nobody was running around the massive beast as it hollered in pain, one meaty hand reaching up to try to pull the spear out of the center of its chest. Its beady eyes weren't even pointed at Roan as he got closer to it.

Roan couldn't tell if it was arrogance or stupidity, but when the warhammer shattered its knee, the giant beast screamed in pain as it fell to the ground. The spear's butt hit the ground and went further into the massive chest, popping out the back in a spray of black ichor. It gurgled and spat as it started to get back up, both massive hands on the ground as it started to push itself up. Roan broke the monster. It was slow, methodical, painful work.

Every blow of the warhammer shattered joints and left the massive beast howling in pain on the ground, enfeebled as its elbows, knees, wrists and ankles were destroyed. Its massive round head was in the dirt, the ground muffling its screams as Roan lined up the attack. Its skull shattered but the creature didn't die. It took two more blows before he finally got the alert he'd been waiting for.

POOR GRADE OGRE (GOBLINOID) HORDE LIEUTENANT 200 CREDITS It was a nice infusion of cash, but after the windfall of Lester, it seemed to pale in comparison. Roan hopped on top of o the muscular body and grabbed the slick spear under the head and pulled with all his strength. Pulling a spear through a body was not easy. He rolled the ogre over but it had nothing on it but a necklace made of teeth, which he took. The three dead crawlers had been relatively poor.

Two of them had been using the inferior-grade skeleton weapons of the last level. What they had was mostly bandages, a food ration, a short sword similar to Darren's which went on Roan's belt, and a backpack. It was the pack that Roan was most interested in. Unfortunately it was mostly empty with just random squished up items from the last level in it. Amulet shards, a few pressed grave petals, and a single jar with a sliver of the cleansed mushroom in it. Even off the level the thing still glowed with power.

Roan emptied his pockets into the pack and threw the tooth necklace into it as well.

"Thanks," Roan told the dead men as he left them and kept moving through the woods. Of everyone he had met so far, not a single one of them had been from his instance of the first level. Or at least he hadn't met them. Most hadn't been wearing the clothes or uniform of the sects or colleges, but with how many were now wearing tower bought clothes, it was getting harder to tell. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

None of them had been using bloodlines or special abilities when he'd sent them to Darren. It made him wonder how the tower had split them up, spreading them out across the floor. If it had made sure the bloodline users were spaced out it just lent more evidence to the culling potential of the level. The sounds of constant fighting were dying down, but that made it easier for him to find the next fight. He marked the trees with an X and number, currently on 42, and an arrow pointing the way of the last tree.

It would be easy to get lost in the woods and he had to mark the trees accordingly. If the goblins could read it would be like he was making a map for them." Just hope that Darren has enough supplies for everyone I sent to him." Most of the people he'd found were walking wounded, people who limped their way in the right direction. Roan hadn't given up his healing potion to any of them, simply staring at them blankly when asked if he had supplies.

Roan kept to a jog, spear in his better hand, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice. He kept the warhammer gripped right under the head, the spike pointed down and the flat hammer part upward toward his body. Nothing like tripping and impaling himself to improve his day. Every other minute he'd mark a tree with quick movements, keeping his path easy to follow. Five minutes into the jog he heard a roar that shook the forest. Roan turned and followed the cry.

Another five minutes later the screaming of the monster was so loud his ears ached, but he still hadn't found it. He turned a tree and stopped in his tracks as he looked to see Taoya and a small group of other sect fighters fighting a massive… thing.

"What the hell is that?" Roan wondered out loud as he looked at the destroyed forest. Trees were knocked over, the grass burnt away or dug up. Other climbers were at the edge of the fight and an occasional missile rose up to strike the mass of flesh. Knives, spears, axes, whatever they had on hand. Drops of black blood leaked from its emerald flesh and splattered the ground. Wherever it hit, the ground grew withered and died away. Roan took a breath and took a knee.

The fight looked fairly stable with the group using kiting methods to keep the monster confused and it gave Roan a minute to analyze the situation. It was about fifteen feet tall at its shoulders, all six of them. Legs thicker than tree trunks ended in clawed feet, sword-like claws dug trenches with every move. Its skin was leathery, but it was being cut easily enough, though the wounds healed after only a moment. Power flowed into the monster as it bounced around, slowly draining the life of everything it touched.

Its face was long like a lizard's with four eyes on each side of its skull and long boar's tusks coming out from its jaw. Seven of the eight eyes were burnt orange but the eight was a mess of liquids and blood, someone's axe wedged in it. A long spiked tail swept back and forth as the creature shrieked again. From snout to nose it had to be nearly thirty feet long. As it twisted Roan saw a pustule on it.

With its body slick with its own black blood it would have been easy to miss, but this section of its body was clear. Underneath the middle leg where it connected with its round torso, was a pulsing black tumor.

"Think I found out how the levels are connected," Roan muttered as he stood up. They weren't going to kill this animal, not with what they currently had at their disposal. It was healing itself making bleeding it to death impossible and nobody here had the power to one shot it. Even Taoya's massive attacks seemed to be doing little more than irritating it.

"Just need to get it away from everyone else so they can get out," Roan said as he started making a plan. Already he didn't like the plan, it was dangerous with little to no reward, but the large group of climbers would appreciate it. Maybe appreciate it enough to let him look at any skill manuals they had bought.

"The things I do for a good book."