Shova 29th 10,391

  Tobi was tired. Lord Six had pushed them hard these past three days. Still, Toby trudged through the rainforest with Little Pete at her back. They were hunting trolls. Toby had never seen trolls, but she knew the stories—great beasts that hungered only for flesh, blood, and pain.

  Nature impeded her movement but the pressure of her lord’s endless marching proved good motivation.

  She considered her path to this point, how she became a level 3 hunter in the village of Mountain’s End. She’d come with Alison and had seen Six fight with them initially. Now he pressed them towards danger, seeking to conquer it.

  She was strong compared to the average villager but such monsters were not to be taken lightly.

  Charles gathered all he could at the Lord's request and they marched east through the forest combing it in a line. Killing all that attacked and allowing that which ran to flee. Still, they had not found their quarry.

  Edna had argued with the Captain telling him that hunters were not soldiers. Charles explained carefully, gently, that the Lord did not care he needed them, he needed their skills. Their tracking. Their expertise.

  Tobi knew that the Lord wouldn't make slaves of them, they had all heard the news from the crafters and the slaves themselves. Six didn’t permit slavery.

  That didn't mean the Lord would tolerate His hunters disobeying. Tobi saw how things worked in Mountain’s End. She would never rise if she didn’t risk herself.

  She had come from Olisrosa. The farthest frontier city of the empire, well it used to be until the Kingdom of Harmony when she was a child. Not that that would last with the news from Lady Venter.

  Olisrosa was a shithole and she didn’t want to go back. She didn’t want to be expelled, exiled from the village sent to live with the drifters in the transient slums.

  So she marched through the forest. Her skills had risen, survival, perception, and athletics. They had fought much in these past two days: Koatl, boars, bristle hounds. Monsters of all types and each time the Lord watched from afar as his motley army purged the land of danger.

  She was tired but kept her position in the formation. All of them strung out in a combing line. Her constitution was only so high and while her endurance provided a large stamina pool her stamina regen could only replenish so fast. It's not that she wanted to stop, it's that she needed to stop. She leaned on a tree, ashamed of her lack of ability. She breathed deep trying to give her body what it needed.

  Slowly, slowly she brought herself to center but her recovery was broken by the shifting winds bringing a rancid scent.

  Her eyes widened as the realization hit her. Her knowledge showed her the signs, a well-walked trail with footprints far too big, a bone here and there, no sounds of life. She felt a crisis was imminent. Her mind told her to turn back but that's not what she was here for she was here to help her village, they needed to know what they faced and she needed to confirm.

  “We have something here, go get the others,” she told Little Pete.

  The kid nodded and scuttled off into the trees. He would call for regrouping and the line of fighters would converge on her find.

  She moved forward, seeking the danger, and found four trolls squatting and feasting upon the bloody remains of a pack of sasquatches.

  Heads between their knees they nibbled away at the torn limbs of the furred humanoids. Snuffling, snorting, and smacking their lips as they chewed away.

  She’d found them, now it was time to leave.

  But a sound from her path of escape turned her blood cold.

  A troll the size of a two-story house pushed its way through the underbrush and fixed an evil glare upon her. Its lips curled in a sick smile as a malevolent will bore down, its aura laughing at her terror.

  In its hand was a deep crimson club that oozed blood from thorns along its shaft. The weapon had an aura too, it sang with despair and resentment, a thing that wished for ever-growing pain.

  A cry choked in her throat as the beast took its time approaching her, savouring her shivers and twitches.

  She wanted to move but even as the club was raised she couldn’t overcome the fear and hopelessness that welled within.

  But at the moment the weapon reached its zenith, Six was there.

  He rode upon the village defender Poh Doh as they crashed through the forest and chanted a mantra of battle in his strange foreign language, the avalanche behind him joining chorus as Poh Doh slammed into the giant troll.

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!”

  The lord leapt into the air, armor gleaming, as his screaming blade appeared in his hands.

  It plunged down and a torrent of thick blood erupted from the huge troll as it rolled, fighting Six and his golem.

  Behind their leader was the rest of Mountain’s End, streaming through the trees, and battle was wrought.

  ***

  Six screamed his rage out as he leapt from the back of Poh Doh, throwing himself forward and plunging his saw deep into the chest of his enemy. Blood sprayed as the teeth spun and tore, the monster keening in pain. Six activated his weapon’s enchantments and a conflagration exploded, the troll's chest blasting open and ejecting a cone of flesh chunks and blood.

  Six was singed by the flames and cursed as the village was too far for him to receive the benefits of Tempered By Flame. Unfortunate.

  The troll clawed a hand in and tore Six away from the clinch launching the man back.

  Six slid as he hit the ground drawing the bottom of his saw along to slow his momentum.

  He reoriented in time to respond to the troll’s follow-up. Its club was redirected with a Deflect but the maneuver could only soak so much and the blow slammed through, shattering his Force Shell. Glittering remnants in his shape remained as Six was once again sent flying away.

  Flipping wildly through the air, Six could see Poh Doh tackle the larger troll and tangle it up. Six hit the dirt and rolled to his feet, employing both his Analyze and Battle Meditation skills.

  His regens shot up while he received info.

  Zernulg

  Blood Troll

  Level 21

  The blood and flesh that he tore away from Zernulg were coalescing into bubbling masses, those masses solidified into tiny trolls in their own right and then charged in to surround Six throwing themselves at the enchanter.

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  Six kept them at bay with roundhouse kicks and crosschecks with the flat of his bar, hesitating to cut them apart, fearing the creation of even more. Instead, he blasted the area with a Fire Wave burning them to a crisp.

  Zernulg managed to separate from Poh Doh despite the golem's immense strength, speaking to the innate power of an evolved monster. It roared and slammed its club at Six’s creation producing an ear-splitting crack and fracturing the crystal golem.

  Six moved in while scanning the battlefield. The other trolls were lesser, unevolved, but still a danger. Keegan, Narhurin, Tavi, and Oppo each led a squad of frontliners taking the brunt of the punishment while supported by mages, golem operators, and archers. They pushed forward as Nibbler and the now recovered exploding archer unleashed hell from afar. Lunar blades slicing and arrows expanding into blasts of fire. Tavi’s plasma golem blasting off jets of superheated lances.

  Charles moved about on his horse of darkness, buffing groups with his ritual enchantments and taking the odd potshot. His Warleader skill giving every soldier extra movement and sustain.

  Kali Kik stood even further back with her healer core, providing much needed sustain.

  Six had to trust that his people would handle the four beasts while he handled the boss.

  He crossed weapons with the Blood Troll and while each clash tore chips away from the bloodwood club, the weapon regenerated. The damage that six inflicted upon it was healed by blood drawn from the environment, replacing the missing material.

  The oppressive size and strength of the Blood Troll begin to overwhelm him. Even empowered by his buff stack Six was slowly being pushed off balance.

  The troll’s arm grew for an instant, veins pumping with blood, the appendage becoming a monstrous limb the size of a horse. The club smashed down and a golden shield sprang into existence breaking instantly and barely slowing the attack. Brace and Deflect giving Six more durability and redirecting the blow to the side. It still shaved some HP off but not enough to conjure another vital shield. It did, however, put the enchanter off balance.

  The empowered arm cycled another strike, too fast for Six to dodge without proper footing.

  But on command, Poh Doh bowled into his creator and received the attack instead. Another painful crack sounded through the forest but this time the golem was shattered into innumerable pieces. A cloud of dust and stone shards buffeting the area.

  Six rolled to his feet as fragments of his creation pinged off his armor like smoking shrapnel. An Imbue Life topped his life up as Zephyr’s Embrace blew the obscuring dust of PohDoh away. In his hand, the wand of mana spear, Six unloaded both casts and the massive pillars of force blasted two holes through the house-sized troll.

  It only staggered for a moment. Blood gushing from the wounds momentarily before it coagulated in an instant. Even staunched the wounds were significant but the troll acted immediately. Picking up one of its tiny blood clones, ripping its squealing head off with a tearing bite and pressing the little troll's body into the hole. The corpse melding and patching the perforations, healing it quickly and morphing into angry red scar tissue.

  Then the blood troll raised that infernal club and uttered something in its guttural nonspeak and the club emitted a glowing pulse. Each time it beat Six heard whispers of despair hit his mind before it was cut by Mind’s Edge. Whispers he ignored, much like the thunder of his own self-doubts.

  The remaining troll clones rushed Six but Lump blasted out a series of firewaves to incinerate the little trolls into ash.

  Zernulg approached and Six knew he needed more.

  He screamed his new technique, “Titanic Empowerment,” growing by almost two meters, standing near twelve feet tall. His body overflowed with strength and his HP doubled as well.

  Still, Six only came to the Zernulg’s chest.

  The troll laughed as he witnessed Six’s growth. Confidence radiated from the beast as it shunted blood and power into its arm for another mighty swing. But this time Six’s Brace and Deflect redirected the entirety of the club’s momentum, driving the vile weapon into the ground.

  “Precise Strike!” Six rotated his saw and performed an undercut, lopping off the troll’s freehand and disarming

  Even still the troll itself was a weapon, augmenting its free hand with monstrous physiology and unloading a haymaker directly into Six.

  All SIx could do was try to control his momentum and stay on his feet. His enlarged form sliding backwards and crashes through the smaller trees. He nearly passed out from pain as the crystal shard in his chest was disturbed and sunk deeper, applying a large amount of damage to his health pool.

  He nearly shed a tear of frustration when he saw the amputated hand wriggle, right itself like a spider, then launch itself at the coagulating stump. Arcing and rotating in the air before sticking itself back on the limb with a wet slap. Strands of blood pulled across the wound and the troll examined the reattached hand, waggling the fingers and laughing.

  Six needed more.

  He had to use everything and he had just finished charging one of his latest acquisitions.

  “Focused Action.” A construct clicked in his mind and he could feel both mana and stamina beginning to circulate within his mind, preparing to augment his next move.

  “Unleashed Muscle!” Six exploded in size. His physical stats shooting up sharply and his gear growing to accommodate his change. Power pulsed through him as the secret technique of Keegan's family exalted the enchanter.

  He stood eye to eye with the two-storied Zernulg and for the first time, he saw fear in the troll’s face.

  A wave of troll clones rushed forward and a punt sent one rocketing, it collided with a tree and became a spatter of red. Six roared and ignored the irrelevant things. It was this destroyer his anger cried out for.

  Zernulg swung wildly but Six stopped it with a gauntleted hand. Then Six returned the wild swing and once again separated the troll’s hand from its arm.

  Separated from its master the club's whispers turn to screams. The collective pain and anguish of its victims slammed down on Six’s psyche. Six’s mind cut through the shrieks like a water jet through a hammer. He tossed the crimson log away, he did not need it.

  He would not be stopped.

  Six channeled Plant Growth and used the roots and grasses of the forest to sew the severed hand into the earth. The hand struggled against its woven bindings as the troll bellowed its rage at the restriction.

  “That ain’t going nowhere.”

  Zernulg charged into Six and bore him to the ground. Snapping its mouth at Six’s head before emitting a roar of its own. Poison fog billowed out of its fetid maw and Six was breathing heavily, already pushed to the limits of exertion. It hit his system immediately and he threw up in his helm, the damage over time effect surpassing his innate health regen.

  Six needed to get this monster off of him and bucked his body, the two giant forms crushing and rolling through the underbrush as they grappled for dominance.

  But with one hand the troll was at a disadvantage, despite its healing factor.

  Six broke the grapple and made distance by stomp kicking away before jumping to his feet and lunging in with his chainsaw. The heavy and unathletic troll still rising.

  He unleashed his Double Strike Multi Strike combo. Unleashing a Conflagration and incinerating its remaining hand.

  Stone Spikes pinned its legs in place and the wriggling torso of Zernulg was impotent as the troll’s eyes stared at Six in fearful anger. Still not fully comprehending its situation.

  It was helpless but even then Six could see the wounds closing and fresh nubs reaching outwards trying to become arms and legs.

  “Fire.” called Six and from the outskirts of the battle came ten golem operators who were in reserve. Each controlled two fire golems that moved to hover and orbit around the seething troll.

  There was no snark, no levity in victory.

  This necessity disgusted Six.

  “Burn it.”

  The troll screamed as twenty gouts of flame roasted it until the only sounds it made were the crackle and pop of its skin.

  Six waved his hand to end the immolation once he received the kill notification and the majority of experience.

  Six may not be a master of killing, but he did have talent.

  He looked to the other aspects of the battle. His people were taking losses but they were doing their job. He still had work to do.

  Six waded forward to finish the threat.

  ***

  “My Lord,” Oppo dropped to his knees and prayed to Kynairos. Six was… unstable. “One of the pressed has taken this opportunity to flee into the forest. I beg forgiveness, please allow me and some of your soldiers to hunt him down and I shall bring him back.”

  The battle was over. His broken arm had been tended to by the healer Kali Kik. But after a count of his men, he knew one had escaped. Six would have eventually learned of this, it was all Oppo could do to be honest and forthright. The Lord had no patience for dissembling. He needed to fix this.

  “No.”

  Oppo flinched at the rejection and tensed further when Six pulled him to his feet.

  “This is something I shall do myself. Six pointed at the nearest hunter. “Come, track and hunt the one who wishes to escape their penance.”

  She nodded, eyes ringed with exhaustion. “Yes, my Lord.”

  ***

  Tomathy thought he had gained his freedom, but he now understood it was a tenuous thing.

  The Lord of Mountain’s End pursued him and all he could do was run.

  His stamina was fast depleting but he needed to push past it. He needed his lungs to keep working despite the fire he felt within them.

  Behind him, he heard the lord slowly gaining. No matter how hard he ran, it wasn’t enough.

  All he cou- “ARUGH”

  He tumbled as his foot was caught by a root. Landing prone and scraping his hands and face. He moaned as he went to stand but an agonizing spike of pain shot down his legs and ended all feeling below his waist as weight bore down and broke his back violently.

  His mind struggled to process the moment. He screamed more in terror than anything.

  Something impacted the back of his head and everything went dark.

  Tomathy’s eyes opened and his vision was unfocused but he could hear whispers, like a rustling breeze they spoke of pity.

  Then he heard the words. “This man was one of Amog’s. One who attacked us, took from us. Despite that I granted them mercy, I granted him the chance to change, to become one of us. Instead, he had the temerity to try and circumvent our exchange. To take from us once again.”

  The man’s vision cleared. He was at the head of the town square, the prisoners assembled in ranks, showing their obeisance to the lord through genuflection. He tried to stand, but his legs weren’t working. He was held aloft by his shirt, held aloft of the gauntleted hand of Lord Six. Lord Death the worshippers of Kynairos called the armored warrior. He knew it to be apt as he knew his own death to be imminent. “Please, please my lord.” he began to blubber.

  “Thus begins the bartering. But there is no more trust to be given. No more charity to dole out.” Six looked through Tomathy and he felt invisible, he felt…

  The lord bared his teeth. “There is nothing.”

  Then Six dragged the man back and pressed him against the dark red bark of the nascent blood tree.

  What could Tomathy do? What could he say? He realized he was speaking but it was instinctual. A mantra of stuttering pleas.

  That was broken as the tree began to move, slowly at first. A root withdrew from the earth and wrapped itself across his chest. Fear broke the last vestige of self and a wail echoed across the courtyard as he struggled against the firm hand of the Lord keeping him there.

  He tore at it and kept struggling despite the joints of his fingers over-extending, his fingernails peeling, despite the impossible force of nature that held him.

  Even as more branches and roots embraced him, pulled him closer and constricted his chest the primal part of his mind cried and fought.

  One of his ribs snapped and he didn’t feel the pain.

  His mind was far too consumed with terror as he was consumed by the tree.