Chapter 186 - The Bigger They Are (Patreon)

Zeke’s chest heaved, and his shoulders slumped in exhaustion, but he’d finally finished his task. All around him, there were salamander corpses, each sporting various fatal wounds. Some had crushed skulls, others looked like four-legged bags of rubbery skin, distorted by crushed bones and liquified entrails, and still others had obviously been killed by Pudge. Those last were the most grisly, their flesh reduced to ribbons by the bear’s teeth or claws. At Zeke’s insistence, Pudge hadn’t used his fire attack; he suspected that the turtle preferred its lizard raw, after all.

As he caught his breath, Zeke put all the corpses into his storage, then said, “C’mon, Pudge. Let’s go back to the pit. We can rest up there.”

The pair did just that, trekking back to the giant hole they’d dug two days before. It had taken a lot longer to exterminate the local salamander population than he’d first anticipated, but he’d gone about it with grim determination. The first group had been relatively easy to defeat, but he’d soon discovered that it was much smaller than normal; in fact, most groups were at least twice that size. So, his initial easy success had proved to be the aberration, rather than the rule.

One thing the fights had given him was a good estimation of his armor’s power. For one, its repair and cleaning functions were exponentially more efficient than that of his previous set of armor. That alone made it worthwhile, but it was also incredibly durable, and the salamanders had only been able to penetrate the blood mithril if they managed to bring the full pressure of their jaws down on one of his limbs. Not an easy task at the best of times, but with [Heart of the Berserker] affecting his stats, it was almost impossible to pin him down. Overall, Zeke was very pleased with the armor, but he’d already begun to think of ways to improve it.

But that would have to wait for later. For now, he had a turtle to kill. And failing that, some moss to obtain.

Dismissing his helm, Zeke ran his hand through his sweaty hair, wishing he could go back to the tower and take a shower. But he knew that would be a bad idea. With the turtle’s favorite food source having been massacred, it was only a matter of time before the monarch-tier monster left its territory in favor of more plentiful hunting grounds. Zeke’s plan was to catch it right before it made that decision, when it was too desperate to question the bait but not so desperate that it chose to go elsewhere before Zeke had the chance to set the trap. As such, he couldn’t afford to head back to the tower, as much as he wished he could.

Despite the hellish landscape surrounding the fiery lake, Zeke let more comfortable than he’d felt in months. Part of it was his Cambion nature; he’d felt something similar in the demon realm. However, it was also due to his action-oriented nature. Zeke was a task-driven individual who thrived when he had a goal in front of him. Early on, it had been his escape from the troll caves. Then, it had been the mission he’d accepted from Silas and Lady Constance; even when he’d accepted it, he’d suspected it was bogus, but it had given him direction all the same. After that, he’d been driven forward by Aja’s quest. His foray into the obsidian caves and the escape from the demon realm were much the same in that he knew precisely what his goal was.

It wasn’t until his time in Jariq, when he’d been forced to sit still for weeks while he healed, that he’d realized how much he’d leaned on his goals. He needed to move. He needed something for which to shoot. A goal. Otherwise, he felt like he would lose his momentum. And increasingly, that seemed incredibly important.

All that and more went through his head as and Pudge made their way back to the pit. After seeing the turtle again the previous day, he’d decided to expand it a bit, so now it stood at almost a hundred-and-fifty yards long and two-thirds that in width. From everything he’d seen, it was large enough to contain the turtle.

He’d debated on adding spikes at the bottom, but he didn’t think it would do much good. After all, it was a monarch-tier monster, and as such, it was incredibly durable. Even the comparatively soft underbelly was likely a good deal tougher than his own skin. Expecting a spike to penetrate its hide was folly.

After making sure that everything was set up properly, Zeke sat down on a hill overlooking the pit trap. Surrounded by the charred and twisted trees and bathed in the eerie firelight, he spent a peaceful couple of hours in meditation as he recovered his energy. As he did, he wondered if he should set some runic traps within the pit. It would certainly make his job easier. The only problem was that doing so was outside of his area of expertise. Given a few days, he could probably cobble something together, but it was just as likely to blow up in his face as it was to aid him in his endeavor. No – it was better just to go with what he had.

But it did give him something else to add to his list of topics to study. It might be a while before he could get to it, but adding traps to his repertoire seemed like a good idea, even if it wasn’t he could pursue in this situation.

Finally, he felt ready to put his plan into action. So, after approaching the edge of his pit, Zeke circled around to the side closest to the lake. Once there, he started summoning salamander corpses from his spatial storage and tossing them down into the pit. He had almost sixty of the dead bodies, and he threw half of them into the trap. With that done, Zeke traced his way back to the lake, leaving a trail of salamander corpses behind. Finally, he left three of them in a spot that he judged was just out of the turtle’s reach.

With that done, he retreated to a safe spot in a nearby copse of trees. There, Zeke settled down to wait.

“You know the plan, right?” asked Zeke, glancing at Pudge.

Wait until turtle is in the hole, replied the bear. Then jump down and kill.

“Right. Don’t go down before I do, and wait until I give you the go ahead,” Zeke added.

Not scared, was Pudge’s predictable response.

“I know you aren’t, buddy,” he said. “We’re just being careful. If I say the word, you run away, though. We might not be able to kill it.”

Pudge nodded his giant, horned head; the bear seemed to have gotten even bigger over the past few weeks, and now was the size of a full-sized pick-up truck. Would he continue to grow? Or were other changes on the horizon? Zeke had no idea, and given that Pudge seemed to be completely unique now, he suspected that no one else would be able to give him any answers that were anything more than sheer speculation.

He would just have to wait and see.

It took almost two hours for the turtle to finally make its appearance, and it was just as huge and intimidating as the other two times Zeke had seen it. It cut through the flaming lake like a scythe, displacing huge amounts of water on its approach to the shore. When it reached its destination, it struck out with lightning quickness and snatched up the first salamander corpse. Then another. And another.

But then, it hesitated. Clearly, it didn’t understand why the salamanders weren’t scattering, but given how confused it seemed, Zeke felt secure in his assumption that it was no more intelligent than any other beast. More powerful, sure, but it wasn’t like the thunderbirds Abby had described.

That was a comforting thought.

Like any other predator, the turtle wasn’t going to turn down a free meal, though, and soon, it was back to snapping up the salamander corpses. After it finished the first pile, Zeke held his breath; if it took the bait, the plan would probably go off without a hitch. But if its hunger was sated, he’d have to rethink everything.

Thankfully, the monster spotted the next salamander in the line that led back to the pit, and it dragged its enormous body out of the lake. And it was bigger than Zeke had thought, which made him grateful that he’d taken the time to expand the pit. Otherwise, it wouldn’t even have been an obstacle.

More, the thing was built more like a sea turtle than a land tortoise, with flippers in place of its legs. Its shell, illuminated by the ever-burning fire on its surface, looked like volcanic rock with tiny rivers of lava running through the cracks.

The turtle pushed itself forward with surprising speed, its black-scaled head snapping out, almost too quickly to follow, to gobble up the salamander corpses. Zeke let out a sigh of relief when it didn’t stop, instead following the trail toward the pit. Once it was halfway there, Zeke ducked out of his hiding space and began to follow at a respectable distance.

Finally, after a torturously tense few minutes, the monster reached the pit. When it did, it let out a surprisingly pitiful whine, obviously frustrated that it couldn’t easily reach the feast below. Instead, it perched on the edge of the pit, extending its neck as far into the pit as it could; Zeke had no idea how close it came, but it didn’t matter. His plan, simple as it was, had worked perfectly. Now, he just had to give it a little push.

Literally.

“Remember what I said, bud,” Zeke told his companion. Then, without waiting for a reply, he took a couple of steadying breaths and took off at a sprint. As he did so, he layered on his skills. First, [Heart of the Berserker]. Then, [Life Scythe]. And finally, he held [Unleash Momentum], which had been building for quite some time, on the cusp of activation.

Once his skills were taken care of, Zeke reached into his own mind and took hold of his martial path. But he didn’t focus on his mace, like he usually did. Instead, he focused on something a little more ephemeral. Something a bit more conceptual. Zeke wasn’t sure what to call it. At times, it felt like force. Other times, it seemed like momentum. Whatever the case, he forcefully restrained himself from pushing over the edge. As powerful as brushing against that higher concept had been, he didn’t think he could survive doing so a second time.

But he could grasp something lower-tiered. Something powerful enough to make a difference, but not so strong that it would rip him apart. All it took was every ounce of his willpower, which he’d been training for weeks for a moment just like the one in front of him. As soon as Zeke felt his mind wrap around that unnamed concept, he felt his body respond.

He wasn’t stronger. Nor was he more durable. Rather, he simply felt more…unstoppable. Like he would keep going, regardless of what stood in his way. If it didn’t move, he would simply go through. His armor had earned the juggernaut moniker, and with that unnamed force running through him, it felt incredibly appropriate.

Zeke’s feet thudded against the ground, but the turtle was too focused on its free meal to notice. Not until Zeke lowered his shoulder and rammed into the enormous creature. He wasn’t so deluded as to think that, even with his massive strength and other advantages, he could move the turtle far. But with it balanced so precariously, Zeke knew it wouldn’t take very much, either.

Still, when he hit the backside of the monster’s shell, it was like running into a mountain. His momentum was stopped cold, and he rebounded a dozen feet before tumbling, end over end, only to find himself on his back and staring up at the starry sky. Vaguely, Zeke was aware that the monster had let out a roar, but in his dazed state, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

A moment later, Zeke heard the sound of another collision, followed shortly by a screeching wail and a much larger crash. His muddled mind took a few seconds to sort itself out, and when he finally manage to lever himself into a sitting position, he saw Pudge standing at the edge of the pit, shaking his head rapidly back and forth. But of the turtle, there was no sign.

Another wail, and Zeke finally shook himself free of the cobwebs. The plan, as idiotic as it was, in hindsight, had somehow worked. Clearly, his own charge had only been enough to knock the turtle off balance, and it had required Pudge’s efforts to tip it into the pit. Now, it was stuck.

Or Zeke hoped so, at least.

Now, he just had to get what he needed. If he could, he’d kill the thing – killing a monarch-tier creature had to come with some kind of reward, didn’t it? But if it proved to be too much, he’d just run away.

Secure in his plan, Zeke strode forward.

But he didn’t get far before an enormous shape dragged itself out of the pit. It happened so quickly that Zeke only had time enough for a single look before the giant turtle opened its mouth and let loose with a column of fire so hot that it turned the surroundings to pure ash.

Even Zeke, who was mostly immune to fire, felt the heat. Instead of burning him down to ashes, though, it only managed to make him uncomfortable.

Still, after the column of flame petered out, he muttered, “Goddammit.”

Apparently, he wasn’t that good at doing things the smart way.

With a sigh, he mumbled, “Well, there’s always the other way.”

Without another word, he summoned his mace and let a [Life Scythe] loose. It arced out toward the turtle, slashing through it like it wasn’t even there. As it did so, a huge flow of vital energy flooded into Zeke, healing his minimal injuries and dispersing his fatigue. That done, he roared, sprinting forward with his mace held high. The turtle met his roar with one of its own, and a moment later, the battle was joined.