F-Rank Frank Chapter 38 The Devourer (Patreon)

<<<Author's Note: I intend this to be the end of Book 1. Don't worry Book 2 will begin here shortly. Though I do intend to have a two week break between releasing Book 2 on Royal Road. Again, this won't affect you all at all, just give you more premium content that you all deserve. Thank you and hope you all are having a great day.>>>


Chapter 38

The Devourer

To say that the Devourer was enormous would be an understatement. The long-overgrown earthworm like creature was imposing. As it easily hovered over twenty feet up in the air.

The fact that it was able to hold its body up vertically for over twenty feet indicated that at least forty or more feet were anchoring its massive weight under the ground. This was a fact that Frank could personally attest to, as the creature seemed to stretch on for a few dozen feet or so, before it finally began to fade away.

Even then, the Devourer seemed to barely be able to push its way through the widened hole created by the rodents who could seemingly devour everything with their unrelenting maws.

Wits sudden appearance, it even managed to squeeze out the last few rodents that were apparently taking too long for their turn to exit.

This left a Devourer, a monster of dread and slime as the primary opponent with a few other large rodents left to contend with as well.

Focusing on the massive beast, Frank noticed a few things. First, the creature was quite possibly an overgrown earthworm. That or one that looked to be what would happen if an earthworm found death energy and learned to simultaneously survive while devouring more dark energy crystals in the ground and slowly growing larger while never dying.

The thing was massive, and seemed to ripple with dark slime oozing out of its pores. Just looking at the monster, it was clear that this beast had somehow managed to cultivate through multiple realms. How, or rather why a monster of this size and power would follow the orders of the Dark Queen, or rather one of the minions of the Dark Queen was beyond Frank.

All he knew was stuff from record books.

This was one of the original world enders that had somehow survived the original purge. Likely as this one either managed to hide down in the deep unclaimed corrupted lands, or somehow the dark army had learned to recreate these creatures.

Fortunately for Frank, this creature appeared to be alone, as no others seemed to follow.

In fact, behind this creature was nothing but mildly corrupted lands. Lands that would need to be cleansed but would not be usable by either the corrupted or humans for a while.

“Don’t get near it, the slime will cause the rot. Only hit it with long range attacks. All healers, and patients still needing care fall back.” Captain Perinne shouted, her commands creating order during chaos. People who had been running away, suddenly turned back to either grab at a disabled or otherwise vulnerable soldier and carry or drag them away as needed.

This was important as it mean that the field was quickly being cleared, that allowed Frank to focus on what was happening around him.

For starters it was clear that other than being able to move upwards and out in a radius the movement of the giant worm-like creature was slow. That or it could only go on the semi-corrupted land that the rodents had already desecrated while chewing their way through the stone marble floor.

Frank figured that this lack of wishing to move likely had something to do with the amount of dark slime that coated the creature. This meant that logically trying to dry out the creature was likely a way to eliminate the creature. In fact, that was how some geomancers managed to some of these during the first wars for humanity. As Geomancers created salt flats that would dry up and eventually strip away the protective outer layer of the beast. Of course, those same geomancers then had to deal with the insides of the beast, but that was a lot easier as the slime also seemed to have mild healing properties for the worm. In fact, if a deep enough cut was created, and enough slime was present, it was highly likely that a second Devourer could be created from the excised mass.

After the slime was gone, the easiest noted way of dealing with the creature was to then burn away the inner shell which was allegedly highly flammable after a certain threshold was met.

That said, the energy of the giant worm beast was too violent and chaotic to be affected by anything Frank did or could do. Even trying to input energy that was of a different frequency was met with minimal reaction.

RAAWWWW!

In fact, after hitting the beast with the same beam that he had been using on the giant rodents, all he did was seem to annoy the oversized beast.

Seeing the fact that Frank’s outstretched hand and directed energy at the Devourer only seemed to enrage the beast as it reached back and began calling forth a stream of volatile dark energy, Frank could only duck.

“Run!” Captain Perinne shouted, grabbing and pulling both Frank and Yolinda out of the way of the intense burst. Even with his superior attributes, it seemed that the Captain was at a whole other level.

SIZZLE!

Corrosive dark slime sprayed out, striking the ground where Frank and Yolinda had just been standing a moment ago, Frank’s last patient long since managed to be removed from the area.

With that, all that was left was a giant pool of burning corrosive slime that seemed like would burn straight to Hell if given time.

Then seeing the cultivators running, the remaining few rodents began to charge and chase those that were fleeing.

As they ran, Frank noticed an odd occurrence.

Most of the rodents avoided the stream by any means possible. But one that was clearly injured from the earlier extermination efforts stumbled and shambled as chunks of bone pierced its body. This shambling caused the creature to first get close and then stumble entirely into the pool of corrosive slime.

FWOOSH!

The instant the injured rodents came into contact with the slime, there was an instant reaction as the dark energy of the rodent mixed with the much denser and more volatile energy of the slime, before catching fire and igniting in a brilliant burst.

This gave Frank an idea.

Seeing how powerful the Captain was, he realized there might be a way to kill two enemies at the same time.

Focusing on the still charging rodents, those that were not so injured as to fall into the burning pit, Frank held out his left hand and injected them with the now destructive beam of dark energy.

Stun.

Instantly the rodents that Frank had targeted began to stand still, as their bodies began trembling and shaking violently as waves of energy coursed through the creatures.

“Wait, can you throw those rodents into the Devourer?” Frank ask, his voice causing the Captain who had been in a mad sprint to stop, turn and focus on the enemies behind her. Enemies that were now stationary. Well everything but the Devourer, who now that its entry point was clear began fighting and wiggling slowly, like an obese creature trying to wedge their way through a spot that is too tight. Which was exactly what was happening in this case.

The Devourer twisted, struggled and seemed to try to suck in, as it forced inch after inch of its overlarge body to forcefully crawl through the hole it arrived in. This was a slow process, but one that the creature looked more than capable of doing, particularly as no one remained behind to offer any resistance to its arrival.

Seeing the creature, and realizing that if this creature managed to get free of the confines that now held it, the entire base’s security would at risk, Captain Perinne paused and placed the two cadets down. Well one cadet, and one junior officer that was more of a younger sister than anything to the Captain.

Looking back at the creatures that were slowly twitching, convulsing, and ultimately collapsing to the ground, Captain Perinne asked, “what’s the plan?”

“Grab them, and throw them as close as you can to the Devourer.” Frank said.

Hearing the plan, Captain Perinne just paused and looked at the boy like he was mental. “That’s it?”

“That’s all I need from you,” Frank replied, a bit defensive.

“Okay,” was all Captain Perinne said, then trusting in the boy’s instincts, she did just as requested. Running forward, she grabbed the first rodent by its jaw then flipping it over on its back, she hurled the beast forward.

Being as this was the beast that was the farthest away, and that the creature was un-aerodynamic the creature landed a few feet away and ultimately bounced twice before rolling to its final resting spot, right at the base of the giant worm creature.

In all, Captain Perinne looked somewhat disappointed with the toss, even though she had managed to throw the creature a good hundred feet or so easily. Then with the final bouncing and rolling it went a total of close to one hundred and thirty feet. Not bad, especially with the slight way the rodent quivered in the air and seemed to try to resist the toss.

Yet, that was enough, as Frank used the moment that it finally rolled to a stop at the base of the Devourer trying to exit the hole to Detonate the loose death energy.

BOOM!

SHRIEEEK!

With the explosion, the Devourer cried out violently. Quickly a dark flame was seen for a moment, before pools of slime oozed down, covering the flames and seeming instantly heal any damage that the beast might have taken.

However, that was enough for Captain Perinne to realize that the plan might work.

Shrugging, Captain Perinne began moving forward and tossing the other rodents as far and as accurately as possible.

Compared to the first one, her form for the second throw was much more effective as this rodent only needed to bounce once before jumping up to touch the body of the Devourer a foot or so off the ground.

BOOM!

By the time the explosion happened, the next rodent was already in the air. With each throw she got closer to the Devourer, which made the throws that much easier to perform.

ACID SPRAY!

With the strike, the Devourer let out more jets and streams of poison slime. While Frank, Yolinda, and the Captain were too far away from the blast for it to do anything other than create a temporary DMZ between the two parties. There was an added effect that the spray did kill off any rodents that had cowered back in fear, or been too injured to mover forward with the initial charge. Effectively cutting off the number of corrupted rodents that the team had to deal with.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As a team the two of them worked, Frank would disable the rodents, then Captain Perinne would throw the disabled and twitching creatures at the oversized Devourer. Then when they got close, Frank would strike out mercilessly and detonate the death energy that was laying dormant and unclaimed within the rodents.

The death energy of the devourer was still too strong and too contested for Frank to do anything against it, but that didn’t mean that Frank couldn’t force external energy to strike at the beast.

By the fifth eruption, the layer of slime that had coated the Devourer was down to a slight glaze.

Stunted Acid Spray

With each attack the Devourer continued spraying out streams of acid as far as possible, but the sprays seemed to be drying up at the same rate as the external layer began to wear away as well.

BOOM-KA-BOOM!

Then there was an issue as Captain Perinne sent the sixth and seventh rodents too quickly together. This caused only one explosion that caught the other rodent midflight, knocking it off target and causing almost no damage at all.

Panting.

By now, Frank felt the weight of so much exertion wearing away at his body.

Looking around, Frank saw the room and realized that there were no more rodents left. That the only thing left was the Devourer, a far weaker Devourer than the killing creature that had first arrived. But still Frank tried to look for more, only to find that there was nothing else to attack.

Between the work of the two parties, both the Devourer and Captain Perinne’s constant throwing, no more corrupted rodents remained.

Focusing on the energy of the Devourer, Frank once again tried to reach out to the beast, in an attempt to try to wrestle control away from some of the densely packed energy.

Tilt.

However, this time just like last he was met with resistance. Worse still, this time Frank felt his mind spin and lurch as a wave of violent feedback shot back at him mentally, causing him to stumble.

With having undergone so much and still pushing both his mind and body to the brink, Frank felt his consciousness begin to flicker and fade. Then before he knew it Frank was freefalling to the ground.

Strong hands.

“I’ve got you,” the voice of an angel called out to Frank, grabbing him and gently letting him collapse to the ground.

“REINFORCEMENTS!” The overly brash sound of James Holsy cried out, causing Frank to smile slightly.

“Brother!” Yolinda the person next to Frank, the angel that had grabbed him called out in surprise and thanks.

“Whoa, what happened here?” James Holsy asked.

“He did.” Yolinda said, gesturing towards the prone form of Frank who was even now fighting back the stream of exhaustion.

“I can help,” Frank said, raising up his hand.

“What? You trying to steal all the glory here kid. Gotta save some for your wingman at least.” James said, accessing the situation and then seeming to come to a conclusion, as a giant smile crested his lips.

“What?” Was all Frank could utter to that response.

“Don’t worry, this is typical action. Guy one goes in saves the day wears down the enemy to a breaking point, but is unable to end it. Better looking guy two comes in finishes off the monster, gets the girl, has the story written about him. No, you just stay there and let the rest of your team go to work.”

Thump, thump, thump.

At that the man that Frank vaguely remembered as Vanguard charged past James who was going over his plan for glory with Frank.

“And then the Master comes when his protégé takes too long yapping and not enough time doing.” Vanguard said, before lunging forward. One second he was on the ground running straight towards the stagnant pools of highly corrosive acid. Then just before Frank could let out a warning, he saw green energy fuse into Vanguard’s legs before he lunged forward, broad jumping over the pits of acid, and then infusing more energy into his hands, he began reaching out and striking at the highly injured beast.

“Oh, come on. I had to wait on you old man. Now you are going to steal my thunder!” Holsy shouted, standing up and clearly going to join his Captain.

“What are they?” Frank asked, his mind tired from everything.

“Shh, just rest, they’ve got it from here.” Captain Perinne said, coming over and blocking Frank’s view.

SHRIEK!

All he could hear were the wailing death cries of the Devourer in the distance.

“They do?” Frank asked lamely, his mind slowly relaxing as he realized there was not much else that was required for him to do, and he was so so tired.

“Yeah, go ahead and relax for a minute,” Captain Perinne stated.

Then with that, Frank closed his eyes and let his mind relax for just a moment.

Darkness.

There in the darkness, was first alone. Floating and free.

In the world between dreams and reality, that is where Frank saw multiple events going on all at once. He saw a coordinated strike on the base. He saw the massive casualties on the part of the corrupted monsters, but more importantly he a second coordinated internal strike occurring on the underground facility that hosted all the test subjects.

That’s where he saw monsters fighting to free both Constance and her master Christie.

Frank saw this, saw their movements and realized that he was somehow powerless to stop them as all he could do in this state was watch. Watch and observe their movements.

At this, Frank realized that the entire attack was just a front, or maybe the attack had multiple objectives. It seemed that the number of corrupted beasts that were lost in the attack were deemed to be acceptable, as they gained not just these two sentient corrupted creatures, but many more that were also being experimented on in the underground complex.

Then as quickly as they appeared, the entire group began to leave. By now Frank was right next to Constance, having what he felt was the most prominent connection to her.

Working quickly, Frank tried to place his own mental tracker within Constance’s mind, just as she had done to him not too long ago.

Shiver.

With that action, Frank noticed how Constance shivered at Frank’s attempt to enter Constance’s mind.

It had to be clunky, and for a moment Frank was worried that his effort had been noticed.

“Everything okay?” Christie, the aunt who Constance followed into combat, asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Constance replied.

Christie for her part just stared at her niece, then nodded. “Come on, let’s go.”

Constance for her part just nodded.

Seeing that her niece was okay, she too nodded her head, before ducking down and jumping into the escape hatch.

Then as Christie’s body disappeared down and began running into the shadows that lined the tunnel that their rescuers had used to burrow into the underground complex, Constance turned to face right where Frank imagined his incorporeal body was standing, or rather floating.

Facing Frank, Constance smiled brightly, causing fear to run down Frank’s spine as he was certain that she knew where he was. Or rather that she knew what he had just so clumsily attempted to do.

Smiling, she blew a kiss, and said four words that would haunt Frank in his sleep before leaving.

“Goodbye for now, lover.”

Then like that the connection he had with her mind was gone, as the thread of energy was completely severed. At least, that was what he hoped.