NOVEL NEXT Chapter 043: Lesson From The Past
The heat within Wechuge slowly died to annoyance as the few remaining members of the militia turtled up in fear of getting torn apart from both sides of the conflict. By now it became obvious, it was only due to panic that the monster managed to get away with what it had been doing. They had magic based/infused attacks and only didn’t use them due to a mixture of attrition & misjudgement.
The former due to having to contend with their “enlightened” allies which led to a need to conserve as much energy as they possibly could. In other words they couldn’t throw out skills willy-nilly. Without doing that they also couldn’t figure out that the haunting spirit was actually far more vulnerable to energy.
A factor which was only helped by their first encounter in which the shield bearer made a rather foolish assumption without even bothering to check Wechuge’s status.
If they did then it would be obvious that the “physical wound” was merely a minor inconvenience.
However, all of that could be summarised as merely lucky happenstance that allowed for the monster to gain an advantage that it otherwise wouldn’t have. Or (to simplify even more) that prideful spirit managed to get incredibly lucky. Something that most definitely upset the entity.
They were meant to be far above these “mere mortals” yet here they were getting taught a lesson about arrogance from them. Even if they didn’t let their anger get the better of them; there was no way to get around this problem at the moment. After all they only just got into this world so hardly could be blamed for not gaining any skills from a system they didn’t have till today.
As such they could only continue keeping the meat bags on guard, peppering their solid defences with the occasional heavy blow, so that they wouldn’t get time to form any plans. At least these constant attacks allowed the monster to slowly adapt - while before they had no choice but to let attacks hit them - now they were able to occasionally shift their body then counter with another strike. Sadly their teamwork was too well oiled resulting in mere flesh wounds with not much lethality.
Their patience was not as firm, though.
It was then that a familiar memory surfaced; specifically a monologue from their supposed therapist who had helped them to fully recognise the monster they were.
“You see, similar to others, it seems you only look at what you're able to do from surface level despite being able to do a lot more. Assumptions are always surface level so you should take a longer look as well as a subjective look at what skills you possess. Perhaps what you already have can be made into a solution for problems you don’t understand or haven’t found yet?”
A strange thought to have in the middle of a fight (even their inexperienced self knew that getting suddenly distracted was not exactly a promising feature in a fighter) but those words did give the elk pause. Just as another spear was heading toward where a heart should have been - the beast decided to completely disengage from the little barrier of shields they were huddling in. Taking a second to remember everything they had earned in that other world which soon resulted in them looking down at their scythe.
By now the carbon fibre edge glimmered with a few droplets of crimson - soon the three crimson pyres within its skull flared up. An eerie sight that formed a glare on its alabaster skull. Making it almost appear as if that malformed skull was grinning toward those frightened protectors of the city.
*RATATATATA*
The weight of the situation only increased as its boney jaw began to cackle at the unfortunate mortals who had gotten on its bad side by struggling so much.
Without a second of hesitation that creature leapt toward the poor souls with all the ferocity of a starved beast who had been tormented with the sight of succulent morsels just out of its reach. Once more it brandished its weapon as if hoping to bisect the shield bearer once and for all. Although that soldier once again rose their shield and like all the other times before it-
[Expert Incision]
That shield didn’t even stand a chance as the blade easily cut a line straight through it. The monster didn’t even give them time to comprehend that as they followed it up by throwing the weight at the end to nail the poor man right in the head. Proceeding to reach through the gap made to grab the spear wielder who was preparing for the same counter they always went for.
Plucking the human up by his neck before retreating - literally dragging him as he kicked and screamed in a pitiful attempt to cause the clawed hand to release him from its malevolent grasp. A truly futile attempt as it was soon out of reach from his comrades. Now truly feeling the blood stained breath from that maw.
“丨 卄ㄖ卩乇 ㄚㄖㄩ 卄卂ᐯ乇 卩尺卂ㄚ乇ᗪ ㄒㄖ ㄚㄖㄩ尺 Ꮆㄖᗪ; ﾌㄩ丂ㄒ Ҝ几ㄖ山 丨’爪 几ㄖㄒ ㄥ丨丂ㄒ乇几丨几Ꮆ.”
| I hope you have prayed to your god; just know I’m not listening. |
[Synthesis: Grab + Expert Incision + Grasp Soul… Special Move: Soul Punisher]
Lightly chucking the human into the air only to thrust their clawed hand forward, a navy glow following behind their movement, to piece right through their chest. Only it shed no blood. Instead it was an astral projection that flew out the body on the end of those spear-like fingers. That body fell limp to the ground with no perceivable injury.
The same could not be said for their spirit which clawed at the limb and began to lift them up as if presenting a trophy to the world. One they didn’t hold in very high regard as their mouth opened to unleash a barrage of black flames only to finish it off by throwing the soul down into the ground. Mercilessly impacting their own body; appearing almost as if they had been shocked awake in some kind of cartoon due to how high their body sprung from the ground to bounce away a few times.
Though the sounds of the impact were far from cartoonish.
That single special “special move” managed to bottom out the rest of the level thirties health; letting Wechuge finish them off with one last swing of their blade. Blood streaked across the floor although little really changed since the virtual alley had long been painted red. Just another corpse on the pile.
Such a big flashy move did leave the monstrosity drained of a lot of energy (a dangerous prospect considering they were an energy-based lifeform) but there was no need for it to worry.
There were plenty of ways to recharge… In fact there were plenty of batteries right in front of itself.
Panic had set in now that Wechuge had “easily” managed to break through their previously safe formation and those tainted warriors were not about to let go of an opportunity. Soon after taking their prey; those blessed with unity came through the gap that was made. Causing the remaining mortals to scatter like the bugs they were.
Screaming and all.
Wechuge decided to slurp up their first snack quickly so that they could dive into the bloody fun once again - the panic of those that remained allowed for the monster to easily cut their way through. In no time at all the survivors were… Not surviving. But things only got stranger.
Obviously the elk’s cruel designs turned towards those enlightened, nothing strange about that, but those mind controlled people didn’t so much put up a fight. It also wasn’t as if the elk had taken them by surprise due to suddenly turning on them. Even after striking down their first victim they didn’t act; in fact they didn’t even bother to defend themselves no matter what method the monster tried on them.
They didn’t even react as that beast whether it slowly cut out their nervous system with a rusty scalpel or used their bare claws to put out the bones. Not even eating them alive did anything. Ironically that made the entity quickly give up on torturing them due to boredom… They still all died but it was certainly more based on efficiency than pointless cruelty.
When they finally won the system promptly appeared in front of them.
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You Won The Brawl
Congratulations!
Enjoy Your Rewards:
-Level Up (1-21)!
-South Port City Banner x23
…More…
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The beast didn’t exactly sit down and scroll through the list of their rewards, however, as they watched the world shatter around them. Soon leaving them back in that regular alleyway. Around them were the scattered mutilated bodies of the city guards but the elk was already sick of seeing that uniform.
Wasting no time they retreated their weapon back into that flaming cape of theirs - getting on all four in order to spend as little time as possible. Looking up they found it weird that the buildings mostly had only two or three floors. The true meaning of that didn’t come obvious to them until they finally burst out of the alleys to arrive on the main street; that itself on somewhat of a slope down towards the ocean.
It was as if the cryptid had been transported back to the 21st century if way less cramped; even then it could hardly compare to the mega-cities in the present day.
“ㄒ卄丨丂 丨丂 山尺ㄖ几Ꮆ…”
| This is wrong… |
Their gaze containing pure confusion,
Soon their gaze turned toward the ocean where there was a beautiful wooden ship; with a slick finish that made it appear to be shimmering like the crimson setting sun on a peaceful lake. An uncountless total of crimson paper sails awaited to be finally drawn to bring its crew to as of yet unseen horizons. A strange square with squares inside of it was on those sails… It feels like a symbol I’ve seen from my research in my past life. Across both sides of the ship were cannons that glimmered a magenta aura that weighed down heavily on those who found themselves within the crossfire. The monster really hoped it didn’t decide to fire before they managed to get away.
Not at all helped by the fact that - on a single side - it possessed a frightening total of 42 cannons on each level of the hull. Including the deck that meant the ship had a total of 336 cannons on the sides for a terrifying total of 672. Although a caveat for that was that some of the cannons clearly had different purposes and that included some that were intended to act far more like large range artillery of short range.
It also didn’t include cannons that weren’t on the sides of the hull…
Upon the back was a set of 22 cannons that seemed primed to make any would-be followers reconsider any clever thoughts of acting up Meanwhile, front and centre, was a final cannon of truly frightening size that seemed like overkill no matter the target. They certainly knew they wouldn’t survive it.
Said cannon was perched beautifully within the maw of what appeared to be an elegant mixture mix between an axolotl & easter style dragon. The wood given a special lilac colouration on the main head as two white branches came out from the dragoness that was depicted. A set of exterior gills even came from the beasts cheeks; adorned in gold plating that seamlessly melded into the holes that held the prior mentioned 672 other cannons.
No way this wasn’t the crimson princess…
To top it off a familiar butterfly appeared with a frantic flight pattern; as if warning the elk to get as far away from the place as it could.
This was the final straw that made Wechuge decide to flee from the city but when they turned around they found their attention completely enraptured by a pair of violet eyes. Those eyes narrowed with a savage curiosity that made the monster want to run all the more. Sadly they didn’t get a chance to so much as flinch as a first appeared in front of their face - aimed right at their forehead-based eye socket.
Instinctively they backed away while turning their head to the left, offering their right eye instead, as a sudden burst of flaming pain engulfed their consciousness.