Rot Heart: A LitRPG of Rot Magic in an Ancient World (Book 1 completed)

Outside the wall of trees protecting Camboaci, the dark day battle was being conducted in a controlled manner. The frontline composed of Evolved Rank warriors methodically let through suitable monsters for the Basic Rank backline to fight.

It was one of the reasons Camboaci had so many Evolved Ranks compared to its relatively low population. The dark days were a threat, but the people of the Lienien had learned to harness it. To turn it into a boon.

This didn't mean there was no danger involved. A battlefield was a place of death. No matter how controlled the environment was, accidents could happen—to the Evolved Ranks in the front, and to the Basic Ranks in the rear.

Div and En were still watching the rest of their classmates fight. So far, not a single monster had caught their eyes. They didn't want to take away the others' chance to train with their superior power.

After a good hour of Div and En not participating, Vedovessa seemed to have enough. They saw her send a signal to the front via pulses of water-attuned mana. In the downpour, this mana type traveled fast and was an effective method of communication.

"Diven," she said, making sure to use their full name. The fact that Div and En existed was not a complete secret anymore, but most of the village still didn't know. "You take the cyclops. Be careful."

As if summoned by her words, a massive cyclops stepped out of the forest. It wasn't quite large enough for its head to poke out of the canopy, but it stood at least twice the height of an average man. In his right hand was a massive wooden club that seemed closer to a tree trunk than an actual weapon.

It wasn't the first time Div and En met a cyclops. They had seen one from afar during the previous dark day, and more memorably, they had fought one soon after landing in the Wildlands.

(Let's see how far we've come.)

Their first cyclops had been a struggle. Their success had been due to luck more than anything. Granted, they did the right thing by targeting its only eye, but there were so many ways it could have gone wrong.

[This time, we'll defeat it fair and square.]

They inspected it.

Species: Forest Cyclops

Skills:

Club - Basic - Lv??

??

??

??

Their Inspect skill wasn't enough to pierce through the cyclops' protections. Somehow, the beast had learned to guard its status.

(That's fine, we know what a cyclops can do.)

[Careful, it's bigger than the one we fought before. It might be stronger.]

Still, they were confident. This cyclops might be stronger, but so were they.

They were so much more powerful than they had been back then.

(We should fight an Evolved Rank cyclops. Now that would be a challenge.)

[Right—let's deal with this one quickly.]

Div and En moved to intercept the cyclops before it reached the vicinity of the other students. They didn't want anyone to get in the way. Be it to help them, or—more likely—hinder them.

Even with their shield, they didn't think they could protect anyone if the one-eyed giant swung its club at them.

However, unlike the last time, they didn't drop their shield to fight. One didn't simply drop their weapons on a battlefield. It wouldn't be of any help against this monster, but their shield would be useful later.

Anyway, this cyclops wasn't threatening enough. They didn't need to bother.

With Div pointing the way with Blighted Passage, it only took them a few steps to reach melee range.

En had been waiting for this moment since the night before. Now, he was finally able to test out his new understanding of Rotten Spear.

He pulled his spear-holding arm back, ready to strike. The cyclops was too big, he couldn't reach its head even with his spear. It wasn't a problem, he aimed for its guts.

Putting all the strength of the body he shared with Div into it, En pushed his spear toward the beast. It was steady, straight, nothing could alter its trajectory. It was a ray of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds looming above the Wildlands.

It couldn't be stopped, it couldn't be tainted.

The tip of his spear penetrated the leathery green skin of the cyclops' abdomen. An inch, then two.

Then it stopped.

[Pull back!]

En pulled the spear back and with Div's help, he was able to roll to the side at the last moment before the giant's club crushed them to the ground.

(What? Why did it stop?)

[This thing's skin is thick. Like armor.]

Div and En took a look at the wound. It wasn't even bleeding. If they hadn't seen the spear go in themselves, they would have thought it was just a minor blemish on its skin.

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(At least, it worked. The wound is not rotting.)

[I guess…]

(What? That's good! It means last night's work wasn't for nothing.)

Div and En had to keep moving around the cyclops. The beast had begun trying to grab them with its enormous hands, and they didn't want to know what it would do when it caught them.

[En, honestly, I'd rather we use our rot to fight.]

(But, I just proved we didn't need to.)

[Did you? It's good that we can control our skill better, but it's pretty clear we need rot to weaken this monster.]

While En wasn't happy to hear it, he could only admit that Div was right. They couldn't even pierce the cyclops' skin with a regular spear strike.

(Fine, we need to take it seriously.)

With their focus renewed, they used their superior mobility to circle around the cyclops. It was a lot bigger than them, but its movements were not as agile, and it didn't have the capacity to sense the fifth direction.

It made Div and En's steps impossible to predict and allowed them to land a few strikes. Still, the cyclops didn't receive free hits, every strike that landed was launched from suboptimal positions and they failed to really damage the beast.

Even rot wasn't doing much. Without a clean cut, the attuned mana couldn't penetrate the monster's system. For now, only trace amounts had seeped into it.

[It will add up over time. Let's keep it up.]

At least, they were in great condition. It was hard to notice at first, but the longer they fought, the more evident the effects of Scornforged were.

Even if they hadn't seriously harmed the cyclops they had succeeded in annoying it. They instinctively knew a faint trickle of energy bled from the beast into them.

It was far from enough to sustain them as the fight continued, but every advantage was good to take.

[This is a lot harder than I expected.]

Good thing they had kept their arrogance to themselves. Had they strutted in front of their friends, claiming they would easily defeat anything below Evolved Rank, they would have never lived down the shame.

The stalemate went on.

Neither side was able to gain a significant advantage.

Div and En couldn't pierce the cyclops' skin and were reduced to trying to whittle it down with the minuscule amount of rot-attuned mana that was seeping into the beast.

The cyclops couldn't get its hands or club on them.

At some point, the giant seemed to realize that the fight was going nowhere. Since the little spearman couldn't hurt it, it decided to ignore him.

(It's walking away from us.)

[Toward the others!]

The cyclops was disengaging and had turned its attention to the rest of the student cohort. Each one of them was engaged in their own fight. Arguably, the monsters they were fighting were weaker than the cyclops, but there were a lot more of them.

Absorbed in their duel, Div and En hadn't noticed the increased intensity of the battle.

There were at least three times more monsters than humans on this section of the battlefield.

They ran after the cyclops. It was only walking, but its long strides made it hard to catch.

They spotted Ambi locked in a fight with two red-striped badgers. She was wielding her spear defensively, making sure none of the two beasts could get close to her. Behind her, Lug was aiming with his bow.

He loosed an arrow, which flew straight into the mouth of one of the badgers, but the beast didn't fall.

Taking the opportunity, Ambi drove the tip of her spear into its neck, killing it.

When she raised her head, she had to dodge a bite from the other badger.

Then she noticed the cyclops—and Div and En running behind it.

Ambisena wasn't the first to see it as other students were already moving away from their own engagements.

They were already being pushed hard by the smaller monsters. A giant cyclops would break their ranks.

Seeing that their failure to contain the cyclops was having an impact on their friends, Div and En accelerated. Div calculated a path in the fifth direction that would let them get ahead of the beast.

Provided they ran faster than they ever had.

Still, there was no hesitation in their minds. Step after step, they pushed on their legs with all the strength they had.

Moving in the fifth direction was disorienting; the already chaotic battlefield was flashing before their eyes.

Their head was spinning, but they made it.

Div and En stood their ground before the cyclops. Their feet were planted into the ground. They wouldn't move. They weren't going to let it through.

No matter how large and heavy it was.

The cyclops paid them no mind and continued toward the students.

Each step made the ground shake, echoing with a loud thud that, for an instant, drowned the sound of battle.

Div and En's heart was beating. Slow or fast, they couldn't tell, but it was strong. Each beat resonated across their body, rising to their throat and pulsing through the veins in their forehead.

They felt their blood pump into their arms. The one holding their spear, and the one holding their shield. Their weapons felt heavy.

[What can we do?]

(I don't know! None of the hits we landed seemed to have any effect. The only weak point is the eye, but we can't reach it.)

[We should let it grab us. It'll buy a little time.]

(Should we?)

Div nodded internally. En sighed.

(Fine, let's do it. I can't see any other way.)

[I'm going to preemptively channel Echoes of the Rot Heart. There's no way we can come out of this in one piece.]

Div and En took a single look back at the people who were fighting behind them. Ambi and Lug were finishing off the second badger. Seg was locked in a brawl with a famine wolf. Gennorina was sitting next to the wall, her eyes closed.

At least, nothing would happen to her. She was being protected by Evolved Ranks.

The cyclops stepped closer.

It was almost in range.

Div and En clenched their teeth. They needed to move.

[It will be fine.]

They ran toward the giant, spear pointed toward its head even though they couldn't reach it.

The cyclops hunched down and, with his free hand, made a grasping motion toward them.

They saw the greenish monstrous hand get closer. They had no intention to dodge.

[I'm second-guessing my idea.]

(Too late.)

The cyclops' hand was so large, so muscular… They braced for the pain.

En pushed their spear forward, putting all conviction into the strike while Div channeled rot-attuned mana from the Rot Heart into both the spear and Echoes of the Rot Heart.

But the spear barely brushed the palm of the cyclops before the beast jerked backward, releasing a roar louder than thunder.

Div and En froze, their spear-wielding arm fully extended.

They looked up.

An arrow was sticking out of the cyclops eye.

The monster collapsed on his back as Vedovessa appeared next to them.

"Well done, Lugsellos," she said, before turning to Div and En. "Diven, I hope this serves as a lesson. You are not fighting alone."