Paladin Of The Forsaken Lands (Monster Crafting "Nature" Paladin Lit-Rpg) 127- A Good Way To Die

Vraxious- The forsaken lands

From his hidden perch, Vrax battled the encroaching moss, his cistern reaching out and draining the life from it just barely faster than it grew forward. The creature was still nowhere in sight. This back and forth continued for another handful of heartbeats before stopping abruptly, his cistern pushing the moss back to nearly the bend of the corridor.

What are you up to, you crafty bastard?

Lux was a short distance away from Vrax’s thorny perch; his bark was shifting in dizzying patterns around himself as he slowly shifted it between multiple limbs nervously. One mont he had a tail made of fragnted bark shards and mana that would have put any bladed whip to sha. Next, his arms had morphed into long swords with hooked tips, perfect for gutting things.

Man, he’s starting to get good at that; with a few more levels and so practice, he’s going to co up with so diabolical shit.

The moss growth started again, but this ti it was creeping up the glass wall of the greenhouse from the outside, starting to choke the little light streaming into the room. Duchess pulled back from the window as fast as she could, hovering higher out of reach.

You have got to be shitting —this thing is fucking testing my defenses?

Vrax turned the cistern onto the moss creeping along the windows it rotted away in dense dripping patches streaking down the window in sickly black streaks. He managed to keep well ahead of its growth this ti, and then suddenly the growth stopped again.

The retrievers placed in front of the hallway died inglorious sudden deaths, falling into two neat pieces before the retrievers could even sally forth. The rose vines all suddenly started shifting towards the original entrance; the beast was here. In the room with them.

Vrax whirled; the fucker had teleported back into the hallway and rushed the traps. He focused on the vines; they kept drifting towards the far corner ahead of him near where the glass t the stone wall.

Lux ducked down low, his bark silently oozing into four long spiderlike limbs with hooked spear tips that wrapped around from his back. Vrax nodded and excruciatingly slowly reached for an adapted moss in his bandolier. The rose vines were all starting to inch towards a specific spot, a stride or so from the wall now, and the tiniest hints of moss were starting to silently creep across the floor, barely visible beneath the greenhouse's overgrowth.

Vrax focused on where the moss seed to be inching from the densest patch. He pulled his arm back and threw his vial with a sharp toss out from his cover. It exploded violently midair sensing prey; the sparkly green moss scattered across the beast's surface, vividly highlighting it with a starlike twinkle along its length. The moss spread even further along the creature, giving Vrax a real look at where it was.

At the sa ti, he rent the life from the moss patch it was in and then as far down the hall as he could reach, hoping to stop it from teleporting. He snapped his eyes back to it as it scaled straight up the wall and onto the ceiling in a flash, where it stared down at Lux.

Vrax activated the predator's gaze and hoped like fuck it would work since he could actually mostly see the damn thing now. [Erald Predator Tier-2] (lvl 8) [Threat: Extre]. It was like the Erald Predator could sense its camouflage was broken and Vrax had identified it. The shroud of invisibility it had maintained for so long suddenly dropped, and its eyes darted from where it was staring at Lux right to where Vrax was hidden.

Its long, lizard-like body had beautiful deep erald green scales that each quivered and shifted, occasionally shifting colors to match the background. Its four limbs clung to the glass ceiling; long, thin, bladelike claws extended from the tip of each wide toe. Its head was a jarring, deranged-looking visage. Its fanged maw was thin and wide, stretching all the way back to its colorful frill like a joyless smile. Thousands of tiny translucent needle-like teeth jutted past and sotis through its lips.

Wide-set eyes shifted individually like a chaleon, with another pair rising on thin stalks from behind. The bright frill was shimring through the colors of the rainbow in obvious excitent.

And at the end of the lithe, thin creature was its main weapon, situated on a leaflike flared tail. It jutted off like a stinger; the erald of its tail blade shimred in such a way that made Vrax think it was a pure mana construct made with a Talent and not just bone. That would explain how it sheared through literally everything so far.

Tier 2 Monster hunt, here we go! God, that thing looks fucking terrifying. I’m probably going to die, but at least it’s doing sothing badass in an ancient castle instead of making it to a hundred but being “normal.”

It exploded downward with astonishing speed, the ceiling shattering from the force as it launched itself, aid straight at Vrax. He tossed himself to ground level between the rows of pillars just in ti. It hit the pillar hard enough to shatter it and carried straight through, the dandelions, harmlessly bouncing off its skin the whole ti.

Vrax pulsed his stigmata, and the garden shuddered violently. Roses and ferns alike liquified in a circle around him. Sunshine roiled free next to the Predator rising from a patch of what was once its own moss, and the mauler tree clamored to its roots a few strides away.

The predator let out a cackling growl that sounded equal parts like glass being drawn against glass and high-pitched laughter. It didn’t even let sunshine fully erge, pouncing straight onto it’s face and ripping massive hunks of plant matter free. At the sa ti it’s tail was whizzing around too fast to even track, neatly cutting tendrils off before they could do a damn thing.

It leaped directly from Sunshine's face at Vrax, crashing straight through a pillar; its tail shot past it like a striking scorpion. If Vrax’s reflexes were any lower, that would have been it for him right there; as it was, he managed to duck under the tail and only catch a brutal claw slash that tore deep into his armor.

He didn’t waste his chance; his right hand shot up in a simring smite on the tip of his spear. It barely punched into the creature’s side far enough to deposit the mage bane worms. His free hand threw a slter moss vial straight at its toothy maw that was already snaking back around towards him.

The slter moss shattered across its face in a searing flash before suddenly just not being there anymore; the predator had teleported it back to a small patch of moss it managed to spread during the brief conflict.

Vrax dived away as the tail lashed out again; it managed to shave the shoulder cleanly from his armor. Lux chose this mont of distraction to strike at the sa ti the mauler crashed into join the party. The mauler grabbed hold of the Predator all across its sides and then disappeared in a flash. Vrax heard a crashing sound outside as it tumbled out of the moss on the side of the greenhouse glass and rolled out of view, it’s branches snapping under it’s own weight.

Alright, that power is fucking stupid, and this thing is making moss everywhere it steps.

Lux dug into the distracted beast's side with four brutal strikes, each of his long, spear-like limbs sinking deep enough to hit bone. Lux looked excited for the half second before the tail whipped around in a short arc and sheared off the limbs before snapping back and cutting Lux’s legs off at the knees.

Then it teleported behind Vrax. He was expecting this bullshit at this point, so it teleported square into a smite and managed to ignite the mage bane venom worming its way through it at the sa ti. The Predator and Vrax both connected. Vrax’s spear coursed with a full-powered smite that scraped along the side of its face, lting off flesh and rending half the beast's face to exposed bone and teeth.

In response, its claws tore in both directions through armor; after blasting through his shield, one drew across his ribs, exposing bone, and the other tore down the length of his left arm, peeling off armor and flesh alike. They both danced back warily, eyeing the damage they had inflicted.

The ground around them was a rotten morass from the stigmata shield’s attempt to block the blows. He probably would have lost the arm without it, and the blow to the ribs unquestionably would have utterly gutted him.

Vrax was hurt badly; his left arm was hanging useless and ruined, and if he hadn’t been pumping healing into his ribs, he would have lost consciousness in seconds. The beast was better off but not much. The blow across its face had extended down its neck so, exposing sinew and arteries. And the mage bane fires burning under its flesh were cooking a section of its chest from the inside. It had a noticeable limp from Lux’s attack as well.

Sunshine rejoined the party, surprising the hell out of the predator. It didn’t know the psychopathic flower’s tendrils regrew, and it didn’t give a shit that its face was mostly eaten. A trio of tendrils wrapped around the already hurt leg and yanked back harshly.

The beast teleported again to escape Sunshine's grasp. It popped back into existence a few strides away, roaring in pain as the mage bane’s poison inside of it ignited once again with its skill use.

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It let out a dangerous growl and slunk down lower, circling around Vrax and away from Sunshine, erald embers leaking from the fires in its chest.

Co on, motherfucker! That’s right, no more skills, or you cook yourself alive, and I’m having plant dragon for dinner! I need to finish this fast, or I'm going to pass out mid-fight even with the cistern doing its best.

Vrax circled closer to the Adapted bush; it was the only thing still green in his imdiate vicinity he could draw life from. He saw a dark flicker overhead as the duchess prepared far above, angling to attack from above and behind. This was going to be the last exchange; he could feel it. If he could just get the thing to charge him, Duchess would co down and finish it.

He was almost certain the mage bane worm was saving his life right now. This thing was tier-2; it had other skills it was opting to not use because every ti it gathered mana, it was igniting further fires within its flesh.

Sunshine stumbled towards the Predator again. The predator’s eyestalks swiveled towards sunshine; its main eyes stayed trained on Vrax. It cut the roots out from under Sunshine with a violent swing of its tail and lunged straight at Vrax, not giving Sunshine a chance to engage again.

Vrax watched it fly through the air towards him, adrenaline hamring through his body. Its tail was cocked back at an angle, ready to impale him if he dived away. Its claws extended to grab him and deliver a lethal bite with its savage visage. Against every instinct he had, he charged towards the beast at the last second and planted his spear in the ground, ducking low.

The move made the deadly blades miss him by a handbreadth, but its body still smashed into him, flattening him against the ground and sending him to a crashing stop against a pillar. His shield failed; he felt bones crunch in his chest and back. Sending unbearable lances of pain and then shocking numbness across his body. The predator recoiled in pain, his spear buried halfway up its haft straight into its chest. All four eyes locked on him, and the tail rose for a final blow.

Vrax tried to move, but he couldn’t; his body was ravaged and broken by that last impact. Duchess hit from above at a speed vrax didn’t know she could achieve, slamming straight into its back and flattening it against the floor. The spear was pushed the rest of the way through its chest and protruded from the back.

Duchess didn’t even try to wallow in the Predators’ fear. She latched her jaws onto the back of its neck as deep as she could and bit down with her full force. Her claws dug into the edge of its too-wide mouth, and she heaved backwards.

There was a horrible pause as mana gathered around the predator, then Duchess heaved even harder with her whole body. Her claws pulled back farther hooked into its jaw, and bone snapped as she peeled its face open backward along its own skull. With a final savage shake of her head, the creature's vertebra ca loose in her jaws, and it fell still.

Vrax felt his consciousness fading, then a wave of essence so strong it was almost unfathomable rushed through him like a jolt of life filling his sanctuary and then overflowing, healing him slightly. He held onto consciousness the best he could, slumped on the ground, slowly trickling his cistern's healing energy into himself.

Lux, Duchess, and Sunshine all dived into a well-deserved al. Savaging the deadly creature's burning corpse. Vrax didn’t have the energy to even try and stop them. He spent the next several minutes tentatively clinging to consciousness and listening to their godawful chewing noises.

Eventually Lux had feasted enough to regenerate his limbs and ambled over to Vrax’s nearly prone form, starting to pat along his armor.

“You little shit, you better not be trying to figure out how to eat !” Vrax grumbled weakly.

Lux made an offended-sounding creak and thwapped a healing potion against Vrax’s helm. “Oh yeah, thank you…” Vrax dismissed his helt and damn near drowned as the Spriggan simply poured the contents over his face. Lux was trying to help; he just didn’t seem to understand how healing potions worked, just that they did.

The half potion Vrax managed to sputter down was enough to finally let him start painfully shifting around again. The first thing he did was stumble to Sunshine and add it to the nagerie. Then he just lay against the smoldering corpse and lted the little foliage he could reach with his cistern in the edges of the room, refilling its nearly empty stores. He would have tried to fall asleep, but he was fifty-fifty on whether Duchess would try and eat him or not if he stayed still for too long.

Eventually Vrax hauled himself to his feet to look over the half-eaten corpse; he still needed a trophy, and Duchess had more or less exploded the weird head, so that was out. The body was savaged, and the weirdly large gecko-toed feet would be a pain in the ass to carry. Vrax looked at the mostly unravaged tail.

He was partially right about his assumption that the blade on the end of the tail was a skill. The actual organic bone sticking off the end looked nothing like the finished blade did when the murder gecko was using it. It was a thin, zigzagged growth with hollows all through it that were obviously ant to channel mana into the shape of that stupidly powerful blade.

Vrax shrugged and rotted the tip of the tail off with a smite and carefully added the bone protrusion to his pack. He figured that would certainly be good enough for a trophy; it was the damned monster's main weapon after all. Not counting the alarming intelligence and utterly obnoxious moss and teleportation powers.

Vrax started heading towards its actual lair while thinking about how badly the fight could have really gone. He had done his best to stack the deck in his favor, and the thing had still damn near killed him. Sunshine would have been rendered useless in the first exchange if it wasn’t for the ever-growing tendril blessing it received from Vurune.

Lux had his damned legs chopped off after getting one good lick in; it was a good thing the little monster had such an incredibly potent healing talent and wasn’t actually a being of flesh and blood, or that would have been very lethal.

Even with the cistern stealing the life from the Predators' moss every chance Vrax got, it still managed to grow enough to teleport around in. Not to ntion that utterly stupid surprise that it could forcibly teleport other beings. Vrax shuddered; he could easily imagine how it could use that to snatch soone away into a dense thicket that they would never get out of.

That fight was equal parts luck, skill, and outnumbering the hell out of their foe. Vrax pulled out of his sowhat somber reflections when the thick moss spreading from the creature's lair ca into sight. “Nope, not walking into that.” Vrax raised his hand and began slowly pushing forward while defoliating the hell out of his path.

He hoped there wasn’t another one of them, but it would be stupid to not at least prepare for that possibility. He would have just evacuated the area if it weren’t for two things. He wanted to see if there were any ancient weapons or armor lying around from warriors this thing had eaten and much, much more importantly. A nest ant eggs, hopefully, and he very, very much so wanted his own bizarre invisible plant dragon wannabe.

As he descended down the servants' entrance, peeling back the layers of overgrowth, it felt like he was revealing the history of the creature that had just killed; the remains nearest the entrance were smaller. Things like mundane deer bones and large mammals that scavenged throughout the forsaken lands.

Then he started reveling in larger, more dangerous prey. It seed like it had a taste for forsaken wolves for an extended period of ti, as part of a hallway was strewn with innurable remnants of them, like the creature had just picked entire packs at a ti to eradicate.

Then ca other predators, things of claw and fang large enough to nearly clog the hallway themselves. Vrax wondered if this was intentional, sealing off its lair since it didn’t need to actually traverse normally and could simply teleport through the patches of moss.

The hallway reached a large storeroom with a staircase descending downward into what must have been the castle larder. This room alone would have made Vrax change the hunt quarry. Things like silver stalkers, humanoid beasts that could materialize jagged bones across every inch of their bodies, were strewn about, gnawed to the bone.

There was even what looked like a drake of so kind just starting to rot. Vrax searched quickly for anything of value, but this room simply seed to be a feeding chamber for the beast of so kind. He descended down a short staircase into where this beast had obviously lived.

The damp sll of greenery, blood, and rotting at was suffocating as he descended. The moss here was much more tightly compacted, creating a soft, springy surface to the floor. Vrax let out a low whistle. This room was strewn with bodies, human bodies or the few remnants of them. This creature had one hell of a taste for humans based on the sheer amount of tal and bone strewn around, and the thing was a damn magpie for shiny stuff.

In the dead center of the greenery-blanketed storeroom set against an old tal handcart, a perfect bare circle devoid of life sat in vivid contrast to the rest of the room. Three lightly shimring erald eggs sat in a tight circle. And piled all around them were fragnts of armor and gold and silver coins. Even weapons that flickered with still active enchantnts.

And that right there absolutely makes almost dying worth it. Cre deadly beautiful little monsters you’re getting adopted.

Vrax looked back at Lux with a massive smile. “Adventuring lesson number one: always check for a horde if whatever you just fought even remotely looks like a dragon. Hell if I know why, but a really surprising number of monsters like collecting goodies like this.”

Lux pointed at the eggs, obviously not giving a damn about the treasure. “Hunt!”

“If you try and eat those, I swear I will turn you into a chair!” Vrax shot back and rushed over to the eggs before Lux or Duchess, for that matter, could try and turn a rare and beautiful creature into an olet.

Vrax picked up the first egg; it was surprisingly modest in size but had a good heft to it and actually made his fingers tingle with the amount of mana it put off. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it work like that…” He spun it slowly and let Adapt Life trickle into it. A glowing symbol of the cycle etched itself into the side of the egg.

Vrax happily picked up the other two eggs and repeated the process, stuffing them carefully into his pack with moss padding before even turning towards the rest of the treasure in the room.

He didn’t have the ans or desire to try and pack all of it out, so he settled for gathering all the coins into neat piles and then picking through the other gear looking for anything that looked extra expensive or actually useful.

Eventually he had two good-sized pouches of silver and gold coins, and even a few platinum mixed in for good asure. A handful of rings that he had utterly no idea what they did. And a choice to make between the flashiest of the still-whole equipnt.

A lightly armored brown robe with a black velvety interior and simring red sigils, he grabbed for Stereos. Vrax didn’t know what the hell it did, but if it wasn’t useful for his resident bookworm, Stereos could always just sell it and finally get himself so protection that worked better than a general air of mystery.

For Jonathan, he tied a set of gently pulsing green leather armor to the side of his pack. It had very fine, almost elven-styled stitchings of growing vines and roses, all in a golden silk. Jonathan would look hilariously out of place in such regal armor, but that was half the fun of picking it.

That was the extent of what he wanted to try and carry out himself. With a long sigh, Vrax looked around the room. “Back to the castle—we are camping sowhere dry tonight and heading the hell back tomorrow! I still have to find one of the divine beasts to show off to. I really hope the Serpent of Bloom is still dicking around by Hope's End eating wolves.”