Paladin Of The Forsaken Lands (Monster Crafting "Nature" Paladin Lit-Rpg) 131- Escalating Tensions

Vraxious -The Forsaken Lands

Vrax and Malice juked through dense shrubbery, circling around towards the edge of the forest again. He was planning on popping out about half a league from where he had just fought the paladin and doing his cistern trick again while the defenders were still scrambling.

But it was never that simple in the forsaken lands. He got most of the way there before Malice pulled himself to a stop suddenly and chittered nervously while sniffing the air around them. “Ahhh crap, what is it, buddy? What bullshit did our rather loud little scuffle just attract?” Vrax whispered while trying to calm Malice a bit with pets.

He hopped off his mount and quickly added it back to the nagerie so he could continue forward in a more stealthy manner. Alright, if Malice was spooked, it's got to be sothing not great that we probably attracted with the loud-ass fight full of explosions and screams.

The downside to pushing the borders so far back…Monsters, the scary ones, will roam farther and farther from the forsaken lands.

Vrax still pressed onwards at an angle towards the forest edge. He focused on staying in the shadows as he moved from trunk to trunk, then through thick shrubbery, stopping after each short burst of speed in the open to let his enhanced hearing search for threats.

He heard omnipresent fluttering of birds, then the croaks of frogs in the marshy areas beside a nearby ancient road. The chirping of insects and the low growl of sothing distant. It was a cacophony of life and motion, but nothing stood out to Vrax.

He was about to run through a relatively sparse section of the woods when the forest sounds around him stilled. Dead silence rang out louder than any of the animal calls from before. Vrax could feel why sothing deadly had just wandered this way; a tangible cloud of mana suddenly wafted past him.

Ohhhh shit… It's never anything good when it uses freaking mana to see.

Vrax crouched lower behind the tree he was using for cover and slowly shifted his head. He was trying to scan the area without moving so fast as to give himself away to whatever was hunting here.

Straight past Vrax There was a babbling brook nearly as wide as a man was tall winding its way through the roots of a few deadly Man’s Bane trees, sizzling as their lethal acid dripped into it. A collection of rubble farther down the brook from what must have been a recent attempt at a hunter's cottage spilled into the water.

Lining each side was the normally eclectic mix of foliage. The easiest vantage point Vrax could see was a mossy boulder; next to it was one massive, half-eaten corpse of so kind of reptilian predator, its snout now forever subrged in the brook.

He scanned up and down the waters, waiting for sothing, anything to show up. Finally, he caught the slightest whisper on the wind, almost like rustling cloth, as sothing drifted over the waters towards him. Illuminating its surroundings in scintillating rainbow hues as the lights rays passed through its nearly translucent body.

It was a beautiful, fragile-looking creature nearly shaped like a jellyfish. Clear hooked limbs dangled below it just above the water, twitching upward towards the bottom of the creature where a circular mouth resided. There were no eyes or any other features that Vrax could see. But it did have so chunks of a previous al on display digesting in its center, visible through its bizarre biology.

Alright… Let's see what the hell the Forsaken lands had spat out this ti… It’s not that big, about two n put together...It only has those weird little stabby limbs on the bottom, and it’s wandering around like it doesn’t have a damned care in the world. Monsters don’t do that in the forsaken lands unless they can defend themselves decisively. My money is on this thing having so vicious magical skills.

Vrax peeked slightly farther from behind his tree to activate Predator's Gaze [Prismatic Echo Tier-1](lvl70) [Threat: High].

Vrax squinted at it in confused curiosity; it wasn’t moving very fast, so he figured he could afford to try and figure it out before he either tried to duck around it or fight it. Watching how a monster fought had saved his life more tis than he could count. It was even odds that if he sat here hidden with his talents, It would wander by without even bothering him.

It was also even odds that it would do sothing horrendous like turn his bones to soup or suddenly show off how it’s the fastest creature in existence if he tried to just dash away. So sit shrouded in roots and watch was the plan he went with.

It started veering slightly off from the brook towards the ruins. A flash of motion caught Vrax’s eye: a reptilian creature with four long arms and a pair of wings attached to a squat body and an oversized head had just landed. It licked the air curiously as the echo drifted towards it, obviously trying to decide if it could eat it or not.

The reptilian creature opened its fanged mouth wide, and made a coughing noise. Fangs shot out in a spatter at deadly speed toward the echo. They all slowed to a stop and harmlessly fell into the water a stride from their intended victim.

The echo fully turned its attention to the vicious little reptile intent on showing it who was going to be eating whom here. The rays of light passing through it in rainbowed hues all dramatically shifted towards the reptile, focusing into a vivid kaleidoscope of color over its forehead.

The reptile made a confused, threatening chuff sound and then spat another round of sharp fangs at the echo. This ti they stopped midair just after leaving the thing's mouth, then slowly shifted so they were all pointing sharp ends at it. Then they shot back far faster, straight back where they ca from.

The fangs pierced the creature cleanly like skill-empowered arrows tearing fine holes straight through its body. It sagged horribly, wling in pain, dying but not quite dead. Its wings fluttered, and it flung itself claws first at the echo.

Mana fluttered in the air around it, and it dramatically slowed to a stop, hanging frozen in the air as the echo regarded it coldly. The rainbow hues of light dancing across the reptile abruptly stilled, then intensified so much Vrax had to squint against the light.

The reptile exploded into dozens of aty chunks and gallons of blood. Except the echo didn’t let a single drop escape its telekinesis; the remains of the creature hovered before it, being slowly drawn down and into its mouth piece by piece as it magically slurped the prey it had just nearly liquefied.

Huh…maybe not…

Vrax started creeping straight away from the echo, keeping every bit of cover between it and himself that he could. He really didn’t feel like fighting that thing was worth the effort. Would he win? Almost certainly. Especially with a few critters on the battlefield, but he really didn’t want to risk getting caught, in its clearly powerful telekinesis and then reduced into easily bite-sized chunks if he got unlucky.

He made it about twenty strides away before a deep rumbling growl dead ahead of him caused him to drop and half crawl under a moss-covered log. His talent wrapped the moss around him and shrouded him in practical invisibility.

Seriously? What now. I know I pushed the borders back, but co on, guys, we are like half a league from the edge of the woods!

A flash of a heavily clawed foot passed the log Vrax was under before sothing big stepped on it, causing the whole thing to creak perilously. The beast on the log above him growled out a hungry barking sound towards the echo. A mont later a deep, challenging bellowing roar rang out from sowhere deeper in the forsaken lands, and Vrax’s blood ran cold.

That…was a fucking Voruk. Whatever stupid fucking thing is on top of this log is about to get , the murder blob, and itself goddamn eaten.

Vrax started creeping out from under the log; even with the beast above, he glanced at it. It was a bizarre canine with matted, bloodsoaked fur and two overly long necks ending in eerily skeletal wolf heads. That whipped back and forth, snapping at each other before focusing on where the sound of the Voruk had co from. For fuck's sake, what are you? [Hunting Hydra Tier-1](lvl39) [Threat : Low]

Oh, go fuck yourself. I might get eaten because of your dumb ass.

The Hydra did not expect the smite that blood at full power from Vrax underneath it. A wide blade of miasma shot from the tip of his spear upwards from where he was hidden, catching the beast straight in the belly. It split the creature open like he was gutting a deer. Entrails and rot rained down as the smite pushed upward. The front and back halves of the beast fell on either side of the logs as it died before it even knew it was truly in danger.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Vrax started running. The echo was looking his way now, and there was absolutely a Voruk on its way toward him; he just hoped the echo and slain Hydra would keep it distracted for a bit.

He ripped malice from the nagerie in a shower of rot and flung himself on its back, holding on as he careened off back towards the grove. All thoughts of screwing with the paladins for the afternoon were forgotten. Hell's if they chased him in with a voruk on the prowl, he was fairly certain it would get a whole lot of them before their high-tier paladins managed to kill it.

Malice was getting faster; Vrax was absolutely certain of it. He didn’t know if it was because he was still technically a baby abomination that Vrax had adapted and was just getting stronger as he got bigger or if the psycho was just getting used to navigating with the retrievers available to use, like dented rope, and redirecting its montum with them was becoming more natural as it practiced.

They had touched the actual ground exactly twice in the last two hundred strides of distance traveled. Vrax had counted the brief monts when the sense of gravity had returned. Other than that, Malice was flinging himself from tree to tree and using the retrievers to swing himself midair when he needed to. It was breathtakingly efficient. But Vrax was fairly certain he had a broken tailbone at this point and wanted off the deranged Thresher ride.

Malice gracefully crash-landed into the side of a pine tree, clinging to the trunk with all his claws in a shower of pine needles. Vrax added him back to the nagerie with a flash and fell from the tree into the cushioning impact of the ground below. The Voruks' roars were getting closer, and he was far away enough now from his kill that stealth was better than speed. Especially since the Voruks he had seen were nearly as fast as Malice was now.

He made it about another fifty strides before a bright, rainbow-hued flash of light in the distance spiraled through the trees, shuddering violently like its source was in the maws of a Voruk being shaken side to side.

The way the light suddenly stopped and a tree in the distance crashed supported that theory. Vrax continued on, looking for anywhere that would provide adequate cover. There was a very human shout in the distance followed by a golden flash and the sound of tearing tal and breaking trees.

Oh good, it at least ran into one of the Paladins.

Vrax looked back while still rushing forward; a breastplate sailed questionably high into the air with strears of blood behind it. Another pair of bright golden flashes accompanied explosions. The Voruk bellowed a deep, angry growl that set Vrax’s hair on edge.

He had only ever heard that sound one ti before. When a Voruk was fighting another Voruk and had one of its tails ripped off. The paladins had managed to piss it off. Screams rang out, followed by panicked prayer, all suddenly cut short with whip cracks of sound and breaking bone.

Silence fell again briefly as Vrax heaved ragged breaths. Whatever the Voruk had been fighting, it was dead now. He looked forward with a grim smile.

That should keep it busy for a bit, damn. I circled back around more than I ant to with Malice. Fuckers is fast but hard to keep going the right way. Now let's see if I go towards that column of smoke from the ashen stands that should put on course with….

Vrax froze midthought; a haunting lody was screaming out from the forsaken lands ahead of him. The long pulls of a violin string were faintly audible leagues away. The way Edwards' mournful notes clawed at his primal fears was unmistakable. As was the faint but shrill scream of so massive beast being eaten alive, followed by “Yes, darling, yes! THE show must go on!” From a mad noblewoman.

Oh no… I can only hear them because of my talent… But… I know the Voruk has a similar ability…Holy crap, guys, you just rang the damn dinner bell… Really hope I can reach you before it does.

As if to confirm his fear The trees behind him shuddered violently as sothing large and powerful crashed forward. Vrax dived into the nearest fern-like bush. The bush opened its eyes in surprise. Small scraggly camouflaged arms reaching for him. “Oh, dammit.” Vrax poked its eye with Adapt Life, abruptly changing it to a forest green. He lay down under the cover of his new ally as the monstrous Voruk scuttled through the nearby woods.

It wasn’t a particularly large specin of its species, probably not even quite fully grown, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. Six wide-set limbs gave it horrifying dexterity. The four long tails rising from its back ended in clawed appendages that he knew could move at blinding speed. One of the tail claws was finishing regenerating as it blazed past, showing off their near immortality.

It paused jarringly, stopping in an instant as another violin note wafted across the wind. Its draconic visage snapped in Edward’s songs’ direction. Its mouth opened like a horrible snapping petaled flower, teeth grinding against each other before it let out a low bloody growl. Bits of golden armor and gore still hanging from its mouth.

Well, this is really going to suck, isn’t it?

“Encore, darlin, encore!” rang out from slightly closer. The Voruk exploded into motion directly toward Duchess’s crooning voice.

***

King Chronus: Hopes End

Chronos stood on the low wooden wall surrounding Hope's End. He was watching the paladin Bradbury do his daily passes in the field, lobbing smite after smite into stubborn greenery, flanked by a pair of warriors. His gaze lifted out to the forsaken lands and the strange creatures shifting around in the boughs of trees while he considered the situation in the town.

Things were getting more tense quickly. The church had received even more garrisoning forces. Including several more fully fledged Paladins and another Bishop. And not a single move had been made yet to expand outwards into the forest and actually push back the border. Instead they were entrenching themselves in the town even further.

Soone had finally gotten themselves arrested. "Well arrested" was the wrong word for it. They were arrested for all of about five seconds; now technically they were criminals wanted by the Dutchy who had fled into the surrounding area.

Sam, An intense pugilist of so sort who mostly kept to himself and gardened, of all things, was the first to finally lose his patience with the town's occupiers. And for damn good reason. He had this bizarre pet, a giant snail that fluttered around town, sticking to walls and nibbling on people's planter boxes. Utterly harmless creature, sowhere between cute and horrifying in appearance.

Well, his pet, not knowing any better, landed on a table outside the town's nice diner to take a nibble off soone's plate. Most locals would have shooed it away or given it the garnish it wanted with a laugh. The warrior of Rembrand it landed next to was much less understanding. He had smashed the creature off his table with a mace. Cracking its shell and grievously injuring the thing.

The café owner, a wonderful lady, had rushed its battered form back to Sam. From what Chronus had heard, he poured a health potion worth more than most people made in a year on the beloved pet and then stomped over to the café and proceeded to gleefully break every bone in the warrior's body with his own mace before anyone else could even react. He hadn’t seen that bit.

What Chronus had seen was the squad of paladins that went to his ho to arrest him for assaulting a lawfully empowered guard. It was a hell of a fight. Chronus was fairly certain they were hoping others would try and help him so they could arrest them too, but thankfully none had; they all knew the ga the church was playing.

Sam had let them get one cuff on him and then loudly proclaid to the onlookers, “I don’t need no fucking help. Soone water my fucking garden.” Before he exploded into violent motion so dominant it was nearly artistic.

The paladins were not used to fighting soone unard who was a threat, especially not of this magnitude. He stabbed the first man with his own sword, shattered the jaw of the second with the loose manacle on his wrist, and then tackled the third into a planter box so hard it exploded.

They had only sent four n; they really should have sent more. After he was done raining blows into the man he had tackled, he chased the final squad mber down the street before he could get help. Took him hostage and then grabbed his snail and used his hostage to get past the gate guards.

They hadn’t looked for him too hard after that, but Chronus could swear the only part of the whole scenario that bothered that bastard archbishop was that no one else had openly defied a lawful order. Chronus sighed again deeply and looked out over the forest with a furrowed brow.

He had a king's ransom of magical items on him at all tis, all hidden beneath the most powerful obscuring enchantnts money could buy, and right now one of them was highlighting sothing in a treetop in the distance. He could barely make it out, a flash of skill usage, possibly.

A patch of verdant life sprung up in the field suddenly, much to the annoyance of Bradbury, who stalked over wrathfully. Chronos’s lips pulled up slightly.

Ahhh, finally getting started, are we Vrax? What's the master plan here to probe at their defenses?

Chronus watched curiously as the Paladin was lured farther afield, and then everything got very chaotic very quickly in a way that actually concerned Chronus. The whole damned forest exploded forward, halfway filling the field again with adapted life. Smites and screams followed chattering noses as sothing moved ungodly fast within the dense foliage.

Then nothing other than a halfhearted cautious response from the town. Ten n carefully sweeping forwards to burn back the shrubbery. He watched for what seed like ages as nothing else of note happened, the paladins being smart and sweeping forwards slowly, scouring the foliage of obvious adapted life.

Then roars rang out, and everything got exciting again. Chronus knew Voruk's roar when he heard one. They had nearly killed him back when he was only second tier and full of himself, thinking he could explore the forsaken lands with impunity.

Ahhh, to be young and dumb again, that was a fun century...but...how is one that close?

Chronus focused his mana on another artifact hidden within his robes, and a shimr beca visible in the air, showing his own border. It was almost within arm's reach of the town walls. Oh…what the hell have you been doing in that forest, boy? I couldn’t even get it to move that fast in your direction if I tried!

Chronus watched, not lifting a finger to help, as a Voruk exploded into the field, crashing through the new trees and tearing into Paladins with abandon. It received direct hit after direct hit, blasting off parts that nearly instantly regenerated as it slaughtered the few n too stupid and brave to run.

Then its head raised back towards the forest curiously while it still chewed on a paladin. And just as fast as it had co, it dashed back off again after other prey.

Well, shit, at least you aren’t a boring neighbor… A bit bumd my vacation here is almost over, though. The second that border pulls back, I'm going back ho. Because, well, it won't be my business any more then, will it? Chronus laughed darkly to himself and wandered down the wall towards Martha's stall; he wanted to see if she had dinner plans.