I Am A Monster Reborn [A Monster Evolution Litrpg]

Victor stood steadfast behind the village militia. He had taken a good look at the town’s folk. Some were old men, likely hard laborers, fishermen and hunters. Others were as old as he was before he took a dive off a building. Young men with aspiring dreams. What bothered him the most was the presence of even younger actors, young boys, children to be it seriously. No older than fourteen, maybe fifteen awaiting battle. Forced to fight. Forced to defend their homes. A harsh reality. He could see the fear in their eyes. Some were sweating, others on the verge of tears. Only the older men were composed.

He’d need to speak to Faelion about this. After this debacle

The skeleton army had approached, slowly but their numbers seemed unending, they went down easily, the only advantage the militia had was a battle of attrition. It was a war of attrition for the village, and a numbers game for the invaders.

The undead behavior changed immediately, they switched up their tactics. A small group broke off from the main body and dashed to meet the defensive force. Swords clanging, shields drawn and bones shattering. The boney men were not match for shields on the front line. But they did fend them off without casualty, two men at the front were injured. One person had fallen down on the muddy earth, dead.

AA probe attack!

“What are they doing? Why aren’t they all coming at once?” A younger soldier asked his fellow comrades-at-arms.

“They're testing our strength.” Magnar answered from above on the building. Now the De facto captain in charge.”Someone cycle out positions with the wounded, Archers ready a volley. Someone carry that dead man away.”

The troop rustled, making their best attempt at doing everything quickly. Fingers stretched and arms stretch back on wood above. They were simply waiting for the signal.

“Let loose.” Dozens of arrows fled through the air, colliding with their targets, some missing, some ineffective. The attack stirred the lurkers of the dead to life. The archer’s readying another volley to let loose the missiles again.

As if willed at the same time like a machine, the skeleton army charged. No longer being tested but challenged by waves of bony soldiers. Bone was brittled and crushed, flesh and blood was spilled.

In the distance Faelion and the skull night were going at it. Slashing at each other, then sending rays of energy or a volley of magic at the other. They battled it out in the deeper forest. Mounts pushing against each other, so the rider’s may gain an advantage. Victor could no longer see him as his height prevented him. His focus solely on any stragglers that might have broken through.

Initially all seemed well. Until some of the skeletons simply attempted to run through the poorly held line. As it turned out, some of the attempts were successful. A skeleton had rushed though fixated on Victor. His gladius at the ready, he bashed it against his newly equipped wooden shield beckoning the skeleton to come. Behind those hollow red eyes, he saw a glimpse of life, acknowledging his challenge. Coming in range of him slashing downwards to split ooze into a puddle.

Victor deliberately blocked it to get a feeling of the shield. The shield was shaken but held.

He rushed backwards, maneuvering into a better position waiting to parry again.

The skeleton made a relentless onslaught against him. Hitting him over and over again. Not learning from it’s mistakes.

Deciding he had done enough defending; he countered instead of blocking, striking the skeleton in his ribcage.

Bones shattered, and the skeleton collapsed inwards, Fragile skull shattering on the floor. It was a perfect cadence, he was slowly getting the hang of it.

It was evident now that the more he was pressured to use a skill; whether active or passive it would inevitably improve. If he felt uneasy holding the shield before he was much more comfortable due to limb manipulation making it easier. The size of the shield was very much like a tower shield to him. Shielding and covering his entire body.

The crowd in front him descended into chaos and more and more skeletons had broken through the barely kept up line.

Two skeletons approached him, he did not fear them he would dispatch them swiftly.

The first lunged at him and he attempted to dodge.

The skeleton rusted sword nipped a piece of him away. Victor didn't take into account that the heaviness of the shield would hold him back. Though his strength was significantly better, the mass to height distribution was uncomfortable. If he morphed into a different shape, he would find it difficult to keep pace even with these brainless men.

He parried the second skeleton's strike. His sword touched his opponent’s rusty sword. He sent it flying away, due to the amount of strength he exercised. Though he had no proper muscle, it was his slimy mass of ooze vs pure bone.

He shifted tactics, He unequipped his sword and shield. Arms disappearing into non-corporeal space. Sprouted two legs, used the skeleton as a stepping stone, jumping into the air. Retracting his legs, and reforming arms. Reequiped his sword and shield. He bashed the skeleton across the head, mid-air with the wooden shield. Making it fall on the ground. Stabbing it in its already delicate head.

The other sprinted at him, intending to thrust the sword inside Victor.

Victor attempted to slither away.

Goo spilled across the battlefield.

It had hurt but he could keep going. He slashed at the bone man aiming for its neck, cleaving its head clean off.

Fatigue took Victor. It was the first time he had excessively wasted his energy since the escape from the cave-basement. Here in the battlefield he couldn’t afford to hide. The consequences were too dire.

The skeletons had more than doubled and now there were more than before. Septuple or even more. All hollow, ready to take him to his grave or worse make him one of them.

He braced. He could handle them if he played his cards right, or maybe he should lure them away, pick them off one by one.

No, they might go for the villagers. What to do.

He felt the sword hum in his hands. The ghostly visage of the dead roman he once saw in the nymphs playground appeared before him.

Was it haunting him?

Saying the words that described the sword, in the inventory.

“He who is worthy, may smite their foes with the burning fury of the roman eagle. This is my Gladius Aquila Ignis. Shout its name. And your foes will burn as my foes did. ” The dead legionnaire stared at him. “You have heart Victor, you just need to direct it.”

Like it was embedded inside of him, the words flowed from his speech, fiery rage inside of him.

“Gladius Aquila Ignis!” he shouted.

Flames escaped from the blade, like a rising phoenix. He pointed it at the squad of skeletons. And hit them with the rage of the fire. The flames reduced the fragile bone to burned embers. Causing an explosion and sending shattered bone fragments across the battlefields.

He checked his health.

It seemed leveling up didn’t provide much of a hp bonus as he thought as his health points only went up a point.

‘No matter.’

His sword was now flaming, without any magic at work. It must have been the hidden effect.

His attack seemed to have bothered the entire army of skeletons and shifted their focus to him. Amidst the battle, ignoring their opponents' attacks. For a brief moment relief was provided to the militia.

The skull knight rode out of dense treeline surveying the battlefield, Faelion not to be seen anywhere.

“Unexpected!” He shouted. “But not unprepared for.”

He whistled…somehow, without a tongue. His call answered behind him. Howling. Out of the wood clearing, zombified wolves appeared out of nowhere. They sprinted towards the amassed battlefield. And jumped over the crowd. All scattering into different directions into the village. Their intent was unclear but the damage they would be able to do was massive.

With the frontline significantly less occupied by the undead.

Magnar shouted towards the spearmen, redirecting them at the rampaging canines.

“Spearmen, half and disperse. Defend your homes!“ he commanded.

The men turned around in rage intent on running after the hounds.

One of the zombified wolves landed next to Victor, Flesh rotten, visible bone sticking out, grotesque and dead tongue hanging out. At Least a meter in height, he didn’t fear it , but was cautious of how it would react. It’s busted jaw snapping at the air.

He’d been chased by dogs alot in his life, it was nothing new.

An ancestral memory awakened inside Victor's head. When he was a young boy once, wandering far away from home as young children often did. Playing in streets with friends and neighborhood children that wasn’t his. They had come across a loose pitbull, His friends had all left, left him behind. it had knocked him down. Teetering and tearing at him, locked its jaw on his chubby legs. Let him go only after a bystander had saved him. He’d ended up in the hospital.

Ever since that day Victor had never been comfortable with big dogs, puppies were fine. He couldn’t tolerate the big ones. He didn’t like them. And what was a wolf if not an oversized dog.

It moved slowly towards him, growling.

“Grrr…”

“Scared of dogs Victor-boy, a phantom voice wormed its way into his head. Afraid of a little bite.” It laughed at his fear.

It came from the ground, one of the skulls. It’s eyes glowing purple, jaw cackling.

“Ahahahhaahahhah.”

“Cenere?” he asked. Curious who was playing tricks on him.

“yes.”

“Shut up.”

Victor swiped his sword in the direction of the skull, reducing it to dust,

“I’m watching you Victor-boy, you hold so much promise. Oh the things I could do with that gelatinous body of yours. ” The voice had moved to another skull

Victor tried not to get distracted by the Necromancer voice. It had weirded out him.

He couldn’t afford to get further distracted. The necromancer was fuddling him with magic. He focused on what was in front of him, shutting out any external noise.

The wolf-zombie, it was a nuisance, it needed to go.

He cast an observer on it.

Victor slashed through the air, edge of his blade, barely cutting into the oversized wolf's flesh. The decaying flesh had burned and sizzled, giving off a rancid stench. The wolf whimpered at the pain inflicted by the burning sword.

But it did not relent. Dirty claws came at him, leaving a pronged trail of marks across his gooey body.

He waited for the next attack. The wolf lashed out again.

Predictable

It’s paw was lobbed off. It whimpered and retreated backwards, it didn’t like the fire very much cowering away from it. Victor pressed the attack relentlessly assaulting his foe. It dashed with incredible speed and dexterity , flanking him from behind.

“How do you want to deal with this victor,” The voice of the dead soldier, but came from the sword, though he only heard it in his head. You can play cat and mouse with these devilish creatures all night. Hunting villagers, even people you may know.’

Victor spun his vision around, he saw three hounds going upwards, towards the Wizard’s hut.

‘Shit.”

“End it Victor! There is no time, you have none.”

“Flaming smite.”

The Zombie dog attempted to dodge, but it’s rotten hide had been caught by the flaming sword. It burned down, whimpering

The fire died down, Victor was in a state of exhaustion. He wasn’t used to fighting excessively with a sword and shield. The fire on his sword died down, he did not know how to summon it.

The stragglers' target was the wizard’s wife and child, he needed to do something. He could try calling out to Faelion, but the wizard was stuck in battle; he didn't want to cause his unnecessary death.

Gripped by determination. He ran in the direction of the hounds. He saw squads of spear, tussling with some of the dogs wrestling them down to the ground. Even the female villagers took a part hammering the beasts with makeshift weapons. Iron pots, kitchen cutlery, farming equipment.

That eased one part of his worries.

At his destination now, the wizard’s house. He saw the creatures desperately trying to claw their way inside, to no avail. They dug the ground underneath trying to crawl inside, jumped on the roof to bring it down, to no avail.

Did the house have a barrier or something?

He cast observe

‘Cool but not now.’

The barrier wasn’t going to hold much longer. They had broken through. In a state of panic, The daughter, Isilywyn and her mother who’s name he hadn’t learned yet, made the mistake of running outside. Their household puppy appeared in front of them.

Victor attempted to make noise to distract the dogs! He was on the verge of exhaustion, but he had to try.

“Over Here you rotten mutts!.”

One of the dogs locked its crooked eyes with victor, licking its decaying lips. He cried out to Isilywyn.

“Run away, Isilwyn, run away!”

She tried gripping her wand from her pocket frantically, shook it and pointed at her dog. One of the Zombie-wolves lunged at her. Victor Now used to switching limbs, reformed and sprinted in front of the ravenous dog. Dodging his upcoming pursuer.

Reequipping his shield. He blocked teh attack.

“Enlarge she shouted.”

The wizardling’s spell hit him, as she shielded the puppy.

‘Oh.’

Victor’s vision seemed to rise as he felt like was getting larger,like he had just experienced a growth spurt. His sword became too small for his big hands to use, and he resorted to growing two massive tendrils.

The puppy had grown to exponential size. Nearly 7 foot large. Much bigger than Victor had grown. He wondered if it had affected him all the same.

“Amazing…”

“Crush him Faro.” She shouted at her puppy-dog!

Faro, who’s name he had just learned, smacked one of the wolves away with sheer force, sending it flying away like a toy. Victor gawked in amazement hoping the enlarged puppy would never see him as a threat.

Which made him think, it had never excessively barked at him. Could it sense that he was human?

His thoughts returned to the battlefield, he had a habit of dozing off in the middle of something important.

Victor wasted no effort and brought his giant tentacle down to pummel the dead dog glaring at him in caution .

The final one attempted to retreat into the city. But faro chased it after it, the ground shaking with the puppies massive weight.

The first of the three that had been blown away by Faro returned, sprinting towards Victor.

His health was on the verge of being brought down to negative numbers. Realizing that if the beast had touched him more than once, he would be dead. Victor let go of his fear.

It struck him several times. In a massive barrage of attacks.

That had been a lot more than he should handle.

‘But he was alive, the pain had lessened? He was invigorated.

‘Heal!”

Both mother and daughter shouted from behind, his life force recovering significantly. It seemed Faelions lady had a talent for magic as well.

No longer fearing any negative consequences. He finished the beast off with a flurry of tentacle strikes.

The immediate danger had disappeared. Victor moved his eyeballs to his backside, his body shrinking rapidly and significantly. Staring at the daughter and the mother pair.

“Are you alright?”

“yes… Thank you…Victor.” The mother answered. He could still see some minor fright in his eyes. The barrier may have been her work. But he wasn’t going to ask them a lot. He had to return to aid Faelion.

He looked the roman Gladiuis now, properly fitting in slimy hands again.

“Are you there spirit?" he called out to the sword.’

Nothing happened. The spirit did not answer him again.

He focused on Isilwyn, who was cautious of the surrounding area. It seemed the wizard had given her significant training.

“I apologize for doubting you, Lady Islwyn.” he said out of courtesy and genuine surprise. It was inconceivable to think that a mere child could possess such power. But she was living proof.

“I told you before, I can handle myself.” Faro came uphill, the now twice dead corpse in its mouth. Slipping out as the dog shrunk. Now smaller than Victor again.

It was over?

He had leveled up three times. Things were progressing a little too fast for him to keep track off. His ‘head’ had hurt or rather his mind.

Victor rushed down towards the battlefield. It was eerily quiet and there were crows circling near the corpses of the dead, but were chased away by the weary soldiers.

It seems to be already over.

The soldiers were at work once again, tending to the fortification, the wounded and carrying the dead away. Faelion stood there talking to Magnar. One of the soldiers was staring at him in fright, as he approached the wizard. Most people had ignored him. Victor tried to comfort him, but his eyes were hollow.

“At ease friend.” he said. Marching off.

He approached the wizard who sat on the ground in fury.

“Did you get him?”

“No, he ran back to his.master.” The wizard ripped off a bone of one of the crushed skeletons and threw it into the woods. Frustration and anger in his eyes.”I’ve been dormant too long. The captain of the settlement is missing. The mayor I believe is busy with unsavory actions. My family's life is once again in danger. So many things I could go on and on.”

“I understand your frustration.” Victor said to him. In hopes of calming him.

“When I started this Village, I vowed to live a better life, a peaceful one. I was arrogant and got tricked by a brat. When i started this villaged i hoped to make a place where all could come who were in need. No need for borders or the formation of nations. Only people living. I see now it is but a pipe dream. Reminds me of back home.” the wizard stared back at the sky again. Like he did the earlier at the stars.

The sun was beginning to rise.

Hunger gripped victor, he was in need. Victor immediately thought of the zombie dog flesh. It wasn’t appetizing but it was the easiest solution. And he needed to consume.

“I need to rest.”

He attempted to move off. Everything would be fine here. For now

“I know what plagues you Victor,” The wizard alluded. “As long as you leave the people here alone. No Human bodies. We’re more than fine.”

“Of course not," Victor replied.”

“ I have a preposition for you if you’re willing to bear with me for a moment.”

This ought to be good, he hoped.

‘I want to give you two choices. You can leave now and I'll grant you a boon of your choice and send you on the next part of your journey, or you can stay awhile. I intend to finish off that lich. I need only trusted individuals on that journey. I’ve wasted too much time on trying to get back at that little wizard brat, after the lich, I intend to take my power back, by force if necessary.”

He thought about it. He hasn’t probably gotten a moment of respite. He needed to think, to plan. Time to understand his powers. Earn a moment to grow. Time to possibly evolve.

The wizard continued

“Your arrival here spells both misfortune and truth, every now and then the world stirs and hell breaks loose, because the gods start playing chess with our immortal souls. When I hunt down that decrepit pile of bones, I may need you there. It’s ultimately your choice Victor but I would appreciate your help.”

‘Immortal!? He needed a serious history lesson about what happens here.’

He agreed. Though their meeting was botched, Faelion turned out to be an honest fellow, he was much more open than anyone else he encountered. He wouldn’t mind staying here for a while. Then there was the matter of magic.

“Yes, I'd like that very much, Master wizard.”

“Alright, go…’rest’ maybe for a couple of days. The mountain cabin is yours until you leave. I’ll be cleaning up here.”

Now for that nasty zombie meat. And stat’s to raise. He was becoming powerful fast. Too fast for his liking . He couldn't’ help the feeling that he was being played. The necromancer had done one thing and that was to make him paranoid.

He wondered what Marcus was doing at this moment. It was strange, they had only briefly been together, but because the man saved this life, comforted him in death. Gave him a minor purpose here. He felt the need to repay him.

Victor retreated to the cabin, rotten wolf meat stuffed in his inventory. There he’d decide where to take his stats.

AN: I'm considering getting rid of the text boxes in favour of highlighted words, the boxes are a pain and they are an annoyance to edit. Maybe highlighted text. I'd have to get rid of the telepathic speech to lower the bloat. Which will happen soon anyway for story reasons.Let me know if you have an opinion. Though they seem much better on SH than on RR