NOVEL SIMPLE Life in the Forest 9 – Burden of Life
Rakai, Rikarn, Uruwan, and all the able warriors of the Kaijin rushed towards the village as quickly as they could.
They didn’t know how fast the Fallen Bloom could move, but from the survivors’ words, the beast had the power to mutate parts of itself into different limbs of creatures. This meant that the Bloom was the most unpredictable type, a Chimaera.
If it was a Chimaera that had fully grown into a Bloom, then at the very least it must have been able to feed on all sorts of creatures within the forest for many seasons. This is the first time any of the western Kaijin villages have ever faced a Chimaera on the level of Bloom. Needless to say, the result was catastrophic.
“We lack knowledge on fighting this type of Fallen. I have sent a request for aid from the Guild. Considering the distance and time, it may take around an hour before help arrives.” called Rakai, as he ran across the fields.
“Alright. Considering the request came from you, Jortus may come personally. His presence will be reassuring, but I honestly hope his assistance won’t be necessary.” Uruwan commented by his side.
As they crested the final hill before their home, the broken-down gates, fire and smoke, and a few mangled bodies confirmed their worst fears. All at once, the warriors’ spirits flared as anger and anxiety burned in their expressions.
A terrible roar sounded further within the village as they heard yelling and screaming.
“Rakai, Rikarn, with me! Seven of you, gather the wounded and those who can’t fight then evacuate the village. Once they are safe, return to assist us!” called out the elder.
“”At once!”” cried the warriors out in unison as seven of them separated from the group.
As they neared the center of the village, the beast’s terrible form was finally revealed to them.
Greyish-black vile pustulent flesh wrapped taut around its skeletal body. It was over twelve feet tall with its lower body being an amalgamation of a snake and a centipede attached to the upper body of a gaunt humanoid that was hunched over. Six arms flailed around with some bearing pincers and claws. Its abdomen was ripped open, revealing pulsing innards while tumor-like growths riddled its body. And lastly, above its neck where a head should be was instead the massive skull of a deer possessing grotesquely shaped antlers and black oily hair.
The creature turned and glared with glowing red fire-like eyes towards the new arrivals. It was already upset fighting off the warriors in the village, but sensing three more powerful individuals approaching riled it further.
“Rakai!”
Relieved after hearing the voice calling him, Rakai turned toward Kirili, his wife and one of the armed villagers surrounding the Fallen.
“Misesha?” he asked.
“Safe, with the others.” she answered back.
Returning with a nod, Rakai moved to dodge one of the creature’s blows that pierced the ground.
“All of you! Surround it and attack on my signal!” instructed Uruwan as he pulled out a bone talisman which suddenly throbbed with visible power. He soon closed his eyes and began to chant, with the talisman pulsing in rhythm to his words.
Sensing Uruwan as the threat, the creature screeched loudly as one of its claws elongated and reached out to pierce him.
As the extended limb was about to pierce the old Kaijin's head, two spears intercepted it and instead pierced its sides to lock it in place. Almost immediately, a third warrior followed up by cutting the limb with a large cleaver.
The creature shrieked in pain as it pulled back its stump. In a disgusting pop, it severed what’s left of the limb that was attached to it and regrew a skeletal arm.
This didn’t escape the Kaijins’ perception and served to make them warier. The creature thrashed further in hopes of distracting the old Kaijin. However, the precision and teamwork the Kaijin warriors had was unbreakable. The warriors beyond its reach controlled stray attacks, while the warriors close to it took turns intercepting blows then attacking.
The biggest damage came from Rakai and Rikarn. The two brothers moved in complete unison as if they were one entity. When one brother blocked, the other would strike. Their movements were precise and sharp, systematically taking down its limbs and slowly pressuring it to only defend.
When their attacks reached a crescendo, the awaited call from Uruwan finally came.
“Retreat!”
As the Kaijin all stepped back at once, the creature tried to chase them but was suddenly stopped by a wall of blue light. Despite appearing delicate and faint, the wall of light was solid and held firm despite the creature’s relentless blows.
“Haaah!” cried out the old Kaijin as his eyes suddenly opened while putting forward his palms with his fingers interlocked. Magic surged as a pure and cleansing sensation wafted across the area.
The creature let out a high-pitched guttural roar as the lights of its eyes slowly disappeared. The massive abomination soon toppled over in a heap, appearing lifeless.
Beads of sweat dropping from his brows, Uruwan let out a sigh of relief as he said, “It’s over.”
The tension seemed to leave from everyone’s shoulders, but Rakai still had a look suspicion.
“Is something wrong, brother?” Rikarn asked, a hint of worry showing on his face.
“I can sense that the beast is dead, but… this was too simple. Lakorn is strong. Stronger even than us two brothers a season ago.” voiced Rakai as his concern and suspicion grew.
Both Uruwan’s and Rikorn’s eyes narrowed. This Fallen was indeed a troubling foe, but if this was all it was capable of, Lakorn wouldn’t have lost more than two dozen warriors.
“Not only that, we all knew the creature was a corpse eater and could replenish itself as long as there were available corpses. We all coated our weapons with the Essence of the White Lily, so this creature shouldn’t have been able to regenerate at all.” Rakai pointed towards the creature’s skeletal arm, “Yet, it was able to do so.”
An air of anxiety now loomed over the Kaijin warriors. Rakai was right, things didn’t make sense.
After stating his concerns, Rakai walked over to the corpse’s upper torso. Pulling out a knife, he made a mana-enhanced cut from the top of its head to its abdomen. The corpse then split in the middle as its contents spilled forth. Rakai searched for something but grew distressed as he saw a hollowed depression in the back of the torso.
“The Heartseed is missing! This thing was a Husk!” he cried in horror as he turned towards the Elder.
“You all, spread out! Leave no stone unturned! Find that Heartseed!” the old Kaijin ordered with grimness in his voice.
As Uruwan gave the order, Rakai caught Kirili and turned her to face him as he asked with veiled dread in his voice, “Kirili, before we arrived, where were you fighting the beast?”
Understanding the seriousness in his voice, Kirili focused as she tried to remember the events that occurred prior to their arrival.
“The beast attacked from the southwest while everyone was preparing for your return. We soon rallied as we were trained and isolated it here near the square. Two houses and one of the furnaces in the south were destroyed as we suffered four casualties.” stated Kirili as she tried to keep it concise and accurate.
Rakai shuddered as he heard this. When they arrived coming from the north, it was the north gate they found that was destroyed and there were more than four bodies that littered the area.
Rakai almost choked with what he was about to ask next, “W-Where… did you hide Misesha?”
Fear now crept into Kirili causing her to almost hesitate to answer, “S-Since it came from the south… I placed her with the o-other young ones and the infirm… i-in the northern great hall.”
***
The little jelly was stumped. As the little furballs were playing with each other and rolling around, it rested its head over its crisscrossed paws as it stared at them from on top of a big rock.
It already completely assimilated the black-grey beasts' genome and even if it still needed more data, it was loathe to consume the helpless young of creatures. Much less needlessly killing them.
Although the jelly knew it was a meaningless concern since it normally adhered to the laws of nature, its higher intelligence somehow gave it a conscience and completely abhorred the idea of consuming them. It didn’t quite understand this aspect of itself as it could honestly go against this feeling and kill the little ones in the same way as it killed the horned beasts through trickery despite feeling aversion in the process of doing so, but this one pulled on its thoughts on a much higher level.
Another option was to leave them and let nature take its course. Yet, somehow the idea didn’t appeal to it as well and it couldn’t help but think it wouldn’t stop worrying over them even more.
Was it due to it borrowing the biological identity of the grey beast? Hardly. It felt nothing as it fought and consumed the horned ones’ own herd and mates, so this shouldn’t be the case. Was it some unknown programming in its own original genetic code? That would make it incredibly inefficient if its purpose was to consume and grow, so this program couldn't have been set.
As it continued to ponder over its predicament, its slight slip in attention made it realize that it lost the two furballs presences for a moment.
On alert, it scanned the area for them and found them chasing a tiny fluttering bright-colored creature to the edge of the steep end of the hill.
In a panic, the jelly enhanced all its limbs with an incredible surge of power and rushed to catch them before they fell over the edge.
Just as the two little terrors were about to fall off chasing the fluttering creature, the jelly was able to catch them with its jaws as gently as it could while sticking to the edge by using adhesive on its hind legs.
As it sighed in relief and was about to pull them back to the safety of solid ground, it suddenly felt the dirt where it applied the adhesive gave way.
It’s vision soon turned into horrifying familiarity as it rolled down the steep hill with the two little furballs within its grasp.
For a time, the world continued to spin sickeningly until it crashed head first onto a large tree with a loud thud.
Ignoring its growing migraine and the spinning world, it looked towards the two younglings on its chest and sighed when it seemed they were fine. That is until they started whining while licking the sides of its muzzle.
Understanding that the little ones were hungry, it realized its troubles were only just beginning.
***
