Chapter 251 – Katherine's Monstrous Soul Golem
Soldier Linus:
The dawn revealed a battlefield that felt like a waking nightmare. Chaos surrounded me as screams, blood, and the relentless clash of swords filled the air, while the orange-hued sky seemed to mock our misery.
“Hahahaha!” cackled a small woman, her appearance deceptively harmless at first glance. But her deranged grin and the bloodied cleavers in her hands told a far more sinister story. Her blonde hair shimmered in the morning light, a grotesque contrast to the savagery of her actions.
The cleavers were attached to wires she wielded with uncanny skill, spinning them like deadly weapons. Each rotation was a death sentence. The wires sliced through the air with a piercing whistle, and soldiers fell to pieces, their cries of agony punctuating the chaos.
“Come on! Step up and face the butcher of the family!” she screamed, her words drenched in a twisted laugh. The cleavers danced through the air, and the anguished cries of her victims echoed across the battlefield as limbs were severed and lifeless bodies dropped to the blood-soaked ground.
Further ahead, an even more grotesque sight seized my attention. A squad of mages was locked in a desperate struggle against a creature straight out of a nightmare. Quadrupedal and covered in pulsating vegetation, the monster advanced relentlessly, spreading destruction in its wake. Its body was cloaked in vines, algae, and thorn-covered roots that lashed out at anything brave or foolish enough to approach.
On its back was the most horrifying feature of all: a massive carnivorous plant with razor-sharp teeth and a twisted, devilish grin. Its tentacles writhed across the battlefield, dragging soldiers to their doom. Those who resisted were bitten, their flesh ripped apart in a savage display of brutality. Yet, as the mages’ flames began to gain the upper hand, the creature roared in pain, its body slowly succumbing to the inferno.
“Who the hell are these maniacs?!” I shouted, trying to keep my distance from the woman with the cleavers. She seemed unstoppable, single-handedly dismantling an entire squad, and no one dared to approach while her lethal wires spun with supernatural precision.
Not far from her, two twin girls fought with enormous battle-axes. The blades were engulfed in blue flames that scorched everything in their path. The pair moved in perfect harmony, their movements morbidly elegant, smashing and incinerating soldiers in what resembled a choreographed dance of death.
"These damn maids are insane!" yelled a soldier next to me, his voice tinged with despair. As he spoke, I scanned the battlefield, desperately trying to make sense of the carnage.
My gaze returned to the green monstrosity. It continued its rampage, its tentacles dragging the wounded into its tooth-filled maw. That thing was the greatest threat on the field, and the mages battling it were nearing their limit. If they fell, we stood no chance.
"We can't let the mages fall!" I shouted to the men around me. We were all exhausted, but there was no choice.
"I'm a combat mage," one soldier said, panting but resolute. "If we combine our strength, we can take that monster down!"
"Attack formation!" I commanded, mustering the last shreds of courage within me. I glanced at my comrades, bloodied, dust-covered, and terrified. But in that moment, we had no choice but to act. Together, we advanced in a final, desperate attempt to turn the tide of what felt like a lost battle.
"The plant soldiers are coming again!" someone shouted, their voice thick with urgency and fear. We instantly shifted into formation, weapons and spells at the ready to face the grotesque creatures.
The animated plant soldiers charged, their movements clumsy yet disturbingly effective.
The mage beside me raised his hands, conjuring a fiery blast that engulfed one of the infected soldiers. Another man rushed forward with his sword, slicing through writhing vines and roots that lashed out like serpents.
The mage beside me raised his hands, conjuring a fiery blast that consumed one of the infected plant soldiers. Another man lunged forward with his sword, slicing through vines and tendrils that writhed like serpents. The battle was frantic, each move a desperate attempt to survive.
“If the plant dies, the controlled soldier dies with it!” the mage shouted, his voice filled with determination. For a brief moment, hope flickered among us.
“You’re forgetting something important…” A soft yet menacing voice echoed behind us. “The plants are connected. I know exactly when my daughters die.”
We turned as one, our breaths caught in our throats. There she stood, a woman with a haunting presence, clutching an enormous pair of gardening shears that looked more like an executioner’s weapon. Her eyes glimmered with a mix of disdain and sadistic delight as she surveyed the scene. Behind her, more plant soldiers emerged, their distorted bodies covered in pulsating roots, as if they were extensions of her very being.
“You’re the damned mage who created these things?” I asked, my voice betraying the fear and rage bubbling inside me.
“We already know how to deal with your plant soldiers!” the mage beside me declared firmly, attempting to rally our morale. “They’re not intelligent. If we stick together, we can take them down! And when we kill you, these things will fall with you!”
The woman tilted her head slightly, as if pondering his boldness. A dark smile curled her lips as she slowly spun the massive shears, the metallic sound slicing through the tense silence. She held the weapon with an unsettling ease, as though it were a natural extension of herself.
“You’re quite clever,” she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm and mockery. “But you underestimate my daughters… and me.”
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The plant soldiers began advancing, their movements eerily synchronized. The roots around them came alive, stretching toward us with predatory intent. The tension in the air thickened, and the sharp sound of swords being unsheathed echoed as we braced ourselves.
“Let’s kill her!” one of the soldiers yelled, charging forward with reckless determination.
The woman’s smile widened. She raised her gardening shears and swung them in a wide arc, the calculated motion carrying a chilling promise of death.
“You know…” she began, her voice low but clear enough to reach us. “I once swore to leave this life of battles behind.”
A deep sigh escaped her lips as she tightened her grip on the shears. “This life…” she continued, bitterness lacing her words, “…took my husband from me.” Her piercing gaze locked onto ours, brimming with intensity. “And you dragged me back into it. Remember that.”
Before anyone could react, the ground beneath our feet began trembling violently.
“What’s happening?” a soldier cried out, panic saturating his voice as we struggled to stay upright.
“It’s her!” the mage beside me shouted, frantically attempting to cast a spell. “We have to kill her before it’s too late!”
We tried to charge, but the tremors grew stronger, breaking our formation. The earth around the woman began to rise, cracking and splintering as if something monstrous was awakening.
“You hurt my son…” she said, her voice eerily calm amidst the chaos. “And my girl and I… we’re furious. That boy is our treasure.”
With those words, the ground erupted in a cataclysmic explosion of force.
‘ROOOOOOAAAAR!’
From the earth emerged a towering, colossal creature. Its roar sent shockwaves through the battlefield, shaking us to our cores.
A monstrous silhouette rose above us, a massive, grotesque scorpion-like beast with its twisted green body pulsating with life. One of its claws was enormous and muscular, built for crushing. The other was long, thin, and razor-sharp, glinting menacingly. Its thick, deadly tail swayed back and forth like a pendulum of doom, poised to strike.
"It can't be!" shouted a soldier beside me, his voice trembling with unrestrained fear. "She's the Head Cutter! The woman who commanded the scorpion in the last war! Everyone thought she was dead!"
Atop the monstrous scorpion, the woman stood tall and imposing, her gaze cold and unyielding. Her expression carried no trace of mercy for her victims, only a deadly determination.
The scorpion roared once more, its voice a deep, guttural sound that sent shivers down my spine. With a swift, lethal motion, its thin, razor-sharp claw darted forward. The soldier closest to the creature barely had time to react before it grabbed him. In a single, effortless motion, the claw severed his head. His lifeless body crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, while his head rolled across the blood-soaked battlefield.
"You hurt my boy," the woman said, her voice sharp and cutting. "And now, my girl and I will take every head that dares oppose us. Run… or you'll be next."
Her words ignited the spark of our retreat. Panic swept through us like wildfire, and we broke into a desperate, chaotic flight, scattering in every direction. The colossal terror chased after us with a shocking speed, its massive form crushing everything in its path. The scorpion’s claws and deadly tail struck with terrifying precision, reaping lives with each swing and thrust.
Every scream, quickly drowned out by the beast's monstrous roars, echoed the grim reality that few of us would live to recount the nightmare we faced on this battlefield.
Katherine Evenhart:
My girl and I advanced across the battlefield, tearing through the enemy squad with lethal precision. It had been so long since I’d used her in combat that the sight of her in action again felt almost nostalgic. Ever since I left that war, I had only summoned my girl once to show Nate and Chloe what a Soul Golem truly was. Adrihna couldn’t use hers freely due to the danger, but my girl was different. She thrived in the chaos, hunting and destroying every soldier that crossed her path.
“That’s it! Let’s take their heads!” I shouted, feeling my girl’s roar resonate in response. We were perfectly in sync.
As we moved forward, my gaze shifted to my plant soldiers. I controlled them, sending them charging into the enemy ranks. There was a limit to how many I could keep active at once, and preparing the seeds in advance was critical. Each seed had been carefully planted and cultivated to ensure maximum efficiency on the battlefield. I had to modify the seeds to produce plants that would die, spitting out new seeds that were stronger and more attuned to my mana. The process was delicate, and I couldn’t use magic to speed up their growth cycle.
The infected humans had been implanted with my special Cuscuta seed, a rare parasitic plant that I had modified using carnivorous flora. This was how I created the eggs and placed them within my plant serpents, which then carried them to the enemy and transformed them into plant soldiers.
These seeds represented the pinnacle of my parasitic spellcraft, an achievement that had taken years of refinement to perfect. The only way for them to develop faster was by feeding on their hosts, as they shared the biology of carnivorous plants. Each one was unique, a delicate work of magic and patience, and now they were wreaking chaos and devastation across the battlefield.
“The show is just beginning,” I murmured to myself.
‘BAM!’ Something leaped in front of us, and my scorpion came to an abrupt halt. Five figures stood before me, their gazes cold and determined.
“So, you’re the one responsible for the chaos in our army,” one of them said, their tone dripping with disdain. “Men started attacking each other while vomiting green snakes.”
The speaker was a demi-human, likely a mercenary.
They seem to be dangerous mages.
Two demi-humans stood among them, one man and one woman. The female demi-human cast a disdainful glance at my scorpion before locking her gaze directly on me.
“We’re part of the Ten Fingers, the half that was pushed outside the wall,” she explained, her eyes fixed on my golem. “A summoner… and skilled enough to control a Soul Golem, no less. I didn’t even know a summoner with the plant element existed. I thought it was impossible. But apparently, I’m looking at the impossible: a human wielding an element that belongs exclusively to the elves.”
The other four mages took combat stances, ready to strike. The woman continued, her voice dripping with malice:
“Summoners aren’t good at close combat. Without a natural mana armor, you’re just a regular person. You can’t even reinforce your weapons. One punch from me, and you’re down. And when that happens, your army of controlled soldiers dies with you.”
I kept my guard up while the man beside her smirked sinisterly.
“From what I gather, your spell only infects non-mages… Interesting. A rather twisted magic. Maybe, once all this is over, I’ll find a fun way to repay the chaos you’ve caused.”
‘ROOOAR!’ My scorpion let out a thunderous roar, ready for battle. I quickly assessed my options. Five powerful mages surrounded me, and I knew I’d have to fight them directly. I trusted my girl’s strength, but doubt lingered in my mind.
The demi-human woman formed a floating brown sphere in her hand.
“As a demi-human, I can fuse water and earth to unleash the mud element. Let’s see if your plants survive my swamp,” she sneered, while the other four began circling me.
“You’re alone! Not even your plant soldiers are nearby. If we kill you, your Soul Golem will vanish,” she threatened, the mud sphere in her hand growing dangerously larger.
“She’s not alone!” A chain sliced through the air, wrapping around the mud sphere and shattering it into a thousand pieces.
“We’ve got her back!” a firm voice declared.
I turned to see Margaery and Martha stepping onto the battlefield.
“Margie… Martha,” I murmured, relief washing over me at the sight of my two friends.
“This battle is going to be interesting!” one of the five mages said, a sinister smile spreading across their lips.
And so, the fight began.