Alex could not be considered brave, courageous, or fearless. He was, for the most part, a coward, the only time he showed that he had a spine was when Lisa had been in trouble.
Even though he was a coward, Alex knew he need to become stronger.
As he hid behind a rock looking at the rat men in front of the large cave, Alex’s legs shook. He stared at the sixteen rat-men that were lounging in front of the cave. Some of them were gnawing on the corpse of a wolf that was over four meters long with red fur covering the parts of its body that hadn’t been ripped apart yet.
Alex swallowed a mouth full of saliva, using his rage from memories of his past hardships he forced himself to step forward. Taking a deep breath, he shouted, “Hey, you overgrown pests, come and get me!”
The rat-men all turned towards him in confusion. They were a top of the food chain in the area, most monsters stayed away from their cave, much less announce their presence. Seeing this unusual sight the rat men didn’t know how to respond.
Alex seeing the rat men stunned sneered, “What are you as stupid as you are ugly!?”
Though Alex didn’t know where the words came from or his courage to say them, for some reason it felt right to do so. Alex’s laughter lit the flames of rage in the rat men’s eyes. With wrathful screeches the rat men charged at Alex brandishing their weapons.
The rat-men were faster than Alex had expected. The closest one had been over 30 meters away but in less than half of a minute it had already covered half the distance.
Seeing how fast the rat men were Alex jumped in surprise and dashed back behind the rock. Running along the narrow path he had used to get to the rat men cave he looked back and grinned. The path was only wide enough for one rat man to move at a time, causing them to follow him in a line.
With their speed, the leading rat man had almost caught up to Alex almost instantly. However, Alex had used this path for a good reason. Just as the rat man was about too bright it’s ax down on Alex, Alex used <
Alex looked back while running and laughed, “Hey, don’t worry I heard acupuncture can improve one’s looks, so just thank me later ok, hahahahaha!”
Alex’s taunt further enraged the rat men, but because of the slick rock walls on one side and the rushing river on the other, they couldn’t get passed their comrade. Their only option was to carefully gnaw at the bramble vines to release their companion and clear the way.
Alex knew this would only buy him a little time, but it was he need. By the time the rat men were chasing him, again Alex had made it to the entrance of the cove and had begun climbing the wall.
Seeing Alex climbing the wall, the rat men snickered. For them, it would be too easy to chase Alex up the cliff face as they were better climbers than humans.
The rat-men started to head towards the cliff to start climbing after Alex, however when the last of them had entered the cover the ground shook. A series of hissing roars echoed as Glutton emerged from the ground its bulb opened wide. Glutton didn’t form its legs instead sealed the entrance to the cove with a wall of entwining all of its roots completely trapping the rat men inside its hunting ground.
The rat-men were completely taken by surprise and before any of them could react Glutton had already three of them in its jaws ripping them apart. Seeing their comrades being torn to shreds the other rat men trembled in fear. However, they didn’t back down.
The remain rat men let out high pitch cries of rage as they charged at Glutton. Alex was shocked, their movements were well coordinated. The rat-men would take turns rushing in to attack Glutton and when its mouths would attempt to catch one of the attackers another one or two rat men would appear to launch a sneak attack to force the hungry set of jaws to retract so not to be heavily damaged.
Obviously, they understood how to handle a creature that was both larger and more powerful than them. Unfortunately, for them Glutton had intelligence that was equal to a human’s, adding on Alex, who was observing from above the rat men’s tactics crumbled after only a minute.
One of Glutton’s heads suddenly lurched and targeted a rat man that was attacking its bulb in an attempted to do some damage. Sadly, even if they did damage the bulb, it was more like a set of armor, though it was part of Glutton, even if it was damaged it didn’t really affect it other than losing some defense. The rat man seeing the sinister mouth that could swallow half its body instantly, it retreated so that two others could reach it to defend. It was then that two more heads abandoned their prey and attacked from the sides for a three-pronged attack.
Still the rat men didn’t panic and raised their shields in a defensive formation where they were back to back. The three heads slammed into the shields and though the rat men grunted they endured the attack. Alex had to admit though those shields of their’s should break under Glutton’s strength like tofu, for some reason it didn’t, Alex suspected it was a skill. However, Glutton wasn’t fighting alone.
When the three heads retreated the rat men distances themselves to not to be assaulted again. As they were exiting Glutton’s strike zone bramble vines burst from the ground coiling around the three rat men. Not wasting a second after the rat men were rendered immobile, Glutton swiftly grasped them in its jaws and began to enjoy a quick meal.
Seeing this, the other rat man became weary of Alex. However that wouldn’t help much. By now out of the original sixteen rat men had been reduced to seven making it much easier for Glutton to kill them. Its head would now gang up on one target since its really didn’t need to focus on defending from every side. Even if the rat men tried to help each other, they would be completely overwhelmed and devoured.
Alex snorted, “I guess I overestimated them, I still haven’t used <
Throughout the battle, Alex had heard several dings signaling that he had leveled up and when there was only three rat men left a series of blue screens appeared in front of him
Throne of Unstoppable Nature: Awakened!
Percentage of Control Over Throne of Unstoppable Nature: 1%
You have gained the skill: Wall of Wood!
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Wall of WoodRange: 20 metersCreates a wall of densely patched vegetation, the shape of the wall depends on your will.
You have gained the skill: Root Lances!
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Root LancesRange: 25 metersCreates a group of fully controllable roots that are as sharp as lances to pierce your target, number and size can be altered your will.
Tyrannical Armament: World Shaker – Dormant
Tyrannical Armament: World Shaker Rate of Awakening: 79%
Throne of Deep Oceans: Dormant
Throne of Royal Air: Dormant
Throne of Divine Lightning: Dormant
Throne of Abyssal Flames: Dormant
Throne of Heavenly Light: Dormant
Throne of Oppressing Darkness: Dormant
Alex quickly looked at the windows and frowned. He couldn’t really understand what these windows meant. Alex thought his class was Plantmancer. Quickly he looked at his status page and received a surprise.
Name: Alex BlacklockAge: 18 years oldRace: HumanGender: MaleClass: Tyrant of AllLevel: 21
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
StatsStrength: 52Agility: 73Vitality: 45Toughness: 104Magic: 128Magic Resistance: 81
Throne of Unstoppable NatureControl: 1%Throne of Deep OceansControl: DormantThrone of Royal AirControl: DormantThrone of Divine LightningControl: DormantThrone of Abyssal FlamesControl: DormantThrone of Heavenly LightControl: DormantThrone of Oppressing DarknessControl: Dormant
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[Skills]Green ZoneBinding BrambleSummon Familiar: Purple GluttonWall of WoodRoot Lances
“What the hell!” Alex gasped, not only had his physical stats grew by so much, but his classed had changed! Could this be the effect of eating Glutton’s Enchanted Fruits? It has to be! Alex was overjoyed by how much his stats had increased in such a short time.
Still all those windows about Thrones was a mystery that he would like solved. So far the Throne of Divine Nature was only at 1% under his control. Alex wondered what exactly that meant and how did it relate to his power. Could these thrones be the source of his power, is that why his class suddenly changed?
And what was that Tyrannical Armament? With the name World Shaker, its sounded extremely powerful Alex instantly wanted it. With its Rate of Awakening at 79% did that mean it would awaken soon?
There was to many questions, but no answers. Alex continued to rack his brain as Glutton devoured the last of the rat men. After a short time, Alex was going to climb down when he suddenly decided to leap from the ledge that was over six meters off the ground. The sense of fall was somewhat unnerving, however as Alex expected his body only receive a light shaking feeling as he landed as if he had only jumped from a few feet.
Alex looked at his body, he had only gained a slight amount of muscle that was barely noticeable even by him so he doubted that anyone who knew him could have told the difference. However, his physical abilities had several multiple times, to the point he was beyond someone from earth.
A childish excitement filled him like he had just obtained a high level in a video game and now felt super powerful.
Sadly, this feeling of excitement didn’t last long. In the distance, an endless series of shrieks could be heard. Through Glutton, Alex found that a horde of rat men was surging through the narrow path that lead to the cove.
Alex paled, but quickly calmed himself. Thinking quickly, Alex scrambled back onto the ledge and had Glutton remove the wall of roots sealing the cove. Though Alex could have ran, the problem was Glutton. It couldn’t escape and if it died he didn’t know if it would again start from level 1 or if there was some penalty for it dying. Not only that, something within him urged him to stand his ground and fight.
As he was thinking the voice from before roared in his mind, “Do not fear or retreat! Display your power as a ruler, crush your enemies with your strength! Dominate those that will follow you, erase those who won’t!”
The words though spoken harshly they made Alex’s blood boil. A hint of excitement started to form in him. To his surprise, Alex, who hated fighting, wanted nothing more than to fight, kill, and dominate. He wanted to soak in the blood of his enemies, he wanted to hear their screams. If they surrendered and bowed to him he would show mercy, however if they resisted, they would only mean cruelty that even cause the devil himself to cringe.
The rat-men had started to stream in from the entrance and quickly took in their surrounds. Glutton, at first, was their target, however, a second later all their eyes turned to Alex. He was releasing a tyrannical pressure that, even though they greatly outnumbered them they could help but feel hesitate to attack.
Alex sneered, his mana had grown several times since the beginning of the first fight with the rat men. This allowed him more leeway regarding tactics.
Raising his hands trees burst from the ground yet again sealing the entrance to the cove. He did this instead of Glutton once again create a wall with its roots, because Glutton could use its roots for attacking and defending instead.
The rat-men formed groups of five with their shields raised and their backs touching. Alex laughed coldly, this trick wouldn’t work this time.
The groups of rat men charged towards Glutton let out shrieks and brandishing their weapons. Even though Alex had released such a terrifying pressure, to them, their instincts told them that Glutton was the bigger threat.
The rat-men weren’t wrong in thinking that Glutton more dangerous in terms of head to head combat, however, Alex was the real threat to them. With a wave of his hand, two groups of the rat men were ensnared by thorny brambles. They struggle to get free however that only got them covered in cuts by the bramble’s long sharp thorns. Thanks to the poison coating the thorns they rat men would soon bleed out.
With nearly one-fifth of the rat men’s forces removed from the battle, the pressure on Glutton instantly lessened considerably. Though that didn’t really matter to it anyway. From the previous battle its blood covered the ground around it, so when the rat men charged in to attack it, they stepped in pools of Glutton’s blood. Though the effect was instantly shown the longer, they stood in the blood to attack Glutton the quicker the rat men would lose strength.
Alex watched to his surprise Glutton was being overwhelmed by the horde of rat men. Alex used <
From Alex, a wave of faint green energy rushed out in the shape of a dome. The ground that was sweep over by the pulse of green energy turned a very faint green, then suddenly tiny plant sprouts slowly emerged from under the ground. When the green energy hit Glutton, it started to glow ever so slightly. It could feel that it had become stronger and let out hissing roars as it felt rejuvenated
Glutton apparently was also enraged by the fact it had been losing. It's heads all retracted and again let out furious hissing roars. Suddenly beads of semi-translucent purple murky liquid started to appear on every part of Glutton.
When the rat men attacked Glutton, their weapons were coated in the liquid and it over time tricked down to touch their hands. The liquid was produced by Glutton’s skill <
In only a few minutes the rat men’s movements were only half as fast as before making them easily prey for glutton.
Throughout the fight, Alex had noticed two things. Glutton’s strength was to endure attacks while weakening the enemy before finally striking. Though Alex realized in the previous battle, it now was much more evident just how powerful its ability to weather attacks were as well as its patience.
The other was that even though the rat men were still being killed, he hadn’t leveled for a bit. Could it be they had already out level the rat men and are now receive too little experience? Though Alex could only make a guess it seemed to be most likely.
When the last of the rat men were devoured Alex once again leaped down from the ledge and walked over to Glutton. Alex didn’t fear the poisonous blood that soaked the ground, he naturally understood it won’t affect him.
Glutton was a bloody mess, but more of the wounds were superficial and would heal in a day or two. Its innards and vitals were completely undamaged, which caused Alex to laugh. Even with their overwhelming numbers the rat men could only harm Glutton that much, it was actually laughable.
Excitement fill Alex, he wanted to go to the cave, but he chose to rest first. Alex didn’t know what was in the cave if there were more rat-men that wouldn’t be much of a problem if their numbers weren’t too high. However, if there was something stronger, that could be a problem since Glutton was somewhat injured and Alex was running a little less than half empty on many.
Picking one of the pear-shaped fruits Alex bit into it and a loose smile appeared on his face.
‘Marvelous’ was the word that instantly entered Alex’s mind as he savored the fruit. It tasted a lot like beef steak that had been soaked in some sort of tangy marinade then grilled to perfection to the point it melted in your mouth. The explosion of flavor was tasty to a point of terror. Alex became worried that if the fruits could make him fat, he would be as large as Glutton give a two weeks.
Alex gathered the fruits and put them into the basket he made from hollowing out a small log with Glutton’s help. He attached the log to the vine rope and climbed up to the ledge. After he had retrieved the fruits from the basket, Alex leaned back on the rocky wall and enjoyed himself as he rested.
He decided tomorrow he would explore the cave and see what mysteries it head.