[ALPHA SWAMP CERVINE]

This creature is a Roaming Field Boss of the Swamp Cervine.

Level 25 Field Boss

Status: Enraged

It's low intelligence keeps it from expanding it's boarders, more interested in expanding it's herd, it keeps many females used for breeding. Killing off any other males born.

Killing its herd has caused the Boss to be enraged.

Ethan read the creatures information screen. Not liking the sound of it all.

“What the fuck is a roaming field boss?” Ethan asked, not taking his eyes off the massive Swamp Cervine staring him down.

“Every species of monster in the Endless Plains has a Boss Monster. An Alpha. They roam the territory of the creatures, usually on the outskirts. This one appears to have been close enough to sense it’s kin being killed. I advise you to run away. Fast.”

Ethan wasn’t sure he could take the massive creature, and didn’t want to find out. From the aura exuded from the creature he felt the hatred it had for the lone man surrounded by his dead mates. Ethan could feel the blood lust in the air, wafting across the field assaulting his senses. Crouching low, he made to back away slowly. Complicated by having to weave his way around and between the corpses. Motionless, the eyes of the field boss never left Ethan. The same flowing, undulating black ooze pulsed across its body. Made of the same thin sticks, just infinity more dense, its body resembled the stagnate waters of a swamp. If something unseen swam just below the surface. A lot of somethings.

Ethan was halfway to the edge of the tree line when the Alpha took a step, turning its massive body towards him. Frozen in place for a second, Ethan prayed to whoever was listening.

Please just let me get to the tree line, if I can get the tree line, maybe I can out maneuver the giant deer thing.

He was not so lucky. As soon as the prayer reached the aether, the Alpha lowered its huge antlers and charged. Before Ethan had the chance to stand and turn, the Alpha was on him. Slamming into Ethan, taking him off his feet, continuing his forward momentum the monster smashed Ethan into a tree. Before he could even process what was going on Ethan had the wind knocked out of him. If his body wasn’t fused with the stone from the Safe Zone, he was sure he would have been human paste, painting the forest a special edition Ethan Soxe Crimson Red.

The massive cloven hooves dug into the ground pushing harder and harder against the tree. Ethan felt like a tube of toothpaste ready to burst. The pressure was intense. But not intense enough for him not to realize, he wasn’t in any pain. No bones were broken, no organs crushed, not even a scratch, or cut. Sure there were a few cracks, he could see were slowly forming, and others growing steadily. But no blood, guts or gore.

His mind raced. Quickly reaching inside he felt his reserves of stone, and hoped his plan worked. He felt the pressure remain constant as the Alpha attempted to break the tree with Ethan’s body. But he also felt the stone slowly fill the cracks and crevasses.

Ding

The strain evident on his face, two forces pushing outward threatened to make him burst. Then the pressure internally stopped. Now he only had to deal with the external pressure from the Alpha. Relief spread across his face, and the Alpha sensed it. Pulling back, it slammed into Ethan once more. Twisting its head attempting to crush and grind Ethan into the tree. Over and over, faster than Ethan could process. The tree splintered and cracked, the Alpha unrelenting in its assault. Unable to breathe, Ethan felt the world close in on him. He had yet to be able to recover from the initial attack that knocked the air from his lungs.

Once again, dumbass. You fucked up. You’re gonna die before you even figure out if any of this is really real. And then your family is going to be killed because you couldn’t pull your head out of your ass and quit fucking up.

Self hatred flared in Ethan’s eyes, gritting his teeth, that sounded like walking on gravel, he opened his eyes. Over and over the Alpha slammed into him. Never giving Ethan a second to recover. The Alpha’s own rage apparent on his silent face. Other than the initial hollow bleating and the constant pounding of its hooves, it still had yet to make a noise. Ethan attempted to move, but the relentless attacks pinned him to the tree. Only his arms were free to move.

So he did the only thing he could. Once more the Alpha shot forward, as soon as it made contact with Ethan’s chest he grabbed on to the huge head of the monster. It did not go as he had planned, at first. The Alpha continued to ram the tree, just now with Ethan as a helmet, instead of the focus of its rage, the target.

The tree finally buckled and snapped. Crashing to the ground, as the Alpha reared up, tossing its head back and forth attempting to toss Ethan. Unsuccessful, it slammed its front hooves down, preparing to charge again. Ethan held, the tossing had allowed him to again breathe, his mind slowly clearing. Still dizzy, he knew what was coming and wanted no more of that.

As if from a cartoon, the Alpha prepared to charge by scratching the ground with one of its front hooves. Giving Ethan enough time to climb up and on to the back of the head of the Alpha. The Alpha turned and charged, racing across the clearing aiming for a new tree. Ethan held on, along for the ride, he saw the world race by in a blur. He felt the wood below him bulge as the head of the Alpha lowered.

Not good, not good.

Bracing for impact, Ethan’s entire body tightened up, hands, arms, and legs all held on for what was to come.

BOOOM!

Notifications rang in tune with Ethan’s ears, his head pounded. But the Alpha didn't stop. There was no Ethan helmet to absorb some of the impact and the tree exploded as the Alpha charged through the tree line. Slamming into the next tree and the tree after that. The fourth tree though was its undoing, momentarily stunning the monster as it did not give way to beast. It fell to the ground on its stomach, antlers partially impaling the innocent tree. Ethan took the sudden lull in the battle to take action. Holding on with one hand, he reached back and started punching the thick neck of the Alpha. It was wet, and solid, like punching wet cement. Over and over again his fist rained down doing no damage.

“GODDAMNIT WHY CAN’T YOU JUST FUCK OFF! I CAN’T EVEN HURT YOU?!” Ethan screamed as he relentlessly pummeled the Alpha. Doing no damage at all.

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Every punch just rippled out across the black ooze, never reaching its wooden body below.

“You can’t punch everything to death. The only reason it worked on the smaller ones was the fact they had far less mass to spread out the impact.”

“So I can’t beat this thing?”

“I did advise you to run…”

Punches still rained down on the Alpha. It showed no sign of being bothered. It had done more damage to itself than Ethan currently was, which it was now recovering from. Standing up, it hooks its head, shacking loose the last grips of confusion, and the tree stuck to its antlers.

“I noticed you didn’t say no.” Ethan said, holding on for dear life. Knowing if he got off, he would be subject to being stomped, or charged again. At least holding on for dear life he could breathe.

“You aren’t using all of your tools. Your punches are just blunt force, you have no fighting skills.”

“Yeah I know! I don’t have any weapons other than my fists! All I can do is keep pumping stone into- “ Ethan cut himself off.

Was the solution that easy? Could he win? He had to try. There was no way he could die here.

With one last swing, Ethan held on once more. The Alpha had fully recovered while he was in thought, now preparing to charge again. Tossing its head, testing Ethan’s grasp, it squared up, bucked and shot forward. This time the Alpha wasn’t aiming for a single tree in particular. It kept leaning side to side scraping its sides and head on trees as it ran in a new direction. Branches thick and thin whipped Ethan in face. He could feel his grip slipping, his body bouncing in rhythm to the movement of the Alpha. Hooves thundered, trees crashed into the sides of the Alpha, and Ethan groaned. It didn't hurt, he just knew this was a battle of attrition. Diving inside himself, for what he had to do next he needed to be able to hold on with out worry. If blunt force wasn’t working, he had to try something else, and fast.

He saw the fully formed Safe Zone, there were parts missing, but it was still in the familiar shape. He drew some of the stone out, and watched as the missing parts expanded, like fading fog dispersing. Sending the parts drawn out he pushed them to his legs. Focusing on his feet, he started to stack the stone on his skin. Something fought against his efforts. It felt like the stone was fighting him, like it wanted to stay safe inside him. Only pushing harder made it push back harder still.

Come on work, work damn it.

Pulling back the stone, he tried again. Smaller this time, narrower, more focused. Thin spikes formed from his bare feet. Barely perceivable they grew slowly, even as his grip lessened, he could feel it working.

And then they retracted.

“Reforge your body.” Joe said, sensing Ethan’s frustration raising.

What the fuck do you think I’m doing? This stone doesn’t want to leave… Me is big dumb.

Realizing what he had been doing wrong Ethan pulled back the stone, he understood what it was trying to tell him. It didn’t want to leave his body. He had made it a part of him. It was now like trying to push out his own Kidneys.

Do I still have Kidneys?

Everything feel into place once again. He decided to admonish himself later for being so dumb about it. He didn’t have time right now. He pushed the stone deeper into himself. Not building it on top of the skin. But building the skin up with stone. The change was minuscule, but immediately worlds different in what happened next.

It felt like a new limb had grown from the insides of his ankles. Ten inch long, three inch around spikes grew from his ankles piercing the Alpha Cervine. Opening his eyes Ethan looked around, there was a mile long trail of broken trees behind. His grip was loosening, but he felt his feet gripping harder than his hands, he knew he could let go and not fall off.

He wasn’t sure if he had hurt the goo deer or not as it gave no indication. Of pain, or stopping any time soon. It did slow to change direction, and quickly started its mad dash through a new part of the forest untouched by his silent anger. Anger for his lost herd, for his uninvited rider. Letting go Ethan focused on the next part of his impromptu plan to survive this battle.

FuckFuckFuck. I should not have done that. Fuckfuckfuck.

More branches smashed into him now that he sat up. He could feel his body cracking and chipping. Sending stone as quickly as he could to fill the missing bits. Wondering for a moment if he lost the fallen off bits for good, or would magic, or system fuckery refill it. Then cast the thought to the side, it didn’t matter right now. He was stuck on a missile of rage, hell bent on bashing him on every tree in the forest, and needed to pump the breaks.

Fighting against the rain of branches hitting him everywhere from his knees to his face, he reached down and placed both hands back on the Alpha’s neck right along where the spine should have been. Closing his eyes and opening his internal well. At first nothing happened, he focused on what it was he wanted to consume. Drops began to filter in, then a trickle.

Drop by drop, it grew. Soon a steady flow of… wet darkness… entered the space between his body and his soul. Right next to the stone Safe Zone sculpture, a lake of murky wetness formed.

Huh, I thought it would have been deer shaped?

The flow began to waver, redoubling his thoughts he refocused on pulling in everything he could from the Alpha. At first nothing happened, just his Internal Well started filling up, but soon he could feel the onslaught of branches lessen. The thundering of hooves began to slow. The Alpha still ran forward, just slower. And slower. Sensing danger the Alpha changed its tactics, no longer seeing charging forward as an option, it dove to the side. Landing on its side at full speed, it slid over 100 meters. Mowing down a huge swath of the forest. The sudden shift had thrown Ethan off for a second. He quickly recovered and resumed drawing the ooze once more. But the storm of falling trees and stumps crashing into him threw him off. Pausing to push stone back up to his skin, realized he had be doing this wrong as well. Instead this time he pushed the cracks back together. He noticed the Safe Zone Statue didn’t fade away more.

Ask about it later on… Focus.

The lake of darkness grew once more. The Alpha came to a stop no longer sliding. But kicking frantically instead. Thrashing its head up and down, trying to bash Ethan into the ground. But his stone body was far more dense than the soft earth of the forest, leaving Ethan shaped indents anywhere the Alpha landed. Coming down one more time the Alpha broke off one of its antlers. It flew away, drawing Ethan’s attention. Opening his eyes he was shocked to see the wooden body of the Alpha looked drier. The ooze had receded from the haunch of the Alpha, chipping away at the massive beast, huge chucks were falling off. Sticks, branches and whole logs were flying off as the Alpha kicked, trying with all its might to kill the leach stuck to its neck.

Rolling back to sit up, the Alpha tried to run again, but it no longer had hooves. It’s legs were missing below the tibia. It let out the same wooden bleat as before, but this time desperation saturated its cries. Still Ethan consumed the ooze, drawing in more and more. Until he could hold no more. He felt full. More than full, he was stuffed. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t draw out more, even if there was more left in the Alpha.

Releasing his hands from the Alpha’s neck, Ethan took a minute to look around. They were near the clearing this all started at, the entire dynamic had shifted. He was the one who tried to get away, and was pinned down. Now he was watching the Alpha dragging its body away in a feeble attempt at running away. With his new found understanding of his body forging, he balled his fists, spikes grew along the knuckles. Short round spikes began pummeling the creature once more. This time the force was no longer dispersed, and wood chips began to fly.

It took 15 minutes before the Alpha stopped moving. Still Ethan smashed at the neck of the monster. Then without notice the entire body, what was left of it anyways, collapsed. Like a pile of sticks had been dropped from a forklift, the Alpha’s body lost all cohesion and flowed out. Leaving Ethan falling rolling down the small hill of wood.

The flow of notifications caused Ethan pause.

“Jesus Henry Christ, I… I… don’t. Is it... over?” Ethan asked confused, exhausted, and frankly surprised he had survived.

“Yes. It is dead. But I fear we have a new problem.” Joe said.

“Not another one? I don’t think I got it in me.” Ethan tried to get up, but he was spent. Emotionally, and physically.

He wanted to beat himself up for every mistake he had made. Even if the tiny voice in the back of his made made him realize he had no idea what he was doing. He had jumped into the fight with the herd thinking he could farm some easy XP, he should have gathered more info. A mistake he would not make again.

“No, you are relatively safe. Once you kill the Field Boss of any species, the rest die. The entire region is clear of monsters now. Though in a few days the other monsters may begin to invade the territory since it is no longer being claimed.”

That was a relief, Ethan thought to himself. Thinking he had at least a day to rest.

“The issue is that I think the method you used to protect yourself has slowed your progression.”

“What?! I didn’t get any experience for that kill?”

“Oh, no you did. But you didn’t gain any stats outside of leveling up. You pushed yourself pretty hard, I had to keep repairing internal damage, while you repaired the external. The issue is you’re supposed to push yourself, and doing so will naturally raise your stats. Think of it like working out, you tear muscles they rebuild, and you get stronger. But you didn’t tear any muscles… So you didn’t get stronger.” Joe said, while Ethan mulled it over.

“It’s because I overlaid stone into every bit of my body… I reinforced everything. I didn’t rebuild it. Like I did with the spikes. Stone muscles can’t tear.”

There it was, that feeling of wanting beat himself up, again. Drowning out the little voice of logic. It didn’t matter that he was like an infant running around in the dark. It didn’t matter that he had never used skills or magic before. He expected himself to do better, and he wasn’t. Reabsorbing all the stone back into his Internal Well, Ethan lay there naked, and angry on a pile of dead monster sticks. Angry at himself. Angry for not knowing, angry for rushing in, angry for not gathering more information about his enemy, angry he hadn’t ran. Even if had won the battle, that didn’t win wars. And he held no misconceptions, he was at war.

He had to do better. He would do better.

“Joe. Thanks for your hint back there. I am going to check my notifications, then we are going back to square one. I need you to train me. I need to be able to survive. No, I need to be able to fight.”

“As you wish.”