The camp awoke to a ‘thud, thud, thud’ and an alarm went off.
The camp had decided on 2 alarms; one indicating they were under attack, another which meant ‘get up lazy fucks, it’s time for work’ according to the lead researcher.
The alarm type indicated that the latter had woken everyone up.
“Ugh, so tired…” Spirit Triad said, who had unbeknownst to anyone returned 2 hours prior.
'Thud, thud, thud.’
The party ran after the Moorland Menace which had located a target, slammed it into the ground and kept clawing at the ant shaped abomination that tried to consume some spirits and judged by the messy feeding area, had somewhat succeeded.
Its gluttony got punished as the Moorland Menace tore it to shreds, mercilessly.
Chunks and innards escaped from the violence and the party caught up.
The research party set up a small magical bunker and gave the okay sign to the subjugation party after collecting data from that interaction.
The ground froze and team Moch started ice skating.
Spirit Triad tried to not make a fool of himself, but ice skating wasn't anything he had ever done.
He gave up trying to move and activated the [Macaca Spirit Cloak].
Slipping wouldn't be a problem if he didn't move.
Another set of arms made out of spirit energy sprouted from his back, and he sighed before he started flinging [Spirit Turds].
Catching this monkey and subjugating it had taken him the majority of the night, leaving him exhausted and sleep-deprived.
The Moorland Menace attempted to respond to the threat but slipped and crashed down.
The [Spirit Turds] hit their target, but his allies weren't happy with the sight and smell.
What was worse, the act of throwing made him slip and fall.
“We need to talk after this.” The Inquiring Anesthetist said with a stern tone.
Spirit Triad clenched his fist and tried to stand up.
No spirit based attacks were damaging the Moorland Menace, so team Moch came into action.
Mo, the wide man, kept ramming into the cursed armor before it could get up, limiting its movements.
Christina, the red head, occasionally froze the limbs of the Moorland Menace to the ground.
This was temporary as standard magic didn't work against the cursed armor, but it worked long enough for Mo to skate out of harms way.
Hailey, the blonde with a ponytail, continued layering offensive buffs on the rest of the team as not much effort was needed from their side to control the Moorland Menace.
A [Spectral Inferno] went out, thawing the ground and putting an end to the ice skaters' control.
“Can Spirit Triad stop being useless and do something?!” Hailey complained.
Mo was still skating as Cristina froze only the ground under him, allowing him to continue ramming into the Moorland Menace while pulling off graceful evades, despite his size.
Ice crystals formed between the armored plates and in the joints of the Moorland Menace, slowing his movements just by a bit.
Spirit Triad swallowed his pride and refrained from saying something and started flinging [Spirit Stones] and [Spirit Boulders].
“Don't you have any stronger attacks?”
An annoyed voice said behind Spirit Triad.
“I acquired this spirit recently. Attuning to it takes time."
“Time we don't have. What about your other spirit cloaks?"
Spirit Triad got uncomfortable due to the intimidation this Golden Angel gave off.
“Toucans aren't very offensive, and I need to get close to use the tiger…”
" Then stop wasting time and go in. Those 3 are risking their lives too.”
" Mo! Stop any movements of his arms unless you want to deal with spectral explosions, fire pillars or swords dropping on your head!”
Hailey instructed as she threw [Wind Nets] at the Moorland Menace.
Mo knocked the Moorland Menace around, Christina slipped it and froze its joints wherever she could, and [Wind Nets] served as an annoyance that the cursed armor had to burn off or remove physically.
“Where is our damage dealer?!” Hailey complained again.
The cursed armor creaked, the ice on its joints shattered, and it ignited in spectral fire, eliminating the nets.
“Whoah!” Was what Mo exclaimed before skating away.
An orange streak flashed by and pounced on the Moorland Menace, taking it down.
A tiger roar escaped, and Spirit Triad in his [Panthera Spirit Cloak] clawed through the spectral fire.
He felt feedback, but it didn't feel as if his claws dug in deep.
The cloak forced him to jump back, just in time to evade a [Spectral Triple Flare].
“Be careful! It is revealing more of its arsenal!" Spirit Triad swapped out of its cloak and back into it to extinguish the black and blue spectral fire eating at his spirit cloak.
The Moorland Menace stood up while still ablaze with spectral fire and stared down the subjugation party.
The temperature plummeted and, and an enormous ice slide formed with Mo rushing through it, launching himself into the Moorland Menace like a human cannonball and sending it flying.
Armored claws dug into the ground as the Moorland Menace tried to kill its momentum.
An [Ice Pillar] launched it toward Spirit Triad, who swiped at the head but missed due to the Moorland Menace turning it's body to prevent its head from getting torn apart.
3 large gashes opened up in the helmet and black fog erupted from them.
Spirit Triad stopped to try and catch a glimpse of who was inside when he got moved forcefully.
“What are you doing? You want to get yourself killed?" A woman's voice said before they got blown away by the shockwave of a [Spectral Explosion].
“Ugh, look what you did! My hair is a mess now!" Hailey loosened her hair and remade her ponytail. “Thank you, Rubert!”
The Inquiring Anesthetist gave them a thumbs up after Hailey's wave and appreciation for his fast reaction to sedate the 2 and healing the injuries before they could even notice that they had gotten hit by the shockwave.
“He might be the best Golden Angel on the continent, but he can't heal the dead or the stupid, please pay attention.”
Ice formed under Hailey as she skated toward Mo, who was ramming into the Moorland Menace again, and attempted to bind the cursed armor with wires.
“Hey Rubert!”
“That's Inquiring Anesthetist for you!”
Spirit Triad pointed at team Moch. “What's their deal, they're not using any offensive skills!”
“So? They're controlling it to minimize the damage. They can attack, but… what is the point if only spirit energy can damage it? You can destroy the armor by the way. I hate to admit this but… I have no idea what curse is gripping the poor soul within. Try to keep the victim alive if possible but don't focus on it.”
Spirit Triad went on all fours and rushed at the Moorland Menace.
Mo had his back towards him, but still knew to move out of the way just in time.
A claw met his claw go his surprise.
"Ugh stay still stupid armor!” Hailey complained as she pulled on the wires in an attempt to limit the Moorland Menace's actions.
The [Panthera Spirit Cloak] took damage and the armored arm that already had gashes in it got torn off.
“Ha! Take tha…”
More black fog escaped, and blue fire mixed with it.
"...ohh, shit, get out of here!”
The Inquiring Anesthetist spread a sedating gas cloud over his allies as he threw [Gas Barriers] on the party.
Christina slipped everyone away from the Moorland Menace.
A [Spectral Inferno] hit the area, engulfing all combatants besides the Inquiring Anesthetist who had been standing at a safe distance.
'Thud, thud, thud.’
It missed its arm from below the elbow, but wasn't any less intimidating.
The Moorland Menace went for the strategy anyone would employ;take out the support first.
The subjugation team was still disoriented from that surprise attack and the menace approached the tall man with blue piercing eyes who took a stance.
A claw swipe came at him, he leaned to the side, swiped his leg, shifted the Moorland Menace's center of balance and slammed it into the ground.
“Oof, this thing is heavy.”
He threw 5 test tubes with liquid around the floored Moorland Menace, which formed a quick and dirty 5-point magic circle, keeping it in place.
“And now time for me to fuck off! Guys! You have 5 seconds before he breaks free!" The Inquiring Anesthetist ran away as if his life depended on it, because it did.
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The Moorland Menace got pounced by a man in a tiger cloak made out of spirit energy.
He got thrown off, but a wide man crashed into the cursed armor moments after, sending it flying far away from any of the subjugation party members.
“Phewie, that was close.”
Spirit Triad cancelled his spirit cloak and wore it to get rid of the black and blue spectral fire eating at it. " I… I don't think anyone is inside…”
"That's Rubert's expertise, let's just focus on our task. He's coming."
'Thud, thud, thud.’
The 2 men braced themselves for the clash when the Moorland Menace got slipped and a rock, charged with [Explosion] got thrown at it.
The red head gestured for them to run away, something the men didn't need to be told twice.
"Christina is setting off a controlled explosion. She is going to blast it towards us. Get ready to deal a decisive blow to it when that happens.”
Mo gave Spirit Triad a thumbs up as he split off.
" Wait! How do you know where to blast him and where he lands?”
"We take control seriously! Using explosions to move someone or something to the desired location is difficult, but we've practiced a lot. She will target you as the destination. Good luck!”
Mo sped up and appeared to panic a bit.
"Using explosions to move opponents? There is no way that can be done accurately…”
An enormous [Explosion] went off and something crashed into Spirit Triad.
He and the projectile got stopped by a thick [Ice Wall] that got erected.
Spirit Triad blocked a claw swipe going for his head and struggled with the Moorland Menace.
"Crissy, you overdid it with that [Explosion], I think that the Moorland Menace just broke the sound barrier there.” was what Spirit Triad heard Mo say with his tiger ears.
“I could use some help!”
Spirit Triad got pushed back and his cry for help got responded with another [Explosion] charged rock that got thrown behind the Moorland Menace.
“Good luck!” Christina said as she and her team dove away.
The [Explosion] went off, but Spirit Triad was prepared this time.
[Tiger Spirit Claws] tore into the projectile that flashed by.
It left a trail of black smoke behind before it crashed into another [Ice Wall].
“Another one!” Christina yelled as she threw another [Explosion] charged rock.
“This team is insane…”
Claws tore into the projectile, but this situation was slightly different. A claw had torn through his spirit cloak.
His real body had a minor scratch which got healed instantly.
The crash site was covered in black fog and a silhouette tried to stand but kept collapsing and expelling more black fog.
The sound of metal clanging kept going as the torn Moorland Menace tried to get up.
‘Thu, clank, thud.’
While not completely destroyed, the Moorland Menace was unable to command the control over its body it had before.
Nothing suggested that a person was inside, as all that could be seen in the gashes in the armor was swirling black fog.
Half of its torso had been torn to shreds, making this sight quite worrisome for those who knew how these type of curses work.
The Moorland Menace struggled to move forward due to its armor losing its integrity. Its body blazed and the heated air made it’s body appear to warp and distort.
Spirit Triad knew that this was just how light got warped as it passed through something of a different density but this was… different.
He reacted to a shadow behind him, screamed and lashed out to the Moorland menace who had suddenly appeared behind him.
“Mo! Help Spirit Triad out! He is acting strange! As if he’s seeing a hallucination!”
The strange appearances weren’t limited to just Spirit Triad’s perception, as the Moorland Menace had used one outfit's skill it had kept hidden; [Spectral Mirage].
The Inquiring Anesthetist came into action, as dealing with these type of problems was up his alley.
A colorless gas swept over the battlefield after the Inquiring Anesthetist put on a gas mask and the strong smell violently shook team Moch and Spirit Triad out of their hallucinations.
“Aah my nose!”
Hailey coughed and used wind magic to get rid of the ammonia smell.
The slight disgust and increased alertness caused by this gas made the fighters more resistant to the [Spectral Mirage].
The Moorland Menace stood unmoving, creating mirage after mirage.
The lingering gas got neutralized, and the Inquiring Anesthetist took off his gas mask. “Guys, stay alert, something as troublesome as the Moorland Menace wouldn’t stop at just creating mirages to confuse, it must have another function!”
Multiple mirages of the Moorland Menace had appeared, but they had to yet do anything.
“I’ll just take out the main body!” Spirit Triad said as he ran toward the only Moorland Menace that had a damaged body. “You’re easy to pick out once I pay attention!”
Tiger claws closed in on the Moorland Menace when a [Spectral Explosion] went off and blew the spirit cloak off Spirit Triad and launched him away.
There was no pain, but he knew that it was due to the best Golden Angel on the continent having his back.
One of the mirages had their pals together as if it had just clapped them together. Another mirage cupped its hands, targeting Spirit Triad.
“You can’t be serious…”
Mo attempted to crash into the mirage to disrupt it, but it failed as it was just a mirage. No attempts to disrupt the mirages had any success.
A hand landed on Spirit Triad’s shoulder, startling him. “Here drink this. You might not have felt the pain and I healed you instantly, but that doesn't mean your body isn’t affected.”
Spirit Triad accepted a smelly drink from the Inquiring Anesthetist and downed it without any complaint. It was bitter, had a tinge of citrus but was disgusting above all.
The Inquiring Anesthetist helped Spirit Triad stand. “That skill is an issue. We need to take out the main body before those mirages become too troublesome. Is your spirit cloak okay?”
Spirit Triad shook his head after confirming that the tiger spirit had disappeared. He just had the monkey and toucan spirit left.
“Also, I’m getting out of here! Good luck!”
The Inquiring Anesthetist fled, to Spirit Triad’s surprise. “Huh?”
He locked eyes with a mirage in the distance that had targeted him for [Spectral Explosion].
“Oh shit!”
The speed of his [Ramphastos Spirit Cloak] saved him as he barely made it out of the blasting zone and similar explosions went off on the battlefield as the other members of the subjugation team had a similar problem.
Several spectral objects flew into the sky, creating [Spectral Skyswords] that hovered above the battlefield.
Team Moch retreated as there was nothing they could do against the mirages and getting close to the Moorland Menace had become impossible. All was up to Spirit Triad.
Explosions tore into the spirit cloak and falling sky swords forced him to make detours and delayed him greatly, but he was closing in on the Moorland Menace.
The toucan beak being the only offensive element in his spirit cloak made Spirit Triad doubtful on whether they would be able to seal the deal.
Determining it would be silly to peck at a menacing cursed armor, he swapped to his [Macaca Spirit Cloak], scooped earth from the ground and rolled it, turning it into a [Spirit Boulder].
Spirit Triad refused to use half of the monkey’s kit, as half of it revolved around flinging turds or screaming like a monkey. A lapse in concentration, got him hit by a [Spectral Explosion] blasting him to the side.
‘Thud, clank, thud.’
A battered armor appeared in front of him and landed a kick. Expecting to get blown away, Spirit Triad prepared to throw an attack as retaliation, but an arm grabbed him, slammed him into the ground and he got blasted by spectral fire.
There was yet again no pain but the situation was dire as the Moorland menace had pinned him down and went for another punch, moreover his spirit cloak was giving out.
The definition of ‘menace’ flashed through his mind. Despite appearing to be damaged to the point where it appeared to be inoperable, it still had the speed and strength to pose a threat.
Wires wrapped around Spirit Triad’s legs and pulled him out of the follow-up attack before an [Ice Pillar] launched the Moorland menace away.
‘Thud, clank, thud.’
It made up for the distance, it had been launched almost instantly. It appeared to be limping, but its speed was hardly affected by it.
Another explosion went off and Mo got launched away from the battlefield. He had taken a bi too many [Spectral Explosions] and while still alive, had passed out from the shock.
“This is bad! He got Mo! I’m creating distance with an [Explosion]!”
Christina threw another charged rock and Spirit Triad got dragged away by the wires as Hailey, who held on to the ropes, fled.
“Hey, hey! Wait! You’re doing that again?!”
Spirit Triad switched spirit cloak, protecting himself from the blaze that erupted from the [Explosion].
Standard magic had a minimal effect on his spirit cloaks, but the toucan cloak was the only unscathed cloak he had left.
Mirages came into action, forcing Spirit Triad to get up and flee as well.
3 enormous spheres of black and blue fire appeared next to him, forcing him to dive aside to avoid the [Spectral Triple Flare].
Waves of spectral fire spread out from multiple mirages as [Spectral Inferno] started taking over the majority of the battlefield.
The team had blasted the main body away to save their colleague but this also meant that they had made it difficult to deal with the mirages as the only way to stop it had become accessible as they had blasted the source away.
There was a correlation between the frequency of the mirage’s attacks and the party’s proximity to the Moorland Menace, suggesting them to decide what is the lesser evil.
A scream went out, and Spirit Triad got requested to look at Hailey’s leg, which had gotten caught in spectral fire.
The fire got smothered by Spirit Triad’s spirit energy, which was getting close to bottoming out.
“You might need to have that Golden Angel check your leg. Spirit burns are quite nasty, especially if you don’t have spirit energy yourself.”
Spirit Triad shifted his gaze to the red head. “Your name was Christina, right? The longer this fight goes on, the more we get at a disadvantage. Can…”
Spirit Triad rubbed his head. “I can’t believe I’m asking this… can you use your [Explosion] to send me flying at the Moorland Menace? I won’t miss, and I will finish it.”
Christina helped Hailey stand and nodded.
“It’s okay, Crissy, I can walk. Help him put that jerk down.” Hailey said with a smile while giving a thumbs down.
“Okay… Spirit Triad, just know that it will be difficult for me to help out if you miss. You might get torn to shreds before I can act, and Rubert can’t prevent instant death.”
[Spectral Skyswords] appearing in the sky urged them to get into action immediately.
Dense gas blankets attempted to block and divert these with limited success, buying miniscule amounts of time.
Christina put a large charged rock behind Spirit Triad, lifted Hailey, and ran toward the [Gas Barriers] the Inquiring Anesthetist had made.
Spirit Triad forced out all his spirit energy, thickening his [Ramphastos Spirit Coat] and sharpening and enlarging the toucan beak.
The area blurred shortly after a massive explosion went off, followed by a crash and the sound of metal shattering.
Black fog escaped, pushing him off his target. He braced himself for an attack, but it never came.
Low spirit energy and a massive headache, but the large hole in the torso of the Moorland Menace suggested that he hadn’t missed.
The armor appeared to have been surrounding a body made out of black fog and was slowly falling off it.
The Inquiring Anesthetist ran over, surrounded by strange clouds of gas, and crouched down next to the entity that used to be called the Moorland menace.
“Thank you, Spirit Triad. I don’t think it can move anymore, you can be at ease.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist lifted his arm and made an ‘o’sign with his fingers, prompting the others to approach.
Metal was still breaking off the body off the fallen Moorland Menace and fully revealed a body made out of black fog.
“Hey, what is tha…”
The Inquiring Anesthetist put up his hand, interrupting Spirit Triad.
The fog subsided and revealed the body of a male wolf beast kin, half corrupted by strange black energy.
“This is terrible… decay has set in… hey, can you talk? What is your name?”
The Inquiring Anesthetist started some magic based healing procedures.
The beast kin moved and groaned weakly.
His mouth moved, but no sound came out, and the blackness covering his body spread.
The Inquiring Anesthetist cast a sedative gas on the wolf beast kin, who appeared to be in pain. “Hey hang on!”
“Lo…Loran Kijtran…”
“I see, Loran, my name is Rubert. I will help you. Things will be rough, but there might be still hope.”
Loran coughed and shook his head as the blackness spread even more.
“No… Finally….finally, it's over…”
A smile appeared on Lorn’s face as the blackness consumed his body completely.
Black fog escaped out of his body and dissipated, leaving no trace behind of the beast kin known as Loran Kijtran.
The Inquiring Anesthetist closed his eyes, balled his fist and slammed it into the ground.
The subjugation party had nobody or victim to return with. The only casualty from that fight had been the one that had been trapped in the cursed armor for almost a decade, Loran Kijtran.
Nothing was known about him. Not where he came from, not how he got cursed. The only thing that got remembered was his name. He got remembered as the unfortunate soul who had to endure being trapped, have his autonomy stripped and witnessing how he committed horrible acts.
The Moorland Menace disappeared on this day. The research party studying it wrote several research papers and books on this and together with Eileen’s notes would serve as a guide and as a warning.
Curses are to be taken seriously but above all; the importance of the word ‘menace’. Anything labeled as cursed or a menace should be treated with caution and great care, as an army had been severely crippled and a dragon severely wounded by just a single entity.
Many strange beings and curses lurk in the continent of Kaledon. The story of the Moorland Menace served as a reminder to those who got cocky, proud and thought they knew it all or were the strongest. No matter how strong or knowledgeable the person. There will always be a strange or rare being stronger and wiser, and it will kill when presented the opportunity to do so as the world isn't as safe as it seems.
Immortality is something sought by many and while unintentional, the names of Loran and Eileen got immortalized due to this incident.