Chapter 144 – Rattlespine
“Everyone, get up now” Devin commanded.
Luxor the gnome mage and one of Devin’s warriors had disappeared right from underneath their nose. Jack didn’t wait for anyone to wake up. He was already a hundred yards away chasing after any signs of intruders. He scrambled up one of the bone piles for a better view of his surroundings. The broken moon that hung static above the city did provide a decent amount of visibility, but that didn’t change the fact that it was technically permanent nighttime, and the area was covered in relative darkness. Skeletons chased after him, but he paid them no mind as he blasted straight through them.
It didn’t make sense; how could two people be missing? Jack and Devin had barely been twenty yards away, and arguably had some of the best senses of the group. They would have heard a struggle. Which meant they would have had to sneak out of camp, but that also didn’t make any sense. After checking the perimeter Jack came back to the camp to find Devin arguing with Willow.
“What do you mean you didn’t see anything? You just woke up, you couldn’t have not seen anything,” Devin accused.
“And what about you? Twenty yards away playing with your sword and not watching the camp. If this is anyone’s fault it’s yours,” she countered.
“Idiots both. Look,” Gaiju interrupted before Devin and Willow could kill each other. Jack looked to where she was pointing. The suspicious pathway leading into the spine forest now had one addition—a giant red arrow pointing deeper into the forest. It was painted with blood. The group stared at it in shock.
“The sector councilor?” Willow asked, her brows knit in confusion as she knelt down and ran her fingers through the blood.
“I dreamed of a hunter picking off a pack of wolves one by one. Smart enemy we have.” Gaiju let out a humorless chuckle.
The last group of fighters they were waiting on was yet to arrive. They were likely dead. Jack exchanged a glance with Devin who’s face seemed to mirror his own.
“No point in turning down an invitation,” Jack said as he started walking into the spine forest. They couldn’t sit out here waiting forever. It was time to take over the sector. Eager footsteps filled the air behind, his group now hungry for a fight.
The pathway leading into the forest was narrow, fitting only two people shoulder to shoulder. The spines rattled and swayed all around them even though it was a windless night. Faint howling and screeching could be heard in the distance, but it was impossible to gauge what direction it was coming from. The path was curvy and winding, and each sharp turn was met by Jack exploding around the corner in anticipation of an ambush that never came. They continued on like this for an exhaustive amount of time. The adrenaline had worn off and now everyone was stressed as they struggled to stay aware of their surroundings. The first change in the environment was designed to be disheartening.
“Something ahead,” one of the rogue’s whispered after about an hour of following the pathway. The entire group came to a stop as Jack slowly crept forward. The moonlight could barely penetrate the surrounding forest and it only seemed to grow darker the deeper inside they went. Wiggleworm had transformed into a cloak and Jack silently moved through the rattling spines as he approached the shadow that hung loosely in the middle of the path. He stopped just short of ripping the shadowy mass to shreds.
A spine from the surrounding forest was bending into the pathway from the weight of the body that hung from it. It was the warrior who had gone missing. It looked like he had been stabbed a hundred times over. Whoever did this worked exceptionally fast. To silently kidnap, kill, and then hang him from a branch like a clue pointed to a skilled warrior, Jack thought.
“What the fuck,” Devin growled. He immediately cut the body down.
Jack had already pushed past the dead warrior though, something else catching his eye. The pathway was lined with dead body parts impaled on the spines, an arm, a leg, a torso. Jack’s suspicions were confirmed when he spotted the first head. Lonnie, the leader of the missing group had her head planted firmly on a spike alongside the remaining members of her group. Shock and anger rang out from the group as they all stepped up to inspect the gruesome remains.
Then the screeching began in earnest.
Loud howling, whooping, and inhuman screaming rang out loudly from every direction, taunting the group. Wherever the enemy was, they were close now. Jack turned back toward the group, meeting each one of their gazes. Any sort of playfulness had left their eyes, instead replaced with vacant, dispassionate, almost annoyed stares.
“The most annoying thing about this,” Jack started, “is that they think this shit is actually going to scare us.”
He was met with nods and murmurs of agreement.
He was fully aware that he had been collecting the barely restrained psychopaths and murderers. Stringing up body parts was more likely to turn them on, not scare them away. Even noble Devin and his band of mercenaries were beginning to be affected by Jack’s coalition. They seemed much more eager and far less reserved than when he first met them.
“How about we show them who the real monsters are?” Jack grinned.
They all met his gaze with a menacing smile of their own.
As the pathway began to open up, the screeching and taunting from the surrounding forest only grew louder and louder. The group marched into a large open clearing within the forest. In the middle was a dead tree with jagged branches that twisted and turned and stretched out into the dark night sky like bolts of white lightning. The size of the tree towered over everything in sight, like a lone skyscraper in the middle of the suburbs. It was so large that Jack was surprised neither he or any of the other scouts had been able to see it from outside the forest.
In place of leaves were hundreds of skeletons hanging from the dead limbs, screeching furiously at the intruders. Jack narrowed his eyes at the skeletal monsters. If he had to guess, they were chimpanzees.
In the middle of them all sat a skeleton gorilla half the size of King Kong. Six arms shot out of his body and clung to the surrounding branches, bending them beneath his weight. In one of his many hands, he held a braided staff of bone that was the size of a tree trunk. He stared down at the group like a jungle king ready to strike down any who entered his domain. He remained silent among his screeching army.
At the base of the tree ten elves stood tall all in a row. Their skin was either pitch black or pale white, and they wore armor opposite their skin color. The white elves wore black armor, and the black elves wore white. They were slender, with skinny torsos and long limbs. From the shadows that pooled around them a final elf emerged. Unlike the others, he wore black armor to match his midnight skin. He stepped from the shadows like a spider, each step silent and unnerving as he walked towards the group. Without saying anything he stopped halfway and gave a deep bow, unfurling his arm and rolling a small ball towards Jack. It came to a stop just before him. Lexors head.
“The Twilight Lord suspected you might be so foolish as to further upset the delicate balance of our city.” The elf stood up straight as he began to speak, staring down his nose at Jack with a haughty expression. “We have come to assist councilor Rattlespine against any potential—”
From beneath his cloak, Jack pulled a trigger. His gun erupted like a plasma cannon, shooting out two powerful bolts of lightning that ripped through the upper half of the elf’s body.
You have slain climber Aldous Dwelldon
+15,365,720 AP
+3SP
Jack raised an eyebrow at the kill notification. Skill points were pretty rare from killing another climber. Sometimes the Tower would give you a little extra for killing someone if they were higher level then you, or it meant he had some skill points he hadn’t spent yet.
The remaining ten elves immediately broke rank, shocked looks on their faces their leader had just disintegrated right before their eyes.
“Leave a few of them alive. I want the Twilight Lord to know what’s coming for him,” Jack commanded. “Devin, we’re on the boss, everyone else deal with the skeletons.”
A white glowing sword shot past Jack’s head straight at the still observing Rattlespine. Devin appeared holding it a moment later. He readied his swing, pumping the sword full of mana until it was twenty times it’s original size, then he swung hard at the councilor. Rattlespine had his staff ready to meet Devin’s enormous attck. A shockwave rang out knocking dozens of the skeletal monkeys out of the tree as the weapons collided with each other. The exchange sparked everyone into action.
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The elves charged forward, some with blades, others with bows. Skeletal chimpanzees jumped down in large packs, screeching loudly and swinging large thigh bone sized clubs with reckless abandon.
Gaiju cackled loudly in response, pulling out her massive cleaver and letting loose an orcish warcry that called for violence. Blood red frost crept out around her body and solidified into a suit of frozen armor. She stomped the ground in front of her, cracking the earth and sending forth a cascade of deadly frozen spikes that ripped up out of the ground and tore through the charging opponents.
A pair of deep purple butterfly wings appeared behind Willow and flapped once launching her forward at breakneck speed. She slammed into one of the elves, sinking her claws deep into his abdomen and ripping them out. Purple ethereal strings bled out from the tip of her fingers as she pulled free her clawed hands. Attached to the end of the purple strings was a pale silver image of the elf. The body went limp but the silvery image of the elf that Willow was pulling on flailed wildly like a caught fish. The succubus paid him no mind as she pursed her lips together and sucked in air. The silver soul of the elf began to pale and fade as she devoured his very essence. She dropped his body to the ground moments later, a catatonic, soulless husk.
“Finally, something I can eat,” she moaned.
Jack felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine when she turned to him and winked.
Rattlespine batted Devin away and let loose a titanic roar of his own. The forest of spines began to rattle wildly, and Jack felt the earth shaking beneath his feet. Skeletal monsters poured out of the surrounding forest threatening to overwhelm his small group of ten. No one on his side seemed disheartened.
“Finally, a real challenge,” Jack heard one of the warriors say.
Gaiju and seemed to be handling the elves herself with the occasional assistance of Willow who was shooting out purple glyphs that branded her teammates and made them fight with a renewed vigor. The weapons of all the remaining warriors and elves in the group began to hum with a golden glow as they met the charging skeletons.
“If you pull out your daggers, I would love to enchant them,” Paul said. Jack glanced at the warpriest who was watching the fight with the careful eyes of a healer. He pulled out his daggers and Paul waved his hand over them. The black daggers glowed with the golden radiance of holy mana a moment later. Then it disappeared as quickly as it came.
“What the hell,” Jack complained. Paul frowned and tried again to no luck.
“I think your weapons might be too… Evil?” he tried.
Jack tsked in annoyance. He supposed weapons named Nightmare and Corruptor that were forged from the horns of an evil ass super demon not being able to receive a holy buff made some degree of sense, but he was still annoyed with it.
Jack gave the fight one last inspection, rolling his shoulders and shaking out his limbs. He narrowed his eyes on the fight between Devin and Rattlespine. It was an impressive battle that raged through the treetops. None of the skeletal chimpanzees dared interfere between the two exchanging blows. Devin was a sight to behold as he danced around the giant gorilla. Three swords swam in the air in a triangular formation. Devin would teleport between them in rapid succession, delivering devastating slashes from every angle. Jack couldn’t help but smirk as he watched the fight play out. Devin wasn’t using his actual sword, only the ones he manifested with his mana. Even with the stakes being as high as they were he was still training, still trying to push himself. Jack was a bit jealous if he was being honest with himself. He couldn’t afford to hold back without his mana, but Devin at least understood that he needed to push himself harder, and he was doing just that. Jack briefly entertained the idea of letting him handle the fight himself, he was kind of curious to see how it would play out. Saner heads prevailed as he gave his daggers a few lazy test spins in his hands.
It was time to finish the fight.
Jack launched off the ground and up towards the tree. Rattlespine swung his staff hard at Devin, missing once more. He followed through with the swing having learned his techniques and attempted to bat away the surrounding swords. Jack slammed into the gorilla’s skull and lashed out three times, striking him in his temple. He was rewarded with chips of bone, but that was it.
Rattlespine turned on him with an expressionless gaze, all six of his arms primed to defend against the newest attacker. Jack jumped over a wild swing of his staff and narrowly dodged five furious fists that rained down on him. The gorilla was a bit faster than he expected, but he made sure to lash out with his daggers as he danced and dodged. The bone was strong. It felt like striking a steel pole with a metal bat. His daggers did little but chip damage as he struck out at elbows and wrists joints and anywhere that should be weak to his strikes.
Rattlespine jumped back and gave a taunting, unbothered laugh as he beat his chest in challenge.
“I’m going to craft a sword out of his bones,” Devin complained as he appeared next to Jack.
“You could cut him if you just used your actual sword,” Jack countered.
“If I can’t beat him with just my mana, we don’t stand a chance at taking over the upper sectors.”
Jack couldn’t help but agree with that logic. Three swords, then five swords, then eight swords appeared in formation around him. Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had never seen Devin conjure forth more than five. Looks like he was ready to finish this.
“I’ll set him up, you knock him down.” Jack shot forward at the gorilla. Ratllespine in turn leveled all six of his fists at Jack and launched them at him like a barrage of missiles. A black miasmic energy trailed behind the fists like rope attached to his wrist. His fist turned into deadly flails that he flung around with a whip like speed and fury.
Jack pivoted from a charge to a sudden mid air dance as he tried to avoid the fists. He let out a deep breath among the chaos and focused on one singular fist. Every time it tried to hit him he lashed out at it with two or three strikes. He was rewarded with a pinky first as his daggers bit into the same hand over and over again. Rattlespine quickly realized what was happening and tried to pull back his fist but Jack hadn’t gotten a taste for bone and chased after it amongst the unending storm of attacks. Soon the fist was nothing but a nub as Jack destroyed it completely. Rattlespine abandoned the remainder of the fist and refocused his effort on his remaining five hands, but Jack had already pushed past them.
He launched himself back at Rattlespine’s skull, but the ape had another surprise in store for him as a long tail lashed out from behind him. The tail was fixed with a bone sharpened to a point that blew through Jack’s defense as he tried to parry the attack. With his guard open Rattlespine quickly recalled his hands and picked his staff back up. Jack couldn’t maneuver in the air as he just used his Zephyr stride bangles and he needed to touch something solid before they could reset. He floated helplessly in the air as Rattlespine tee’d off on him with his remaining five arms. Jack absorbed the blow as best he could, and maneuvered so that his feet touched the massive staff first. He bit back a pained scream as Rattlespine launched him into the atmosphere like a homerun ball.
Jack soared through the air aimlessly, his body humming with pain. He flipped around and planted both feet firmly in the air, angling himself at the ape. He crouched down, letting his body coil together like a spring. Wiggleworm dismissed the cloak, turning into a pitch-black chitinous, segmented armor that covered both of his arms. Serrated spikes ran along the edges of his arm, and his hands became a pair of dangerous claws. He couldn’t help but grin. She was slowly learning to transform before he even had to give the command. Her armored form gave him roughly thirty points of extra strength, but she could only hold it for a minute or so before she went dormant for a few days.
Jack leveraged every ounce of strength and speed available to him as he pushed off the air and launched himself back towards Rattlespine. The gorilla was charging towards Devin, but Jack reached him before he got the chance to attack. He slammed into the back of his pelvis, breaking off his tail and sending deep cracks through his bones. He lashed out with his daggers shattering it completely.
Rattlespine let loose another roar as his legs fell helplessly to the ground. Unfortunately, he didn’t die, and he still had six arms he could swing through the trees with. But Jack wasn’t done. He climbed up the spine toward the first shoulder joint. He took a deep breath and then released a storm of lightning.
He struck down thirty times over in a furious assault that only took seconds, ripping through the joint and destroying it completely. He didn’t bother to watch as the first arm fell to the ground. Jack moved to the second arm and did the exact same thing.
Rattlespine spun around rapidly to fend him off, but Devin followed up with all eight of his conjured swords. Jack jumped back as Devin released his onslaught of swords. They cut hard and deep through the bone in an unending assault, chipping away at the gorilla with a thousand sword slashes. He cut through the branches that Rattlespine desperately clung to, and the gorilla fell to the ground with a loud thud. Jack and Devin shot after him.
War still waged on the ground below. Rattlespine pushed himself off the ground with a pained roar, legless, missing several arms, but still defiant. Devin finally pulled out his sword and began to charge it with mana as he fell into stance. With one dangerous swipe he cut through the dead tree that towered over the battlefield.
“Timber!” one of the warriors yelled out amongst the chaos of the battlefield.
Jack sprinted away as the tree came crashing down on the battlefield, crushing a helpless Rattlespine beneath its titanic weight.
You have Slain Councilor Rattlespine
+1 Level
[You are now in control of Sector Five.]
As the dust settled, Jack did a quick headcount. Only one person in the group was missing, one of the rangers.
“A little warning next time,” Willow complained, “I was mid-feast. Almost turned me into paste.”
Behind her, Gaiju sauntered over towards Jack. Two of the twilight elves were encased in frozen prisms of blood red ice that floated behind her. Jack raised an eyebrow at her.
“What? You said keep some of them alive,” she cackled.
The remaining skeletal chimpanzees all scrambled back into the forest; their screams tinged with fear.
[Sector Five of Broken Moon City is now under control of the Obsidian Storm Syndicate.]
[Four Sectors now under independent control. Upgrading city danger level to rank four.]
[Upgrading…]
[Upgrading…]
[Upgrading…]
“Here we go again,” Jack mumbled as he read through the system notifications.
“Everyone ready? This was the easy part. Now we have to set up an actual base in this sector,” Devin reminded the group.
[Upgrade Complete]
[City danger level set to level four]
“Let’s go find out how fucked we are,” Jack sighed, looking for the path back out of the forest. The group moved quickly, Willow and Paul healing everyone’s injuries along the way.
As they spilled out of the forest and back into the sector, they found themselves immediately under attack. From the mountains of bones giant dinosaur-like monsters unearthed themselves. An enormous monster that looked like a T-Rex designed by Satan himself let loose a monstrous roar. It opened its mouth and shot out a beam of pitch black miasma that exploded upon impact as it met the ground.
“Great,” Jack complained. “Laser dinosaurs.”
He turned to Devin whose expression was somewhere between bemusement and shock. They both exchanged a knowing glance.
“Hannah’s fucked, isn’t she?” Jack asked.
“Yep,” Devin slowly nodded.