MM - Chapter 182 - WRATH AND RUIN

As Raine pushed deeper into the jungle, he charged straight into the eager vines of every Fetch he encountered. His efforts to adjust the many martial stances in his repertoire were less than successful, but that was fine. What Raine had in mind required a fundamental alteration to innumerable minute details spread across thousands of movements, attack combinations, defensive maneuvers, and counters. Each and every one of those changes required rewiring neural pathways formed over an extensive time.

Or were they? It's not like my brain from the past went through time with me, just my memories. The current me is only 23. I have the brain of a young man entering his prime: impressionable and ripe for rapid growth.

Once more, Raine was struck by a certainty that he’d been brought back to this specific time for a reason. He didn’t need or want a purpose more grandiose than those he’d already set before himself. However, if there was indeed a grand design behind what happened, he wanted to know, even if only to use it to further his own goals.

With each Fetch he found and defeated, Raine strove to find the balance between fist, knee, elbow, and blade. The Primal Energy helped massively, enhancing him to the point that each blow shattered limbs and sent the ancient beasts flying. He took his time, slowly dismantling each foe. 

All the while, Raine's focus was split; half of his processing power was dedicated to understanding the unknown energy that was slowly filling his body to bursting. He systematically flexed muscles while targeting them with bloodlust. His senses opened to True Connection, and he tried purposefully activating twitch reflexes, even thinking as hard as he could at the Primal Energy. So far, none of his efforts yielded results.

Halfway to the chest. Feels like I’m at about 80% capacity. Two options. I either figure this Primal Energy stuff out before triggering whatever trap is waiting for me, or I make damn sure not to get hit and barely make it back to the shrine in time.

As Raine progressed, it became clear the entities knew what he was planning. The Fetch population ballooned, and he was no longer able to get away with fighting them two and three at a time. They came in groups of eight or more, each utilizing advanced combat standards. Often, a few of the beasts lay concealed beneath the soil, complicating each encounter.

Raine was forced to pause training until thinning each group to a manageable number. The one aspect of his focus that he never let up on was attempting to understand Primal Energy. If he didn’t figure out how to manipulate it soon, then death was the most likely outcome. Just the way he wanted it. 

With the pressure escalating at every turn, Raine’s back was to the wall. His senses were on fire, connecting to the realm around him in excruciating detail. He could feel the energy entering his lungs with every breath, then spreading outward in search of something, something it failed to find. Realization struck.

The Fetches contain the energy in their chests. Discipline, CP, DP, EP, all my available power sources, are stored in my abdomen. Do I lack the right container? If I can’t store it properly, is it even possible to control it? No, spellcasters can manipulate energies even when they’re outside their bodies.

Raine clicked his tongue as the promising thought reached a roadblock. He continued doing everything he could think of to understand and manipulate the Primal Energy, and all too soon, his target was before him. The chest was still there, tucked into a cavern of twisting roots beneath a massive tree. Suspiciously, right before arriving, the flow of Fetches halted as thick mist rolled in. The jungle was just as he remembered it, utterly silent, holding its breath to see what he would do.

The usual review of available items, abilities, equipment, skills, and resources was cut short since Raine didn’t have access to most of them. Shaking out his limbs, he approached on full alert, crouching low and ready to Lunge away in an instant. Marvelous Gold filigree beckoned enticingly, though he hardly noticed, being so tuned in to everything else around the chest.

Between one step and the next, the trees in a large ring exploded into activity. Thousands of vines shot out, attaching to their neighbors to form a massive net. The central tree split down the middle with a raucous crack that rattled Raine’s finely-tuned senses. As both sides of the tree fell away, the roots that were coiled around the chest writhed. They rapidly swelled in mass as a beast pulled itself from the ground, revealing that the roots had only been the tips of its extended hands.

Two arms of coiling roots thicker than any trunk in the jungle tore free from the soil, planting on the ground to pull its bulky form higher. The monster’s head was revealed, two glowing eyes set atop a gnarled maw that was both more and less human than the Fetches. As the monster rose higher and higher, the treasure chest was dragged through its body until it stopped inside its torso, where it was tightly wrapped in the thickest roots.

[Grand Root Patriarch (Noble - Ancient - World Boss): (Level 46) (HP ?/?)]

The Patriarch leaned forward, arms slamming into the ground with a horrendous crash as a grin stretched its face. The towering boss laughed, each guffaw long and deep, rumbling through the land and Raine’s chest in equal measure. Raine wanted to laugh as well. An ancient noble with only one digit for health meant it had somewhere between 1 and 9.9 million health. The most optimistic estimate put its regeneration at 50,000 per five seconds, while the pessimistic estimate neared a daunting 500,000. As a world boss, its attributes and the potency of its skills would be leagues beyond regular Nobles. This was not an entity ever meant to be challenged alone.

There was no reason to stick around. Raine had zero chance of defeating such a monstrosity without his equipment. He Leaped into the air, prepared to Lunge over the net of vines, even if it meant going high into the sky.

Against all expectations, the world boss spoke, voice as terrifying as its visage. “Do not be so quick to flee, little toy! Stay, and play with this old one.”

“No thanks!” Raine didn’t look back as he Lunged higher and higher.

The roots that comprised its body streaked forth almost too fast for Raine to track. They tore past him, blocking his way higher. The Patriarch laughed again. It was the only one amused by the situation.

“Here, I thought you wanted what resides in this chest. It is valuable enough that even I wish to protect it. Does the mystery of its contents not call to your heart? Listen to my offer. If you refuse, I shall allow you to go free.”

Raine paused, dropping to perch atop a nearby tree. He brazenly locked gazes with the monster, mentally prepared for whatever came next now that escape had been deemed impossible. At the same time, he knew the Patriarch was full of shit. The single and only reason why a monster in his situation wouldn’t have already killed him was that he wasn’t allowed to; even the entities had to play by the rules. That knowledge gave Raine enough insight to develop a plan in case things went south.

“What are you saying? You think I’d believe you’re willing to part with it fairly? Fat chance.”

The boss laughed, somehow sounding more evil than before. “You are fortunate your impertinence amuses me. Face my challenge, and the contents of this chest will be yours. Allow cowardice to hold sway your heart, and forever you will be poisoned by my memory.”

That’s the best you’ve got?

“No thanks! I’ve got someone waiting for me. If I play around with you, she might run off and get herself killed. No single chest is worth risking that.” Raine turned to leave again.

The boss smacked a giant palm against the ground, and the jungle shook as though caught in a storm. “The ancient gods have granted me dominion over this ordeal. For as long as you entertain me, the Child of Celendine shall remain protected. You will face my challenge, or you will be struck down where you stand!”

Raine instantly went from hurried consideration of how to escape to maintaining his poker face no matter what it took. The ancient gods didn’t grant anything. It was clearer than ever that this entire situation was being forced on both of them. However, there was a hint in its poorly-phrased words that caused Raine’s greedy heart to stir.

“Go for it. Strike me down, or fuck right off. I don’t care which.” Taunt delivered, Raine once more Lunged into the air, this time in a different direction.

The roots that had blocked his path before raced across the sky to do so again. “Detestable mortal! You may only decline after hearing my challenge!”

Landing once more, Raine sighed dramatically, spinning a finger through the air, “Get on with it, then. I’ve got places to be.” The boss ground its fetid teeth. The hot air blasting from its wide nostrils filled the area with the rancid aroma of a dense swamp. Its mouth opened to speak, but Raine interrupted it. “And don’t bother suggesting I fight those other weaklings around here. Even a thousand of them wouldn’t be a challenge. If you want me to play along, then try not to bore me.”

The boss lost it. A huge arm moving faster than a bullet train flew at Raine from the side. From the sky, a flash of light smashed into the space between them. It was accompanied by a horrendous crack of thunder that left Raine’s skull rattled. He was blasted from his feet and smashed into the ground. His health plummeted to a sliver, and his vision went blurry. The boss fared better. Its offending limb was gone, and only a blackened stump or writhing roots remained.

Healing Burst restored a third of Raine’s health as he blinked to clear his sight. If he missed what came next, his entire plan would fall apart. Five seconds ticked by as the thunder continued to rumble and the boss shouted something at the heavens that Raine couldn't hear over the ringing in his ears. His eyes were glued on a particular spot above the boss's head, where he barely made out the number that flashed into existence. [+492,187]

Shit. Just shy of 10 million max health? Then there’s only one way. At least they confirmed my suspicions. This might be easier than I thought.

Raine stood slowly, blood pouring from gaping wounds in his chest and shoulder. One of his arms refused to move, and his flimsy white robes were entirely gone. Furious killing intent radiated from his skin. He dug deep, gripping the millions of souls he’d ended in a fist of unbreakable will. He unleashed bloodlust on not just the boss, but the entities he knew were watching from far above. 

Raine threw back his head and roared with all the energy he could muster. “How dare you strike at me directly. You have broken the covenant! May the true ancient gods cast what’s left of your souls into eternal damnation!”

As Raine’s words met open air, the realm buckled and heaved. The sky shuddered, and the ground roiled. Trees and soil were pulled free like weeds and tossed high before they were shredded into their constituent atoms to vanish into suddenly raging winds. The boss’s eyes flew wide, its jaw dropping in horror. Killing intent to match Raine’s shot out to clash in the heaving air. Through its intent, Raine perceived the desire to force him to take back the words that had doomed them all. The boss’s remaining hand stretched toward him, rooted fingers spread wide.

They never reached him. The realm froze; clouds, jungle, the Patriarch, everything within sight turned a monochromatic gray as time came to a halt. A dark crack formed in the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon. It yawned wide, the impenetrable darkness beyond offering the only semblance of color. A single speck of light zipped out. Space warped in a bubble around the light, as though unable to maintain cohesion around whatever was coming. Raine was forced to kneel. His killing intent winked out like a candle in a storm by the immeasurably powerful mental pressure flooding from the light. 

Even if Raine had not been forced to kneel, he would have. There was a reason he refused to think of the entities as gods. He had met a true god once and knew that to stand in such a being’s presence was simply not within the realm of possibility. Facing a true god for the second time, Raine was struck by the thought that he was entirely alone this time. There was no united army at his side, no host of tier five god generals to draw the monstrous being’s ire.

The god alighted before him, its sphere of disrupted space warping to slither around Raine, trapping him in an inescapable prison. The being was slightly taller than him, and took the shape of a vaguely humanoid pillar of starlight, within which swarmed countless faces, old and young, beautiful and grotesque. Whenever Raine's gaze alighted on a star within its body, images of the most dangerous creatures he'd seen in the past were invoked: the vastness of the moon-devouring serpent, the hellish speed and grace of the tier five Lightning Corsair who slayed an army of 10 million in an instant, the bottomless abyss splitting a continent with its devouring tentacles. Powerlessness invaded Raine’s muscles as the unfathomable god gazed down at him with absolute superiority. He couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe, could barely think through the pressure exerted across every facet of his being.

I… might have fucked up this time.