Chapter 291: Ill omens

Chapter 291: Ill omens

Noah’s grimoire was eating well. He’d fed it eighteen Poison Runes already – most Lesser, some Greater. The Sand Wylves probably already had rumors going around about him – but he suspected that if there were rumors about him, then there were nightmares of Lee and Moxie.

While he’d been focused on using Sunder to gather some Runes to feed his artifact, Moxie had been putting her all into pushing herself to her absolute limit. She was down several Runes, so Noah had expected her to be a bit weaker than she’d been before, even if her new ones were truly perfect.

He couldn’t have been more wrong. Moxie’s control over the foliage around them had intensified by what felt like a factor of two. Plants she touched instinctively moved, seemingly picking up her desires before she could even act on them.

None of the wylves could get anywhere close to her. Lee, of course, had taken that as a challenge. She’d carved a bloody path through wylf and tree alike, leaving the forest torn to bits in her wake.

In comparison, Noah’s meticulously gathered eighteen Runes almost felt disappointing. He stared at the writhing vines at Moxie’s feet as they flicked the last few monsters from the pack that had attacked her to the ground, their corpses ripped to pieces.

“What?” Moxie looked down at her hands, then wiped her face with the back of a hand. “Do I have blood on me or something?”

“No, no. That’s mostly on the ground. And the plants. And just about everything else, for that matter. I was just looking at you.”

“Creep.” Moxie smirked and flicked her hands, releasing her control of the plants around her. They slithered back up her pant legs and sleeves.

A wylf sailed over their heads, letting out a terrified yowl before it slammed into a tree with a loud crash, shattering the wood. It crumpled to the ground and the trunk fell atop it, crushing the monster.

Lee yelled something in the distance, but Noah couldn’t quite make out what she’d said. The small demon sprinted out from the forest and skidded to a stop, completely covered in blood. A huge, excited grin covered her face and she held her massive axe over a single shoulder. Noah and Moxie both stared at her.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Just a bit,” Noah said. “You don’t need any of these things’ Runes, do you? All the ones I’ve seen have been poison, but I was wondering if their monster Runes would be of use.”

Lee shook her head. “Nah. I could probably use ‘em, but they don’t fit my intent. Maybe some of the other monsters in the forest will fit better.”

“Are there even others?” Moxie asked. “We’ve been fighting for an hour now, and I haven’t seen anything other than the wylves.”

“Oh, right. That’s what I was going to say,” Lee said. She thrust a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the forest she’d just come out of.

There was a loud crack. Noah and Moxie both dropped into fighting stances as a tree behind Lee shattered. A large wylf bounded into their clearing, easily two times larger than the other monsters they’d been fighting.

“I found this,” Lee said. “Can we keep it?”The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Its fur was a dull yellowish-brown, and swirling sand enveloped its entire body as if there was a small hurricane centered directly on top of it. The monster yowled and lunged forward, aiming for Lee’s neck.

She brought the flat of her axe around and down onto the top of the monster’s head. It connected with a resounding clang and the large wylf staggered, stunned for an instant.

“Lee, that’s a monster that is actively trying to kill you,” Noah said.

Is that the Great Monster? No, probably not. It’s just a bit bigger than the Wylves. Maybe something equivalent to a Slasher from the Scorched Acres? But... I thought those were put there on purpose to be controlled by the Hellreaver. Isn’t this Great Monster supposed to be naturally occurring?

“I remembered a few things from school science classes, okay? I wasn’t always so adverse to studying.”

“You learned about combat techniques like this in your school? What others did you get taught?” Lee asked.

“Oh, it wasn’t a combat technique,” Noah said with a laugh. “It was like science class. In my world, our schooling wasn’t on how to fight. It was about... mostly learning, actually. I liked music the most, but I had a few basic science classes back when.”

“You say that, but this is a pretty interesting observation,” Moxie said. “Do you think you could try to remember more of what you learned in any of your classes?”

Noah rubbed the back of his head and tried to wade through ages of memory in search of his dimming life on Earth. “I could try, yeah. I honestly just got a little bit of a flashback. Most of my schooling had to do with music.”

“With formations.” Moxie’s eyebrow crept up her forehead. “One of the most dangerous ways to fight with Runes. Maybe some of the principles could be useful for us – or the students. It would be a worthwhile lesson, at the least.”

“You’ve got a point,” Noah admitted, warming to the idea almost immediately. He liked teaching, but he hadn’t thought he’d ever be teaching music again. But... why couldn’t he? “More than that, actually. That’s brilliant. I can teach music again!”

“Among other things,” Moxie said with a wry smile. “How about we go find this Great Monster and then put together a lesson plan for the beginning of the next year once we’ve handled it?”

“We should include stretching,” Lee said. “And more punching things. I don’t know if Silvertide has made sure Isabel and Todd kept their physiques up to standard, so we might have to make up for lost time.”

“That would be wise,” Noah agreed. “Good plan, Moxie. Maybe we can even try to get some Runes to use as rewards for when they figure things out. Having something to work toward is always a lot more effective than a threat.”

The wylf at their feet yawned. It blinked, its nose twitching as it slowly woke from its unconsciousness. For a moment, they all stared at it. Then it let out a furious roar and lunged, sand gathering and surging around it –

Lee’s axe slammed down on its head, sending it flopping limply to the ground once more.

“Okay, it’s not quite tamed yet,” Lee said, clearing her throat. “Soon, though. I’ll get through it eventually. Then Todd and Isabel can spar with it!”

Noah tried to suppress a laugh. “Well, we can try to keep it around while we look for the Great Monster. If you can get it tamed before we leave the forest, then we can keep it. Deal?”

“Okay!” Lee prodded the monster. “Did you hear that? Just have to play nice and you can play more. It’ll be fun.”

If it wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster trying to kill us, I’d probably feel bad.

“What direction did it come from?” Noah asked, nodding to the wylf. “It was stronger than the other wylfs, so it’s probably a good indication of where the Great Monster is.”

“Over there.” Lee pointed into the forest. “I think there were some other big dogs too, but they weren’t as fun as this one was.”

“Great. Let’s go, then. I’d like to try to find the Great Monster sometime today,” Noah said.

Lee reached down and picked the huge wylf up by the scruff of its neck, dragging the monster’s body through the dirt behind her as the lot set off. Noah sent a pitiable look back at the poor thing.

Scratch that. I definitely feel bad for it. Somehow, I don’t think Lee’s new friend is going to survive for very long.