Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I managed to retain consciousness. A feat that I wasnt sure served as a testament to my willpower or a symbol of my misery. Since it was probably both, I shoved that trauma into the small box I mentally labeled deaths. A collection of experiences I doubt anyone could match, not more than once, at least.

The true driving force behind my ability to stay awake after being eaten alive?

That abysmal feeling of overwhelming pain and mindblowing nothingness assaulted me as a phantom sensation. A shiver across my skin. A shake in my bones and flesh. I

I mastered myself.

I wanted to watch the thing die. That was all. Yet the desire burned inside of me like a fire worse than the one I had set to the rootmother. An all-consuming flame that ate away at even the memories of my deaths.

Anger. No, hatred. Rage. A singular target I could blame for all this hell, if only for now. If only for as long as it would last before being brought to ash. That was enough.

My original self stood there, staring for nearly an hour. The survivors below found themselves, their friends, their acquaintances, and organized themselves. Arguments, discussions, disbelief, and horrible recollection.

Still, I stared. The high-pitched keening of the rootmother a faint music to my ears. I almost wished I could hear it again, that I was infected once more, just so I could hear its cries. Did that make me sick? Or just as twisted?

The fire raged, an inferno to rival my own, flames licking upward out of the windows. Each fickle part of the fire, a torrent of heat, towering like elemental skyscrapers themselves. Hunting. Searching for fuel.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

For the Field Boss.

It started at its roots, its tendrils which stretched all over the clearing. They curled up, drying and crackling in the heat. When the first lick of flame touched the rootmothers main body, it was as if someone had opened a portal to hell, just to hear the sounds.

The skyscraper collapsed, falling away from the swamp tree. With it, the Field Boss toppled over, curling up in the heat. A plume of fire, debris, and ash erupted as the impact shook the clearing. Every part of it wriggling, writhing, and dying. When the flames died down, everyone was watching it, wondering who had set the fire.

Wondering who had killed the thing and saved them all.

I sent a clone in to make sure it was dead.

Emotions flooded me and I navigated my way out of the smoke, finding people staring. Not at me, but at something more. A couple of strangers found me, fussing over me. And then I saw the same thing they did, messages waiting for me to notice in that same unobtrusive manner.

Only different. Grander, somehow.

[World Notice]: Someone has achieved a feat worthy of global recognition! He is the first in the world to slay a Field Boss as well as the first to do so alone!

[Area Notice]: Someone has achieved a feat worthy of local recognition! The Field Boss [Rootmother Hivemind] has been defeated!

Most of the people were focused on getting their bearings but there were was enough talk in the air, even as I was ferried over to a number of people need medical treatment. There was a multitude of neck injuries.

Hey, you guys are seeing this right? A man groaned, looking towards the cloud of ashes. This Field Boss, thats that was that, wasnt it?

Someone killed it. A woman said blankly, staring.

Alone. Another injured person said. Who was it? I heard there was someone saving us, at the end. Did he set the fire?

But how the hell did they do it? I cant

The first cheer broke the silence of the aftermath with such lonesome volume as to raise heads and turn stiff necks.

It turned mine too and I found a woman there, a pair of blue eyes, brunette hair. She was just another face among the crowd, tears streaming down her face, pain written across her features. I couldve found the same on anyone else.

But she was the one I had saved, in the last moments of my clones life. Id remember. It was the first time Id sacrificed myself for anyone.

And she was yelling. An unintelligible yell, a cry of emotion that was unbecoming of her. Before all this, she wouldve gotten hundreds of stares. Now? The cry filled the chest with emotion.

And hundreds of people began to cheer.