XV._Father of Monstrosity

XV.

 It was, he considered, a fortuitous development that the Guild Master had tasked him with this of all possible quests. After all, it had been in the back of his mind for a long while, and the sooner it was resolved, the less he had to worry about.

 Jakob, Heskel, and Stelji walked behind their four temporary group members. The Silver-ranked Pdin and me Sorcerer, whose names he had immediately forgotten, as well as the Bronze-ranked Huntsman and Earth Sorceress. Of the four, only the Huntsman and Pdin seemed even remotely worthy of being remade, as the two magic-wielders were the bottom-of-the-barrel as far talent went, and their ranks reflected their experience more than their acumen and skill, with the me-wielder being into histe fifties and thus having literally nothing but experience to rely on. It seemed all those ranked Gold and above had either perished in Market West already or were travelling beyond thends of Helmsgarten to chase fame and fortune.

 What help shall they be, if they alone provided nothing to the subjugation of Merci already?

 Fodder.

 Little wonder the Guild Master was so desperate. He saw talent in us, and either feared it and thus sent us to our doom or prayed we could restore dignity to his institution

 Bone tes shifted below her flesh-stitched cloak as Stelji moved in front of Jakob and Heskel, instinctively knowing they were about to reach the Market West cordon and its many Royal Guardsmen on watch.

 Is she capable of detecting the electricity within people? he wondered out loud.

 Your strongest one yet, Heskel replied.

 For you to say so makes me proud.

 After being let through the checkpoint guarded by two dozen guardsmen and crossing the only bridge leading in-and-out of the infested district, their party adopted a cautious formation, with Heskel, Stelji, and the Pdin in front, the two Sorcerers in the centre, and Jakob and the Huntsman in the rear.

 Look at this ce, the Huntsman mused in morbid fascination as he took-in the transformed district, where streets of stone and mud had be gtinous flesh-like structures providing winding passages through warped and stretched buildings full of maws and writhing hands that grasped for them when they got close.

 Keep it down, Kabel, the Pdin ordered, assuming the control of their group, as though it was natural that he would be leader. Of them all, he wore the most expensive-and-protective gear, being covered head-to-toe in full-te and wielding a shield with some fancy coat-of-arms on its face, as well as a hand-and-a-half longsword with golden embellish along its central fuller and a wless edge with not a single chip, scrape, nor dent.

 Fucking nobles, the Hunter muttered under his breath.

 They walked in cautious silence for a while, the gtinous ground at times shifting to tough bone or flexible criss-crossed walkways of something akin to tendons or muscle-fibres.

 Do you think there will be minor demons too? the Sorceress asked, clearly out of her depth.

 Instead of silencing her, the Pdin replied boldly, If so, I will protect you.

 Demons of Gluttony are solitary, Jakob enlightened them. They eat everything in their surroundings, even servants and

 Dont speak unless spoken to, Novitiate! the Pdin admonished him. Know your

 With a powerful woosh, Heskels fist shattered the Braggarts jaw and caved-in the side of his helmet. Despite his fanciful armour, the Silver-ranker fell to the ground like a sack of flour, its protection clearly less important than its ostentation.

 The Earth Sorceress shrieked, and the me Sorcerer shouted, Traitors! How dare you!

 Silence! Jakob ordered, his tone immediately halting whatever incantation the me-weaver was prepared to utter. You are worthless. You were sent to die here! Do you not see it? Follow my lead or perish where you stand!

 The Huntsman stood frozen, then said, He really killed him with one punch

 Jakob was about to correct him, when he looked down and noticed that, yes, the Pdin was in-fact dead.

 Heskel. You used too much force.

 ss bones, the Wight argued back in Novarocian.

 A darkugh emerged from the Hunter at the reply. Clearly he was not as nave as the two other party members. Im in, he then answered.

 Hmph, as if Ill listen to some boy, the me Sorcerer said.

 Heskel was moments from bashing-in his head too, when the Hunter said, Ichien. If you donte along, Ill kill you myself.

 Guys, stop! the Sorceress pleaded. We can still be a team, okay? Lets do as he says.

 With a reluctant sigh, Ichien nodded. Alright, lead the way.

 Were facing a Gluttony Demon within its territory.

 And? the old man asked.

 That means we wait for it toe to us, and prepare the field to our advantage.

 Huh, so its not at all like hunting beasts, Kabel mused. I was lied to.

 Demons consider themselves predators not prey.

 MASTER The sound of shifting bone-tes apanied her unsettling voice. Seeing Stelji go to the fore of their group, they all started backing away slightly.

 Seems time is not on our side. However, we do have one advantage.

 And whats that? the Hunter asked.

 Gluttony Demons are very single-minded, he replied with a puff of vented steam.

 Without needing to be told, Heskel rushed to where the Pdin had fallen, and, despite the mans heavy armour, picked him up with a single hand and tossed him overhead. The body flew through the air for several metres, as they all backed further away, its reflective te-armour glinting with the rays of the setting sun. Before it couldnd atop a demonic three-mawed pale-skinned-and-veiny house, a massive shadow fell upon it, devouring the body in a single gulp.

 The Flesh-Hulk had changed quite significantly after Merci had defied his binding contract, as normally such a contract would restrain the enved spirit and its destructive aura. Given that Demons were not of the Mundane ne, their very presence seemed to unbnce the fabric of reality around them, akin to pressure seeking the path-of-least-resistance to equalise itself. The most obvious transformation happened to the vessel of a Demon, which altered itself to more closely resemble the true form of the possessing spirit. Given that Merci was a Viscountess of Voracity, her immense spirit could not be contained within an unsealed vessel, even one as fine as the Flesh-Hulk Jakob had constructed. Thus, as her essence leaked from her vessel, it caused the alterations that had mutated the very reality of Market West after her taking up residence within.

 Where once it had been a spotless hunk of flesh, muscle, and skin, the Hulk now seemed more akin to a reanimated tumour that had been left to fester uncontrobly. The outmostyer of skin was purple, grey, and ck, and where it had torn from its mass expanding from within, nightmarish maws had appeared, resulting in something that looked like a putrid hill of decay, with many different snapping maws full of teeth that came in all sizes and forms.

 He found it quite ufortable to witness his splendid creation tarnished in such a manner. That alone was reason enough to destroy her, not to mention the affront of disobeying his contract when he had summoned her in the first ce and given her such a fine vessel. But he also knew that eventually the Viscountess spirit would rupture its mortal cagepletely and return her to the Demonic Realm, the fallout of such an event levelling most of Helmsgarten down to the deepestyers of its sewers. If he were to continue with his experiments, it would be a disruption he could not afford.

 By the Eight Saint Ichien muttered in fear.

 Stelji! Fry it!

 MASTER the Monstrosity uttered, shedding her hooded cloak to reveal her magnificent visage, the masterpiece of human anatomy and melded bone tes that he and Heskel had wrought within the bowels of the city.

 Before the gigantic Merci, no one seemed to really notice Steljis inhuman figure, until the air began to vibrate and crimson lightning raced across the meaty ground to collide with the Mound of Demonic Flesh in a deafening crash of light. Seen from afar, it would look as if lightning had risen from the district to strike the skies above, where clouds began to let loose minor sympathetic thunderstrikes of their own.

 What is she? the Hunter asked, dumbstruck.

 Perfection incarnate, he replied.

 The air began to vibrate again as a second lightning bolt raced over the ground and struck with another colossal crash. Steljis head looked to the skies and not the Demon Viscountess, the ovepping bone tes of her eyeless skull making her look more like an insect than a human. She raised her over-long arms toward the clouds, seeking to refill the elongated bulbous tanks that had reced her lower arms and hands, wherein blood and lightning mixed through an intricate ritual diagram his Lifeward had invented. Heskel had yet again created the central feature of Jakobs creation, showing that his genius had been untapped by Grandfathers archaic mindset of how best to make use of his minions.

 Shes not human, Ichienmented in awe, as lightning fell from above and struck the fingerless arms of Stelji, returning to her the lightning she had cast away, and mixing it with the blood that granted her wless control over it. As sheunched another crimson bolt of electricity, halting the Mound as it began to roll towards them, Jakob mused that his own contribution to her design was quite ground-breaking as well.

 Within the severely-diminished chest cavity of the Lighting Tamer, a heart of paper-thin-and-flexible bone held the small ember of a Birthed Sentience, who ensured air and blood was constantly keeping Steljis brain alive, as well as handling the precise mixture of her blood entering the tanks, so that she could manipte the rest of the blood within as her own. In essence, Stelji was a simple Wrought Servant, but given the assistance of a secondary intelligence with the ability to grow with experience, she could surpass the limits such a servant normally faced. Her impulses were tranted into action by her Thinking Heart and, with every passing moment, that Heart grew more precise and deadly.

 She was perfect. But still, there was room for improvement, and now, rather than wondering if he would ever be able to make a creation to surpass Heskel, it seemed more a matter of when.

 Return, Stelji!

 MASTER she replied, running back towards him on her spike legs.

 Since he had found her with barely half a body, he had taken liberties with everything below her ribcage, turning it into a sleek-and-lightweight hollow frame of a slender waist and needle-like footless legs. She was made for decimation, not fighting, and after seeing that her apocalyptic lightning strikes failed to destroy Merci, he thought it prudent to send her behind their group, so that her Thinking Heart could witness from afar and potentially spot a weakness in the Flesh-Hulks corpus.

 TINY THING, the Viscountess of Voracity roared from the hundreds of maws that covered its enormous fleshy mound of a body. HAVE YOU RETURNED TO FEED ME?

 An arrow bounced off her thick veiny skin, then another thundered into one of her mouths.

 What? Kabel asked, when the old Sorcerer red daggers at him. Arent we going to attack it?

 Do you really think we can beat that?

 You wont know until you try, he replied nonchntly. Jakob found it curious that he remained unphased by what he was seeing, but perhaps he was a kindred spirit, because neither did Jakob feel much aside from annoyance that the Demte still lived.

 Not waiting for their quarrelling to stop, Heskel moved forward with thundering stomps and gouged a hole in the bottom of the eight-metre-tall mound with a punch imbued with every drop of his strength. With a wail that hurt Jakobs ears, the Viscountess enormous body quivered and thousands of hands emerged from all over its body and it started rolling towards the Wight, who wisely decided to get out of the way. Thendscape was transformed by the steamrolling Demte, the living houses ttening and the very ground altering with her passage. Mouths and arms emerged everywhere she touched.

 Before she could even show off any of her magic, the Earth Sorceress was caught by three quadruple-jointed arms and dragged screaming-and-sobbing into a bottomless hole with teeth. Her piercing voice was swallowed as the hole chomped closed.

 Yelling in outrage, the me-wielderunched a series of fireballs from his palms, charring the ground where the Sorceress had vanished, but managing little else.

 Lend me a light, Kabel said, reaching towards the old man with a strange-looking arrow that had a cylinder at the end in ce of an arrowhead.

 Ichien did not listen though, and instead sent fireballs after the rolling mound, quickly leaving them behind to give chase.

 Well, shit the old man has gone crazy.

 Why do you need fire? Jakob asked unperturbed by the scene before them: an enormous mound of putrid flesh rolling after a giant man, with an old magician hurling fireballs and yelling incoherently.

 Kabel handed Jakob the strange arrow, before searching his pockets for a flint Firestarter. He looked at the arrow in his hands, trying to discern its function and purpose, but came up short.

 I should study Engineering, it may be a worthwhile endeavour, he thought to himself.

 Kabel found his Firestarter and handed it to Jakob, then took back the arrow and nocked it to his bowstring. Realising that the short string at the end of the arrow was like a candlewick, Jakob sparked the flint and set it alight.

 With minimal effort, the Huntsman took aim and sent the arrow flying in a steep arc overhead, its candlewick beginning to fizzle and let off sparks.

 Watch this.

 Jakob held his breath as he followed the trajectory of the sparking arrow, and, then, with a loud snap, it broke mid-air just above where the rolling mound passed under, showering a huge curtain of mes all down its huge body.

 Fascinating, Jakob remarked. He had never seen something like it before.

 Ha ha ha, Kabel mockughed in proud glee. Then his expression soured.

 A loud wail made the ground tremble, and the many arms of the rolling Demon halted its momentum and turned it towards their position.

 Oh shit

 The Hunter took off running, the abomination now fixated on him. Jakob stayed put though, watching as it veered away from a collision-course with him. A sickening crunch came when it rolled over the mad Sorcerer and absorbed him into its mass, visibly growing as a result.

 Momentster, Heskel found him.

 Any ideas on how to defeat it?

 The Wight nodded. Stone gue.

 That seems unwise.

 Yes.

 Jakob considered it seriously for a moment despite his warranted apprehension. Can we contain it if we sever the bridge?

 Heskel grunted affirmative.

 Run to the bridge and destroy it. I will begin the Hymn. When you see it spread towards you, prepare to counteract the spell.

 His Lifeward put a heavy hand on Jakobs shoulder, then locked eyes with him.

 Ill be fine, he told him, though he was not entirely sure it was the truth. Only time would tell. Part of him was secretly thrilled to attempt the spell however.

 As Heskel ran off, he summoned Stelji to his side. She had not recovered her flesh-stitched cloak, as it had been swallowed by the Flesh-Hulks passing, but it hardly seemed to matter right then. He would craft another for herter.

 Find the Hunter and bring him outside the district. Once you are across the river, make your way to the Guild District. Make sure nothing happens to his head. I need that part of him intact. He wanted to harness Kabels unique ability to quickly calcte trajectories, not to mention tap his mind for more information about the fire arrow he had used.

 MASTER she obeyed and sped off, her agility surpassing even that of Heskel. She would find the Hunter in no time and he knew Merci would not leave the district, given her obvious attachment to it and his knowledge of Gluttony Demons general behavioural traits.

 Now then he said to himself, walking towards the centre of the district, making sure to avoid the areas where iling arms and chomping maws marked the ground, as well as giving the living houses a wide berth.

 Take from the living their lifeblood and form, Jakob began to chant.

 He was still chanting when he reached the approximate centre of Market West. Already halfway through the Stone gue Hymn, the skies above had begun to swirl, the previous thunderstorms washed away by the attention given to the realm by a Great One Above.

 Septen, formless and forlorn, gift thisnd with thy blessed touch.

 What once was living will be made eternal. What once was fleeting will be set in stone.

 Heed me, Septen! Through me unleash thy gift!

 Petrify the wheel of time and lock this moment in eternity!

 Jakobs body froze in ce, his feet nailed to the ground upon which he stood. He craned his head back and threw wide his mouth, so that the twisting tendril of unholy energy might use him as its beacon to spread its gift. Just before he lost consciousness to Septens overwhelming presence, he distinctly heard the roaring wail of Merci as she rolled towards him.

 That was close, Kabelmented, after Stelji had grabbed him with a strange three-wed hand of blood and tossed him across the river that separated Market West from the Residential District.

 He looked back at the district across the water, seeing the enormous fleshy monstrosity roll back towards where the rest of his team were. Then he noticed the clouds above, as they darkened and swirled like a whirlpool, before a giant finger-like spear of grey smoke descended into the districts centre.

 When it impacted the ground, nothing happened, but he still stared at it for a few moments longer, strangely mesmerised by the sight. Today had been quite a strange day, and he had only been in Helmsgarten for under a week! He found it hard to imagine that any of the following days could evene close to matching the sheer excitement, mystery, and existential dread of teaming up with the famous Summoner, Jakob, or, as the Guilders called him, Skin Robe.

 All the hairs on his body suddenly rose, and he instinctively looked towards his erstwhile saviour. Though her bone-white face had no eyes, he could feel her staring directly at him.

 How do you even see?

 MASTER she replied unhelpfully, then, from her bizarre over-long-and-bulbous arms crawled tendrils of blood that coalesced into a whip-like tentacle.

 Erm, what are those for?

 When the bloody appendage grabbed him around the neck and started dragging him across the street, he realised that perhaps there was such a thing as too much excitement and thrill.

AliNovel

XV.