Chapter 57: The Hospital Behemoth (2)
Reidar burst through the hospital’s shattered main doors as soon as he heard that roar.
The stench grew stronger as he went deeper, and he finally recognized it. It wasn’t just rot—though something was definitely rotting here.
It was a mix of damp soil, decaying plants, and something acrid that clawed at the back of his throat.
Besides, as Reidar got in, he noticed there was much more vegetation than on the outside. It was basically a greenhouse gone wild.
Vines snaked across every surface, prying apart concrete and twisting metal support beams. Sometimes they acted as support themselves.
Roots, thick as his arm and even more, had buckled the linoleum floors, turning the corridors into a treacherous, uneven landscape.
Reidar followed the sounds of combat deeper inside until he found the source of the chaos in the hospital’s main atrium.
The place was a total wreck. Part of the second floor, maybe even the third, had caved in, leaving a vast crater that dropped straight into the basement. Piles of rubble were everywhere, turning the entire hall into a slow climb.
In the center of this destruction, his summoned creatures were fighting. His Rift-Sprite squad were launching bolts of water, stone, and wind. In front of them, his Bone Militia was doing its best against the source of the roar in a melee skirmish that was futile more than anything else. The source, instead... oh, what a source it was...
The creature stood taller than a full-grown oak, a ten-foot beast stitched together from nature’s fury.
Its body was a mess of twisted trunks and branches, groaning with every heavy step. Roots snapped through the floor like broken bones. Its arms stretched out, dragging along the ground before swinging at his Bone Militia like battering rams.
Its face was worse. A knot of half-dead trees fused into a cephaloid mass oozing sap where eyes should have been, glowing sickly yellow-greenish like rotted honey.
Vines writhed from its shoulders, snapping at the air like mouths, and thorn-covered weeds burst from its limbs, leaving a trail of sprouting rot in the dust.
This wasn’t a monster. It was a disease. A forest gone feral, and Reidar’s Bone Militia and Rift-Sprites had just spilled its weird and sickly blood.
—Twisted Bark Behemoth—Level 18—
Reidar knew this creature. He’d fought a smaller, weaker one in the woods weeks back, but this was still a twisted version of the base Bark Behemoth he met. The "Twisted" in its name meant it wasn’t just some ordinary monster.
This was a variant, more powerful than its base counterpart. Reidar saw this kind of creature often. Even the Rift sprites had those variants, as did the Elites he found in the nest two days prior, when he and the rest of the settlement saved the kids trapped in the Three Lakes’ school.
Its presence explained the rampant plant growth and the vines choking the structure. Variants were not only stronger, but they also had greater effects on the world. There were many kinds of variants, to the point that it was impossible to list them all.
Though why that thing was there in the city, rather than in the forest, was unknown.
<Maybe there is no particular reason, and I’m just paranoid. Regardless, I need to kill this thing.>
His Bone Militia swarmed the Behemoth’s legs, their swords hacking at the thick bark but having almost no effect. Reidar watched the notifications flicker at the edge of his vision.
[RESISTED! Summoned Skeleton strikes Twisted Bark Behemoth for only 2 slashing damage.]
[RESISTED! Summoned Skeleton strikes Twisted Bark Behemoth for only 3 slashing damage.]
[RESISTED! Summoned Skeleton strikes Twisted Bark Behemoth for only 2 slashing damage.]
<Physical resistance. Of course, coupled with the Skeletons’ ruined weapons and low strength.>
The skeletons were two levels higher than the Behemoth and four levels lower than him, yet their attacks barely scratched it. The creature raised one club-like fist.
It brought the limb down with a devastating slam. The impact shattered the tiled floor and sent three skeletons flying, their bones exploding into dust upon landing. Another swipe of its arm, a Timber Sweep, sent the rest of his skeletal warriors tumbling like bowling pins.
The Rift-Sprites fared better. Their elemental attacks found purchase where steel could not, and they also were far from the monster, so its attacks didn’t reach them.
[Summoned Aqua Rift-Sprite strikes Twisted Bark Behemoth for 96 Water Damage.]
[Summoned Stone Rift-Sprite strikes Twisted Bark Behemoth for 78 Earth Damage.]
The damage was consistent but slow. The Bark Behemoth’s thick Bark Armor, absorbed much of the damage.
Worse still, Reidar saw a faint green light pulsing through the creature’s body, sealing up the cracks the rift-sprites had made. It was healing itself.
<I was right not to summon the Ember Sprites.> Reidar thought as he saw all the vegetation around the creature.
A single Fireball in this overgrown tinderbox would turn the entire hospital into an inferno, destroying the medical supplies he came to retrieve. He was fighting with one hand tied behind his back.
The Behemoth roared again, although such beast roaring was an oddity, and swatted a skeleton in the air.
The Bone Militia was a write-off; they could at best keep the monster occupied. The Rift-Sprites were a slow drain on its health, but that was going to last only until they had some protection.
<Luckily I still have three summons.>
He grinned.
He turned his focus from the battle to the three silent figures waiting at his side. The Primal Pack. They were level twenty-two, constructs of pure combat potential and bestial power.
The time for testing came.
<Go.>
The Primal Pack surged forward as soon as it heard those orders. It wasn’t going to make Reidar wait.
The panther shot sideways, its black fur blurring as it slashed at the Behemoth’s side.
The wolf let out a deep howl and charged straight at the monster’s chest.
The bear reared up, roaring so loud it drowned out the Behemoth’s own bellow, then slammed its paws down hard enough to crack the pavement.