Chapter 253 – Wrath of the Green Scorpion Giant

  Lieutenant Benjamin:

  “Fire Burst!” I shouted, unleashing bzing fmes from my hands toward the monstrous greeure. The battlefield was a chaotiightmare, and this abomination, a grotesque mass of iwined vines and slimy algae, was wreaking havoc, hurling wagons, ons, and even soldiers with its releentacles.

  “Focus o on its back!” a soldier yelled, prompting a hail of arrows aimed at the grotesque parasite that appeared to trol the beast.

  “GRRRR!” The monster roared in fury, violently whipping its tentacles around like massive whips, toppling everything and everyone in its path. The giant ivorous pnt on its back reacted, snapping its razor-sharp teeth aing a sinister sound that seemed to drive the creature into an eveer frenzy.

  “Target the pnt! That’s its ot!” I shouted, intensifying my fmes to hit the parasite. The heat scorched parts of the creature’s vines, and some started to burn, but its resilience was unnerving.

  The creature, now partially engulfed in fmes, charged at us, its tentacles shing out indiscriminately. Soldiers screamed as they tried to retreat, but the monster’s speed made dodging impossible.

  “Wind Mages! Push it back!” I anded, and gusts of wind magied barriers, temporarily f the creature to stagger backward. Yet it was clear that this tactic would only buy us a little time.

  I kept firing fireballs, aiming directly at the pnt. But the parasite moved with uling agility, shielding itself and making direct hits difficult.

  A guttural roar echoed across the battlefield, and I instinctively turoward the rear line. What I saw made my blood run cold.

  “More of them!” someone screamed, their voice trembling with fear.

  A horde of ied soldiers was advang. At least a huheir bodies were twisted and mangled, overrun with vines and tendrils. It was as though they had fully surreo the parasitic green pgue.

  “Hold the line!” I shouted, but my voice was almost drowned out by the chorus of terror.

  “Ahhh!” A soldier nearby was grabbed by one of the monster’s tentacles. He screamed desperately, his eyes pleading for help as the creature dragged him closer.

  “Help me! No, no, please!” he begged, but his cries were abruptly silenced when the monster pletely enveloped him, crushing him and feeding him to the ivorous pnt. The sound of bones snapping echoed chillingly, and blood spilled as the parasite seemed to relish its meal.

  A shiver of horror shot through me as I watched what happened .

  The ied soldiers began throwing themselves at the green monster as if willingly their bodies to the abominatioacles shed out in all dires, eg to the soldiers and abs them.

  The creature started to grow. It was grotesque and horrifying. With each soldier it ed, its form swelled, and the ivorous pnt on its back expanded, its jagged teeth gleaming ominously. The monster was now colossal, its roots spreading across the ground like a living pgue, suffog everything in its viity.

  “This is impossible… this is a nightmare!” someotered beside me, as I desperately tried to muster what little ce remained.

  That thing was no longer just a creature. It was a living camity, and we were moments away from being ed by it.

  This is spiraling out of trol! I thought, frantically searg for a solution before that monstrous entity obliterated us all.

  “What the hell is that thing!?” a soldier beside me yelled, his voice filled with raw despair as the grotesque horror before us tis terrifying transformation.

  "Keep attag!" I ordered, though my voice betrayed the weight of panic seeping into my chest. I hurled fireballs with everything I had, but it felt futile. The monstrosity only grew, abs the ied soldiers in a grotesque spectacle of death and fusion. Its tentacles ed around their bodies, dragging them into the parasite. With each fallen soldier, the creature swelled, spreading its roots and sprouting new pnts around it like an insatiable pgue.

  The ivorous pnt on the monster's back began to writhe, shifting grotesquely. Its head elongated and transformed into a snake-like abomination with spiked greeh. Its thiing neck pulsed as though alive, making it a nightmarish fusion of flesh, vines, and pure malice.

  "Ahhh!" A high-pitched scream erupted beside me. A soldier was snatched by a vine and dragged toward the creature. Driven by instinct, I ran to help, but froze as the horrifying se unfolded before my eyes.

  "It's feeding on humans..." I muttered, uo look away. "Using their bodies to grow."

  I raised my hands, preparing to unother fire bst, but my body froze. Terrripped my heart like a vice.

  "Screw this... I'm not dying here," I muttered under my breath. "They all go to hell!"

  I turo flee. But my escape route was blocked.

  Five ied soldiers emerged, their twisted, grotesque forms lurg forward. They moved with unnatural speed, their cw-like hands seizing my arms and draggih overwhelming force. I struggled, setting their bodies abze, but they seemed impervious to pain. Two more leapt on me, pinning me down with relentless strength.

  "No! Get off me! That's an order!" I shouted, but my protests fell on deaf ears. They tinued draggioward the monstrous creature, ign my desperate attempts to break free.

  The ivorous pnt-serpent raised its head, its unblinking gaze fixed os spiked teeth gleamed menagly, and for a brief moment, it seemed to smile, a sadistiowing grin.

  "Revenge..." I whispered, realizing the meaning behind its gesture. One of the creature's burentacles rose, pointing directly at me. It knew. It knew I was the one who had scorched its flesh.

  "No! Stop! I and you!" I pleaded, but my voice cracked with despair as thick roots began coiling around my body. They burrowed beh my skin, tearing through flesh and muscle.

  The thick vines invaded me, dev me alive. I felt every an being pierced, my blood drained as pain ed me entirely. A scream of sheer terror escaped my lips, only to be silenced by the crushing agony.

  The st thing I saw was the cold, mog gaze of the ivorous pnt-serpent before my vision darkened, and I was ed by the monstrosity I had unwittingly helped to grow.

  Katherine Evenhart:

  My Soul Golem charged forward like a force of nature, relentless and fierce, against the elite magi known as Nikous Wolves' Ten Fingers. Five oppos stood before us, each highly trained and deadly, but we were resolute in our mission t them down.

  "Yoing to die, you wretched woman!" roared the demi-human woman, ung torrents of mud toward my golem. It raised its massive cw like a shield, blog the attacks with brute strength, while its thinner cw struck back with swift precision, ndiating blows.

  "It’s been a while sihe three of us fought together," Margie remarked, gliding gracefully along an icy path she had jured. She dodged the water mage’s attacks with infuriating ease, leaving behind the frozen, decapitated body of ane as a testament to the seamless synergy between her and Martha.

  "Go, girl!" I shouted, charging headlong toward the demi-human woman. Meanwhile, Martha was locked in bat with another demi-human mage, a wiry figure with razor-sharp cws sshing through the air like bdes. My focus remained on the woman and the earth mage, and I couldn’t afford even a moment of hesitation.

  “Great Stake!” the earth mage roared, juring a colossal stone spike that hurtled toward me with deadly precision.

  "Pnt Wall!" I tered, swiftly g my hands together. A dense barrier of iwining vied from the ground, ing around the spike mid-air and shattering it into harmless fragments.

  “Advance!” I anded, and my Soul Golem responded with ah-shaking roar.

  "ROOAR!"

  The colossal beast charged forward, its sheer mass obliterating everything in its path. The mages scrambled to evade the devastation, desperately throwing up barriers and terspells.

  From atop my golem, I surveyed the battlefield with unyielding focus. The demi-human woman began to transform, her body enveloped by living mud that seemed to pulse with its own malicious i. She grew rger, spikes of hardened mud sprouting from her form in every dire, turning her into a walking fortress of destru.

  “Mud Armor!” she bellowed, her voice guttural and distorted. Her monstrous figure surged forward, unleashing a hail of mud spikes in all dires.

  My golem took a gng hit but tis relentless advance, shrugging off the damage. Its razor-sharp cw shed out with terrifying speed, narrowly missing the woman’s head and f her to leap back.

  “Margie! Cover the fnk!” I called, summoning another Pnt Wall to intercept the barrage of spikes.

  Margie deftly moved into position, skating gracefully on a trail of ice. She blocked ining projectiles with a flick of her hand, creating jagged barriers of frost to protect our rear.

  “She’s a transmitter powerful enough te her body with her element,” I muttered to myself, noting the demi-human’s impressive mastery over her abilities.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted again, and my Soul Golem let out ahunderous roar, surging forward like an unstoppable force of nature. Its stinger gleamed with a lethal green aura as it delivered a devastating blow to the demi-human.

  The impact was brutal. The woman was flung through the air, crashing to the ground with a resounding thud that reverberated across the battlefield.

  "ROOOAR!" my golem bellowed again, its attention shifting to the earth mage who was frantically trying to defend himself.

  “Great Stone Wall!” the mage yelled, summoning an immense barrier of rock to shield himself. But it was futile. My golem smashed through the wall with savage force, its cws tearing the stones apart as if they were paper.

  The earth mage’s eyes widened in terror as he stumbled backward.

  “Kill him!” I anded, and the golem’s stinger shed out with deadly precision, impaling the mage mid-step.

  "Ahhhhhh!" The man’s agonized screams echoed as his body was hoisted into the air, writhing helplessly. Dark veins began to spread across his skin as blood streamed from his eyes. His breathing turned into shallos, barely audible over the chaos.

  “The stinger of my Soul Golem is ced with a potent venom,” I expined coldly, watg his futile struggles. “Nature provides plenty of poisonous pnts and fungi.”

  With my oversized gardening shears in hand, I approached the dying mage. His bloodshot eyes pleaded for mercy, but there was o be found in mine.

  “I promised my son I’d sever many heads for the injuries he suffered… and I always keep my promises.”

  With one , precise motion, the bde severed his head. It fell to the ground with a dull thud, lifeless.

  “Throw the body away,” I ordered, and my golem obeyed, flig the corpse off its stinger like discarded trash. The body tumbled across the ground before ing to a stop, lifeless and broken.

  Without missing a beat, my Soul Golem turs focus back to the demi-human woman, who was already beginning to recover. Her Mud Armor was slowly rebuilding itself, eng her once again in that grotesque, living shell.

  Suddenly, a massive wall of ice erupted beside me. I turo see Martha leaping onto my golem, seamlessly taking her position at my side. Margie joined us moments ter, her icy path cutting through the battlefield like a bde.

  "Just like old times," Margie said with a grin, her breath visible in the frosty air as she prepared for the round. Together, we faced the chaos head-on, ready to end this battle ond for all.

  "I’ve already killed the e. Only the two demi-humans are left,” Margie informed with her usual calm as she leaped onto my golem. “But we have a problem.”

  Before I could ask what the problem was, the massive ice wall shattered into pieces.

  “ROOOAR!” A monstrous dog with brown fur burst through the broken barrier, r with fury.

  “It’s in its beast form. I’ll need your help, Lady Katherine,” Martha said, readying herself for the fight.

  I locked eyes with the demi-human whose armor was fully restored and ie.

  “I’ll hahe dog. Margie, provide support for both of us. Martha, deal with the other demi-human.”

  “Uood, my dy,” Martha replied, ung herself with her spear toward the mud-armored woman, ready for battle.

  Margie, with a sharp smile, quipped, “Looks like I’ll need my gardening tools to take care of these pests.”

  I let out a quick ugh, brag myself for the fight.

  “Let’s go!”I shouted, and my Soul Golem roared as it charged toward the colossal beast, kig off the brutal frontation ahead.