Chapter 125

Lykan

Frost Trolls

The two quickly found that much as Lykan had predicted, the core room did not have any Titans present. This was a relief for Lykan, as each time he now entered the core rooms his heart began to race as fear gripped him. Had it not been for Brenna being by his side, he likely would have never entered. As it was, he forced himself to move forward to protect Brenna.

The facility was nearly perfect, as if it has somehow been completely overlooked after the Titans War. This was good as it meant that shutting down the facility was just a few simple commands. This time just like the last time he asked for the percentage and found the number to be 61.8%. The percentage wasn’t all that high, only .3% more than when he first began tracking this seven years ago. Still the change was a lot. The change and scale also spoke of the inevitability of qi taking over the world. Or at the very least the fact that terraforming would be complete within a few hundred years. Though Lykan felt that the last few percentage points would be quickly reached once the planet met a critical mass. As it was, the planet likely would never recover from the terraforming. Lykan realized this upon his first entry into a core room, now all he could do was shut down all the terraforming facilities before they were able to inform the other Titans that their task had been accomplished.

Lykan explained his thoughts on terraforming, even going so far as to have the system display a percentage marker on the screen. This way Brenna could see for herself the inevitability of what was to come. He then had the system pull up planetary maps showing the rate of conversion. A few models were shown depicting transformation rates assuming all other facilities were destroyed. Every model showed that the conversion of the planet was inevitable. Lykan assumed that was why the facilities didn’t seem to mind his shutting down their systems entirely. From the labyrinth’s perspective, they had already achieved their goal, of terraforming the planet. It only made sense to shut down systems and wait until they were needed once more.

“Can’t you just switch them back? Make them undo the terraforming process?” Brenna asked.

Lykan just shook his head. “No we cannot. That sets off a distress beacon. Last time I tried that I was sealed into a dungeon, and had to fight my way free of all the monsters. Only after I left the facility and came back would it let me retry. Even then I could only shut down the facility, nothing more.” Lykan admitted.

Hearing that Brenna let out a deep sigh. “So this is pointless? We lost?”

Lykan shook his head. “No we haven’t lost. While qi, fortunately or unfortunately, is here to stay. We can at least stop the return of the Titans. The force that landed here originally were just an expeditionary force, as far as I can tell. They were sent to be the initial terraformers, those who would come next would be the Titans looking for a new planet to settle on.”

“How many of them are there?”

Lykan could only shrug. “I don’t know, nor do I want to know.”

The two stood like that for a few minutes. Seeing that Brenna no longer had any questions, Lykan input the commands to shut down the facility. The two just sat there for the full thirty minutes, their minds racing as they contemplated what to do next.

Whoosh.

Only the opening of the emergency doors and hatches all over awoke the two from their meditative slumber. Then as if by an unspoken agreement the two looked at each other then left the room.

“You ready to kill more monsters?” Lykan asked.

Hearing this Brenna nodded, even a few paces in front Lykan could feel the action. Also the shadow of Brenna on the ground indicated the nod, letting Lykan know his idea was both heard and accepted.

The two made their way to the biome, and nearly froze, literally. The biome this time was a winter wasteland. Ice and snow that had been blowing and accumulating for what seemed to be countless centuries piled high.

While Lykan’s high Attributes meant he was mostly safe from the effects of the cold, the same could not be said for Brenna. Who much to her surprise felt she should be far colder than she was. As it was, the cold she felt was only mildly uncomfortable, still she showed an aversion to the cold. At least she showed an aversion, until Lykan walked out on the snow in his bare feet.

Seeing his lack of concern caused something to break in Brenna, as she did not want to be left behind. Within a moment she calmed her mind enough to walk on the densely packed ice. She had boots that protected her, but they were mostly unneeded. As of now Brenna had a thirty point bump to her Attributes, making her mostly immune to the extreme effects of weather on her body. Now all she had to do was mentally accept the changes her body had already gone through. She and Lykan had spoken about these changes on her way here, but only now was she truly able to experience the changes for herself.

Within a few steps, Brenna forced her mind to not accept the cold as something to pay attention to. By the time they found their first biome creature, a thick rodent of some kind, all thoughts of the cold were erased as Brenna began slaughtering the creatures.

The two had made a plan. The plan was relatively simple, they would find the apex creature of each biome and eliminate them, then leave. At least this was the case for biomes where some form of civilization existed over top of the titan structure. If the structure was otherwise uninhabited the two would kill every creature within the biome. The reason for this shift in plans was simple, killing off entire biomes was time consuming. Also waves of monsters charging from underground caverns would alert people to the dangers of dungeons, and hopefully raise awareness of these facilities.

Also this particular facility was determined that it would likely kill off a few orcs. This was something that Brenna relished the idea of. While agreed that killing off the most dangerous of beasts would be beneficial to the planet, she still wished that some of these beasts could take down a few dozen of the invading orcs before they died.

Then she remembered the look that Lykan gave her when she suggested such a strategy. Lykan just gave her a disapproving look, a look that she oddly didn’t like. While Lykan only made note of how such petty concerns were inconsequential, when compared to the survival of the planet, she still felt there was need for revenge. Then she remembered the conversation that came after, when she tried to justify her thoughts.

“How would you feel if your home was overrun with invaders. Everyone you ever knew from your home was either dead, or presumed dead.”

Hearing that Lykan just shook his head. “I thought I already told you, but for redundancy’s sake I will repeat myself. My home was burnt down to the stone, the fields were salted as the soldiers could not keep the line. To keep others from coming back and reclaiming the once fertile soil they went to a scorched earth approach.”

Hearing that Brenna paused as she remembered this exact story, though she had forgotten the tale in her moment of anger. Only now she heard Lykan retelling the story as if it was little more than an anecdote of his history.

“You know what though?”

Brenna, her throat feeling tight could only shake her head.

“It didn’t matter. The titans and their labyrinth were still in full operation beneath the surface of the burnt down village. I shut down the facility, and when I went back years later I found a forest had taken root. As yet a second conquerer came, this one being a priestess for the great forest spirit. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who is there now. All that really matters is that the facility that had been active for thousands of years on standby mode, was finally shut down.” Lykan said, as he continued floating forward, swiping with his staff at the different rodents that came out to view their group.

Brenna could only follow in shame. He was right, or at least she felt he was right. She was still having a hard time processing everything that was happening, but what she had seen was irrefutable. She also knew that the Gods truly favored those who killed the monsters of these dungeons. Her rapid Attribute growth was proof of their approval.

“There.” Lykan said, pointing to a giant snow bank off in the distance.

Brenna nodded and followed Lykan. Lykan for his part just hovered on ahead, rising slightly to take over watch and ensure that no other creatures would come. That or if they did, he would at least be able to inform Brenna and protect her from attacks from behind.

With Lykan on overwatch, Brenna felt confident and protected. She made her way to the snow bump that Lykan had indicated. She even went so far as to walk up the bump to look around.

Only after a quick view around did Brenna fell like she was missing something. She looked around, but only found more white snow. Snow and ice carried on a perpetually blowing wind.

“Where?” Brenna asked.

Lykan who had been scanning the area looked down at Brenna, before a look of shock filled his face. “Beneath you!” He shouted and then pointed down.

That is when Brenna felt the movement beneath her feet. Out of reflex she slashed down with her axe, instantly the white snow turned a deep crimson, as bright liquid shot up.

Brenna felt the sensation of flesh being ripped away as her blade sunk deeply into the flesh of the beast beneath her. That is when the ground erupted. One second Brenna was standing on the flat surface, the next she was up in the air. Fortunately for her, she had more than enough natural talent to compensate for the unexpected. Her body and mind were already moving and reacting to the sudden explosion beneath her feet. Before she had a chance to realize what she was doing, she had performed a quick flip and half twist to change her viewpoint and next attack angle. Then on her way down she slashed out again.

By this time the beast she was attacking was fully visible, and Brenna struck out with her axe.

Slice.

She slashed down, at the same time the beast used its mighty limbs to block the strike. In the past this would have been more than enough to rebuff the attack. This of course was before she had grown strong enough to carve into a qi reinforced tree. Or take on giant earth-wyrms. She had grown a lot in such a short time, and sometimes her rate of change scared her. This was one such time as her slash came down and sliced through the massive forearms of the blue skinned alien creature. She had no idea what this creature was, only that it was a perversion of all that was holy. Looking at the beast she could see that it looked like the demented love child of a centaur breeding with an overgrown troll. The result was a four-legged power monster, that had the torso of a giant troll.

Brenna’s enhanced Awareness took in all these details, then instantly discarded them. For the moment the only thing that mattered was her strike. A strike that was true and clean, one that aided by the unique metal of mithril cut into and then through the thick bones and skins of the troll-centaur creature.

Thump.

Brenna landed at the same time as the explosively bleeding stump of a right arm landed. Rather than wait, Brenna struck out, seeing the momentary pause the creature displayed as it now looked at its bleeding stump of an arm. An arm that was now spraying arterial bursts of blood wildly into the air.

Swoosh!

Quick powerful swipes were made, causing the blade to almost sing as it cut through the crisp winter air. Despite the cold and thickness of the giant horse legs, the next strike once again sliced easily through the overgrown monster horse. This time the front two legs fell off, causing the monster to topple forward.

Slink.

On reflex more than anything Brenna slashed at the falling monster, one that if left unaffected would fall right onto her, pinning her small frame into the snow. A quick defensive slash of her weapon caused her blade to slash into and through the rib cage of the falling monster. In a second rather than falling straight down, the troll torso was sent flying around as it landed with a slam into the hard packed snow. The Axe cut deep, until it was well over half way through the beast. Brenna fought to work her weapon free.

Squish.

Organs and blood splashed about as she twisted the handle slightly, working the blade free enough to pull it out of the monster’s torso. Then as soon as it was up, she raised her axe high, ready to take a swing at the head of the monster, wanting to decapitate it. Only to see that she had already been rewarded by the Gods for the kill.

Blessing Bestowed: Frost Troll Slayer

Frost Troll Slayer (Legendary): You managed to kill a mythical frost troll. Reward +7 to all attributes, even if this takes you beyond the normal maximum assigned to your race.

With that message, Brenna paused. Then lowered her weapon as she took in a deep breath to relax. Only after the thrill of the hunt was over did she truly take a moment to realize her accomplishment. She looked to Lykan and only saw an approving smile on his face.

“Good work.” Lykan said, as he then gave a head gesture to the body.

It took Brenna a second to realize what Lykan meant, but soon understood. “Oh, right.” Brenna said, as she darted forward and began rummaging her hand through the exposed torso of the monster. Only a few moments later did she feel a solid rock like object in her fingers. Then she pulled the rock like object out to reveal a small dark stone. This was a powerful core, one she had to guess was far more powerful than those of the earth-wyrms she and Lykan had faced in the last dungeon. Looking at the stone, she wondered if that was why the bonuses for this monster were so much higher than last time?

Realizing the logic of the Gods was beyond her, she merely shrugged. Then realized she was at +37 Attributes from the Gods. This meant that she would soon reach the alleged maximum that would be awarded by the Gods. Still at +37, she felt unstoppable.

“You sure the Attribute limit caps out at plus fifty?” Brenna asked.

Hearing this, Lykan nodded a slight smirk filling his lips. “You already there?”

“What? No, I wish. But at this rate it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“No, you should get there soon. Ready to continue?”

Brenna took in another breath and focused for a moment. Then to her surprise she realized she was ready, a few moments after a quick battle where her heart had been racing with adrenaline and she was fine. Is this what Lykan feels? Was this how he was able to fight for so long without fail in front of the temple?

These thoughts and more filled Brenna’s mind as the two set out looking for the rest of the frost trolls.