Nova Terra: Liberator - A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Titan Series Book 5)

by Seth Ring

  “Well done! I want all teams rotating to the next target! Let’s end this!”

  As each Bloodkin sub-boss fell, the players who had been targeting them quickly shifted their target to the next sub-boss, rapidly increasing the number of attacks hitting them with each successive boss that fell.

  After the second sub-boss fell, the third and fourth followed even faster, allowing the Iron Wolves to turn their attention to Mayari who was still struggling with Mani in the center of the ruins. Noticing that her minions had fallen, a dismal look flashed across Mayari’s face and she tried to disengage, only to have three of her tails caught in the giant silver wolf’s mouth.

  [Why do you run, witch? Where is that arrogance that you carried before?] Mani’s fury-filled voice rang throughout the valley as she ripped and tugged at the white fur tails between her teeth.

  “Let me go!”

  With a tremendous tug, Mayari pulled herself free of Mani’s grip, losing large pieces of her three tails in the process. Pink mist began to pour from the ripped stubs of her tails forming a solid wall around her body. Spinning furiously, she launched herself into the air and tucked her arms and legs tightly against her body, the mist condensing tighter and tighter around her.

  “Uh oh, I think she is mad,” Mina said as she took a few steps back.

  “Iron Wolves! Pull back!” Thorn’s deep voice echoed across the battlefield, shocking the entire player army into action. “Put up your defenses!”

  Furious at the situation, Mayari opened her eyes and glared at the players that surrounded her. The musical lilt that had enchanted listeners earlier was completely gone, replaced with pained screeching and mad laughter.

  “You fools think you have won! You have no idea of my strength! Ahaha! No idea of my power! How dare you mar my perfect form! I’ll send you to the abyss for your insolence!”

  Mayari’s anguished and hate-filled cries filled the air as she continued to gather and compress the pink mist that flowed from her tails. As Thorn watched he saw that the three damaged tails had begun to unravel, spinning apart and turning into the mist that swirled in tight spirals around the corrupted High Priestess. The mist quickly formed into two tightly rolled ribbons, spiraling around Mayari’s floating body. As one of the ribbons continued its frantic motion around her, the other shot out and slashed at the air in front of Mayari.

  Under the player’s astonished gaze, the pink ribbon appeared to cut a hole in the air itself, revealing a pitch black gap from which a creepy air flowed. Like a pot of ink spilled across the table, the space inside of the slash rippled and shimmered like a deep pool of black water. With a shiver, all the players took another step backward. All the players except Thorn. Instead, driven by an overwhelming aggression, he took a step forward.

  Along with him, every single one of the Children of the Moon took a step toward the rip in the sky, their teeth bared and their hackles raised. Even Mani took her eyes off of Mayari’s figure to watch the darkness hovering in the air carefully. The rift exuded an air of deep evil, and for a second Thorn’s mind flashed to the deep darkness that he had seen Hati cast himself into only a few days before when he had upgraded his class.

  [What have you done, witch?]

  “Ahahahaha!” Mayari’s crazed laughter rang out, as her figure unfolded. “This, this is what I have sought all this time. A direct path from the valley to the abyss. Though I sacrificed much of my power to do it, this path shall be the downfall of Angoril! Forever I shall be known as the one who opened the way!”

  “Opened the way for what?” Mina muttered under her breath as she watched the black portal warily.

  “Um, probably that. Or lots of things like it?” Thorn’s impossibly sharp hearing picked up Mina’s question, and he lifted his finger to point at the edge of the darkness where a creeping tentacle had appeared, feeling its way around the edge of the rip as if something waited just beyond the darkness.

  Thorn was not the only one who saw the tentacle as it began to seep out of the rip in the sky. Mani saw it as well and snarled. The deep, rumbling sound rippled through the air, shredding everything in its path, including the tentacle which pulled back quickly as its tip just evaporated into the air.

  [Do you really think you can succeed with us here?] Mani’s voice was scornful, but all she earned was another mad laugh from Mayari.

  “Ahahaha! You think you can stop me? The abyss will eat you all up and spit out your bones! AHAHHA! Nothing will survive, nothing! Such is the price for getting in my way!”

  [You forget where you are, witch. These are Hati’s lands, and we do not suffer the devils or their spawn in our home!]

  As she finished speaking, the massive silver wolf shivered and vanished, appearing behind Mayari and smashing her with a massive paw. The blow, though blocked by the remaining pink ribbon, sent Mayari flying through the air, tumbling straight into the black rip in the sky where her body completely vanished with a terrified scream.

  Her body vanishing again, Mani appeared in the air in front of the portal, slamming another paw down on the rip. Looking closely, Thorn could see Mayari struggling to get out of the inky blackness, only to be smashed under by Mani’s heavy paw. With half of her leg submerged, Mani glanced down at her children with a faint tenderness. After a brief look, her eyes turned to Maugrim and Thorn who found themselves standing together.

  [Maugrim, my child, lead your brothers and sisters to follow Lord Greymane. Protect this valley for it is of vital importance in what will come. What must come. You are the alpha of the Children of the Moon and you must carry the burden that comes with that. Seek evil in the darkness and destroy it, protecting the light.]

  [Mother!]

  [There is no time for arguments, my child. This rift must be sealed unless you would see this turned into a second Battlefield of Flame and Shadow. Angoril cannot bear another scar of that nature. As is the calling of our kind, I will keep this path, letting nothing come forth.] Pausing for a moment more to gaze on her son, Mani’s lips drew back slightly in what looked to Thorn like a smile. [Lord Greymane, it is not yet time for the final fight, so I will seal this rift and guard over it until the time of the Great Chase. Treat my children well lest you find yourself my target in those last days. I am sorry that I cannot uphold my end of the bargain and tell you more about your people. All I have time to say is that if you find the home of your race you will discover what you want to know.]

  While Mani was speaking, pink tendrils had begun to creep out of the ink once again, seeking to pull against the edges of the rift as Mayari tried to free herself. Having none of it, Mani snapped the flailing tendrils with a swipe of her free paw and dove head first into the inky darkness. As her tail disappeared into the gateway to the abyss, a deep and pain-filled howl rang out.

  Each of the Children of the Moon threw their heads up and joined the call, creating a mournful chorus. The call echoed around the valley, filling the hearts of all who heard it with deep sorrow, and soon other animals began to join in. Sitting up on her haunches on Thorn’s shoulder, Akira raised her little nose and began to howl along with the Children of the Moon.

  Infected by the mood, Thorn took a deep breath and lifted his voice alongside the others, his deep bass adding a thrumming undercurrent to the haunting howl. The sound magnified as even the rocks and hills seemed alive with the chorus. One by one, the Iron Wolf players were swept up in the sound, lifting their voices to pay tribute. As the howl grew, the inky black rip in the sky began to tremble, its sides slowly starting to close until, finally, it sealed completely. Both Mayari and Mani were gone, vanished into the abyss.

  The long howl faded into silence, leaving nothing but a choking feeling behind.

  *ding*

  Clicking on the first of the rewards, Thorn took a look at the window that popped up.

  Thorn had just closed the windows when another notification popped up, making his eyes widen in surprise.

  *ding*

  Chapter Twenty-Four
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br />   “Ugh, am I glad that is done!” Exhausted, Mina plopped herself down on the ground next to Thorn.

  “Did you get a quest completion notification?”

  “Yeah, didn’t you?” Staring up at him from where she lay, Mina shared the quest window that she had just completed.

  “You know, you look even taller from this angle. Seriously, if I didn't know better I would think that your head was touching the sky. You should have called yourself Atlas. Doesn’t he hold up the sky or something?”

  “Hold on, how come you got five rewards and I only got two? And what the heck is reputation with Lord Greymane? I’m Lord Greymane!”

  “Haha, aren’t you pleased with how everyone did during the fight?” Sitting up, Mina brushed some dust from her hat and plopped it back on her head.

  “Yeah, sure, but what does that…” Thorn stopped, his eyes going wide. “Oh.”

  “Exactly. You are much more likely to favor someone wearing the symbol of the Iron Wolves now than you were when the army formed. I’ve been getting reputation with you as quest rewards pretty regularly. I mean, I don’t get a lot of quests, unlike some freaks I know. But the ones I do around you always seem to have rep tacked on.”

  “Wait, is this normal? I’ve never gotten reputation for another player before.”

  “Sure, but you’re the only player with a native office. It makes sense that players would want to grind your rep. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Instead, figure out what to do with all of them before that devolves into chaos.”

  Looking around, Thorn saw that most of the Iron Wolves were sprawled around on the ground like Mina, recovering their energy. A fair few of the officers had gathered around the spot where Mayari had emerged from the hill, looking down into the hole. At first, Thorn could not tell what Mina was referring to, but then his sharp ears caught the raised voices of the officers. Frowning, he strode over toward the hill, Mina and Hasta trailing behind him.

  “What is going on here?”

  Like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar, the players on the hill jerked in surprise, quickly retreating and leaving the captain of the fourth battalion who had been too slow to move by himself. Seeing Thorn’s eyes on him, he looked around in panic, only to see everyone else moving even further back.

  “Lord Greymane asked you a question, captain,” Commander Hasta barked from behind Thorn, fixing a severe glare on the unfortunate captain.

  “Um, yes, yes sir. Uh, your majesty, I mean your lordship.”

  “At ease, captain. Just call me Lord Greymane. Or Thorn.”

  “Ah, thanks, Tho…” halfway through his reply the poor captain caught Commander Hasta’s look and the words died in his throat. “Ehem. Lord Greymane! We found a lot of treasure! We were discussing what to do with it! The second battalion’s captain wanted to split it up among the men, but the seventh battalion captain thought that officers should get an extra share!”

  Oblivious to the glares from the other two captains that he had implicated, the fourth battalion captain stood as still and straight as he could. Despite his best efforts, he found himself staring at Thorn’s stomach and eventually shifted his gaze to the side uncomfortably.

  “Treasure, huh? Commander, do we have a process for handling that?”

  “Yes, my lord. No looting, ever. Period. Summary dismissal for looting of any kind.” Commander Hasta’s words caused cold sweat to drip down the heads of the listening captains. “However, those rules were written prior to entering the game and fail to take drops into account.”

  “Exactly, this is a video game, Thorn.” Mina spoke up, trying to entice Akira off of Thorn’s shoulder with a cookie. “If you kill something, you get to loot it. Those are the rules we and everyone else in the game operate by.”

  “Hmm, you’re right. Let's do this...” Tapping his chin, Thorn glanced at the fourth battalion’s captain. “I want everything categorized and transported back to camp. Just like the guild, we’ll set up a points system. Members of the Iron Wolf army will earn points for participation and those points will have an equivalent value in gold and gear. Anything that does not drop from a mob will be subject to this system and will go into the Iron Wolf treasury to be redeemed through points. Thoughts?”

  “That sounds pretty decent.” Mina nodded after thinking about it for a second.

  “Excellent plan, my lord.” Commander Hasta agreed.

  “Great, I’m sure it actually sucks which is why no one is using this sort of a system, but I’m sure smarter minds can improve it. Hey, that's a great idea.” Snapping his fingers at his brilliant idea, Thorn opened up his messaging system.

  “Yes?”

  “Hey, Corvo! I’ve got an okay idea for what to do about loot distribution for the army. But then I thought, Corvo is way smarter than I am, why don’t I just ask him? Can you come up with an idea and talk to Hasta about it? Try to have it done before we leave for the duke’s camp in a few days. Thanks!”

  Quickly hanging up before Corvo could reply and reject him, Thorn gave Mina and Hasta a thumbs up, scooped up Akira, and ran for the woods, leaving both the players and the Dwarven guards from the Stone Legion staring at his back. Completely ignoring the strange looks he was getting; the Titan was soon hidden by the trees.

  Behind him, Hasta looked at Mina who just shrugged and shook her head as she giggled.

  In the forest, Thorn was excitedly looking through his status for the newest ability that he had unlocked. With the latest bit of favor that he had earned from Hati he had finally unlocked all of the sub-abilities attached to his [Avatar of the Wolf] ability. Combing through his status, he saw that a few things had changed

  *Status*

  The most obvious change was Thorn’s new title, [The Stone King, Lord of Earth]. Like his [Lord Greymane, the Moon Wolf (First Rank)] title, this title was a combination of his old [Bearer of the Stone Heart] title and the [Stone King] title that he had received from taking in the remnants of the Stone Legion. Noticing that he still had his [Call the Stone Legion] ability, Thorn opened it up to see how it had changed.

  [Legionnaire] was the second class that Thorn had been granted, not for himself, but to give out. Curious, Thorn opened up the descriptions for [Legionnaire] and [High Priestess of Hati].

  Like most single category classes that Thorn had seen, [Legionnaire] came with three abilities and a mastery that would unlock when the class was mastered. [Shield Strike] was the charging stun that Thorn had witnessed the six Legionnaires using on the Bloodkin sub-boss earlier, while [Stone Legion Weapons Mastery] was similar to his [Basic Weapon Mastery]. The Legion focused on shields, axes, spears, and thick machete like swords. [Legion Formation Mastery] was a passive ability that gave the Legionnaires an instinctive understanding of the various formations that the Stone Legion employed in battle. Like the [Silver Guard] class that Ragnarok's guild leader Sylith could give out, [Legionnaire] was a class designed to be played in teams rather than solo.

  Reading over the nearly overwhelming number of abilities and masteries listed in the High Priestess of Hati class description, Thorn’s eyes widened. It would take him hours to go through the class description. Resolutely shutting the window without opening up any of the abilities, the Titan shook his head. No wonder everyone was so desperate to get a quad category class.

  Still blinking from the wall of text that had just smacked him in the face, Thorn looked at his newest title and his newest ability.

  After reading through all of his notifications, Thorn finally closed them and took a deep breath. He had been anticipating having full access to the [Wolf Form] for a long time. Ever since he had first met Hati, in fact. Stretching his body, he took another deep breath.

  [Hey, Akira. Want to see something cool?]

  Without waiting for Akira to respond, Thorn let out his breath and activated [Wolf Form]. All around him silver light coalesced, spinning through him as it formed a halo that looked like a full moon over his head. The air around Thorn shiv
ered and the halo around his head began to change rapidly. Flashing through the different phases of the moon, the halo pulsed and Thorn’s body vanished.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The figure of the Titan who had stood between the tall trees a moment earlier was gone, and in its place a wolf rose. Thick black fur that seemed to absorb the light that filtered through the leaves covered Thorn’s new form. Without his glittering yellow-gold eyes, he could have easily been mistaken for nothing more than the shadow of a giant wolf. It was a strange feeling to be in a completely different body, almost like he was sitting in the driver’s seat of an intricate machine. Every thought, every motion was translated into a complex set of commands that filtered down into the muscles, bones, and sinews of the wolf body.

  Standing at a clean ten feet at his shoulder, Thorn’s massive body was nearly thirty feet long from the tip of his nose to the point of his tail. Finally looking up from the cookie she had been nibbling on, Akira was completely dumbfounded to see that Thorn had disappeared. Her master was gone, and in his place was a huge wolf, its long red tongue licking around its lips. Akira’s mouth fell open, spilling crumbs everywhere.

  *ding*

  Before Thorn could check the notification that popped up as his transformation completed, he heard an enraged mental cry and saw Akira abandon her cookie and jump up into the air.

  [Master!? Oh no! You got eaten by a giant shadow wolf! I’ll rescue you!]

  The surrounding temperature abruptly shot up as intense flames erupted around Akira. Going from cute forest animal to raging behemoth in less than half a second, Akira grew until she matched Thorn’s size, her flaming tails lifting behind her as she got ready to attack.

  [Whoa! Akira, stop! This is me, I’m the wolf! I turned into a wolf!] Thorn shouted with his mind.