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

by Seth Ring

  Even before his tetsubo was close to the Orc Shaman Thorn started to notice a problem. The end of his weapon suddenly encountered a weak, slimy energy, slowing drastically. It was as if he had dropped his weapon into a thick muck-filled swamp. The closer to the Shaman the tetsubo got the more sluggishly it moved. The disgusting energy quickly crept down the handle of the weapon, sloshing over Thorn’s hand and up his arm.

  Nearly dropping his weapon as the strangely slimy feeling grew stronger, Thorn gritted his teeth and persisted with his attack, forcing his tetsubo down through the mire. Yet, the harder Thorn pushed his weapon the stronger the resistance he felt from the strange energy field. Trying to maintain his attack, Thorn had no time to react when his [Spiritual Sense] abruptly flared, warning him of impending danger.

  A tremendous force slammed into his ribs, sending pain lancing though him, despite his heavy armor. Staggering back, Thorn felt as if his rib had been broken from the burning pain that accompanied each gasping breath. His tetsubo began to drop to the ground as the strength in his fingers began to fail him. Trying to figure out what was going on, Thorn’s [Spiritual Sense] lit up again, alerting him to another fist that was flying toward his chest. Despite seeing the incoming attack clearly, Thorn struggled to lift his arm. The slimy, swamp-like feeling wrapped around his body, giving him the feeling that the air had turned to thick mud. The attack slammed squarely into his chest, turning his stumble into a tumble as it knocked him over backward.

  “Wow, that is probably the fastest I’ve ever been freed.” The Orc Shaman’s eyes gleamed brightly as he examined the fist that had just knocked Thorn over. “Your strength is nothing to sneer at, though it will not save you from capture today. I insist that you accompany me as my guest.”

  As Lord Arhtu walked forward toward Thorn’s prone body, his figure appeared to straighten out, growing taller and straighter with each step. Inch by inch he filled out his robe. Arms of knotted muscle bulged from under his sleeves as his form filled out. Like a dried sponge being soaked with water, Arhtu’s body grew even bigger than his guards until he was a full eight feet tall. Chuckling deeply, he reached down for Thorn who was struggling and failing to lift his tetsubo.

  [Sub Zero]

  Just before his hand landed on Thorn’s armor, Arhtu’ body shivered as the temperature around him plunged. Though it was only the briefest of seconds, the monstrous Orc Shaman froze solid, his hand hovering over Thorn. Shaking himself free of Mina’s stun, Arhtu looked up, his gleaming eyes seeking out the Ice Witch. What he saw instead was a flurry of fireballs roaring toward him from Akira’s tails.

  Lifting his arms, Arhtu crossed them in an X across his head, tucking his head down to avoid taking a fireball to the face. The flames exploded around him, driving him back two steps. Ignoring the burning skin on his arms, Arhtu dropped his arms and roared his defiance. Bloodshot eyes fixed themselves on the large red-furred creature sprinting toward him.

  Behind Akira, her three tails waved in the air, thick flames licking from their tips. Mina and Alph clung to her back, holding on tightly to keep from being blown off by her speed. Akira resembled a fluffy bulldozer as she trampled over the Orcs in her way, though there was nothing cute about the remains of the Orcs who got too close to her rampaging charge.

  “I see your friends have come back for you. How kind of them.” Arhtu’s booming voice pierced through the swampy mire that surrounded Thorn. “They can join you in being my guests.”

  “Alph, if I distract him can you help Thorn?” Mina yelled over her shoulder at the alchemist clinging to Akira’s back behind her.

  “Help him? What is wrong with him? What did that crazy Orc do?”

  “I don’t know but now isn’t the time for that!” Mina snapped, gripping her wand tightly. “Just make sure you get him out of here!”

  “What?! How?” Hearing a popping sound, Alph looked up to see that Mina had vanished from in front of him. Seeing her reappear up in the air, her three ice orbs spinning around her head, Alph’s voice trailed off. “He’s like a million pounds.”

  Using the moment of weightlessness as she appeared in mid-air, Mina flicked her wand, activating her ice curse, [Blistering Chill]. The spell materialized around Arhtu in the form of icy chains that wrapped his body. With a roar the Orc Shaman tried to shake them off only to find them tightening as razor sharp icicles grew from the icy links, stabbing into his flesh. The links pulsed with freezing light, damaging and slowing Arhtu in turn.

  Dropping slightly, Mina waved her wand down toward her feet. Following her command one of the ice orbs spun down below her, allowing her to step on it and jump forward to where the next orb waited. Down on the ground, Akira had nearly reached Thorn and Arhtu. Letting out a furious squeak, Akira’s body shook and her fur grew hard. Spinning, her three tails lashed across Arhtu’s chest, sending the bound Orc flying backward. Crashing into the ground, Mina and Akira lost sight of Arhtu in the dirt and dust that was kicked up.

  “ARRRRRGH!”

  An enraged roar ripped through the air as Arhtu bound out of the pit he had been smashed into. Three deep wounds crossed his chest but the enraged Orc paid them no attention. Bloodshot eyes fixed themselves on Akira as Arhtu’s body blurred toward the True Ailuridae, blood trailing him as it dripped from his chest.

  “Alph!” Mina’s cry echoed across the battlefield as Arhtu and Akira engaged in mortal combat below her.

  Arhtu’s speed and strength had grown exponentially with the activation of his rage ability, allowing him to overpower Akira. Desperately raining spells down on him from above, Mina did everything she could to assist the struggling battle pet. Together, they barely managed to hold him back but both Akira and Mina knew it was only a matter of time before he gained the upper hand.

  “I’m trying, I’m trying! I don’t know what kind of curse this is!” Annoyed by Mina’s yells, Alph was stuffing every sort of potion he could think of into Thorn’s mouth. “Maybe the Delrot leaves will work? No? How about Gagglebloom? Oooh, I don’t think blue bubbles are what we wanted. Ah! Nurm Mushrooms and sprig of Glazed Giant Heart. Hmm.”

  “That’s good. We need to run.”

  Thorn’s hoarse voice sounded as he managed to gather enough strength to lift his hand to his mouth, preventing Alph from pouring a boiling liquid smelling of spoil limes down his throat. Groaning, Thorn managed to roll himself over and brace himself on his hands and knees.

  [Wolf Form]

  As his massive black wolf form appeared, Thorn let out a deep howl, the echoing sound freezing everyone including Arhtu in their tracks. Alph scrambled desperately to get on Thorn’s back as Mina dropped down to land on Akira. Together Thorn and Akira raced for the woods, a large crowd of Orcs starting to chase after them as they shook off the effects of [Wolf Lord’s Howl].

  “Let them be. There will be another time to deal with them.”

  Arhtu’s words caused the Orcs who were about to chase after Thorn and the others to come to a stop before gathering up into a large group. Carefully scanning the forest, Arhtu kept his guard up. He could feel an intense threat hiding in the trees, waiting to pounce if he thoughtlessly chased after Thorn and the others.

  Inside the forest, two large Children of the Moon crouched, a strongly built Orc with a drawn bow sitting on one and two armored ladies on the other. Seeing the Orcs retreating, Heidi patted Beautiful Wind on the neck and the two wolves turned, running after Akira and Thorn. Only Duratan looked back, his gaze unfathomable as Arhtu and the Orcs were hidden by the trees.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  “Thorn, what on earth was that?”

  Corvo’s question drifted through the haze that crowded Thorn’s mind and body but it was all he could do to keep running forward, his massive body brushing against the trees as he failed to dodge them. The curse swirled around his body, causing the impression that he was locked in a strange bubble that distorted the world. As he ran, his tongue hung out of the side of his mouth, flecks of saliva building u
p around his mouth as he gulped down deep breaths of air. The curse caused his muscular frame to wither away, as if he had suddenly aged. Large patches of his midnight black fur had grown silver as well, giving his body a mottled look. When Corvo saw Thorn was unable to answer his question, he assumed command.

  “Heidi, guard Thorn and Akira. Let's get back to the harbor as fast as possible. All other teams watch for pursuers. If we do engage, we have to make sure none of them survive. Mina, Alph, can you tell me what is going on?”

  “Uh,” Mina glanced through the trees at Alph who shrugged. “I am honestly not sure. I saw Thorn attack and then get punched over. If Akira had not rushed closer that Orc Shaman would have killed him.”

  “Punched? Wasn’t he fighting an Orc Shaman?”

  “That’s what I’m not sure about. The Shaman looked like a berserker to me. He shrugged off my spells like they were nothing. Akira’s attacks too. Thorn got hit with some sort of spell that knocked him out pretty quickly.”

  “It's a curse, actually.” Alph spoke up. “It is stealing his strength. Quite a powerful curse. If we had more sap from the World Tree I could maybe cook up something, but without it we’ll just have to wait for the curse to fade.”

  “It will fade, right? It isn’t like the last curse Thorn got; I hope?”

  “I mean, he didn’t eat the Orc’s heart so we should be good.” Corvo said with a laugh. “I’ll take a look when we get back to the harbor. Thorn, are you going to be able to last that long?”

  “Yes.” Thorn said between heavy breaths. “It just might take a little while. I’m not moving as fast as normal.”

  The trip back to the harbor took nearly three times as long, but Thorn persisted in his shambling run the whole time. Akira ran beside him, casting [Royal Grace] and her other buffing spells whenever they came off of cooldown to help keep his energy up. When the gates of Twin Bay finally appeared Thorn was too exhausted to run any longer and slowed to a walk. Plodding into the harbor he collapsed by the gate, his massive body stretching out across the road. Dropping from Thorn’s back as he rolled over, Alph slipped the tall box he was carrying off his shoulders and began rummaging through the various drawers while muttering to himself.

  “Furswort, Kendelvine, three drops of Jasper. Eh, four drops of Jasper. Where is the...oh, there it is. Now for some…”

  “Is he going to be okay?” Athena ran over as soon as she arrived, Heidi beside her. “Corvo, what happened? We were not close enough to see.”

  Swooping down, Corvo canceled his crow form with a flurry of swirling feathers, his feet touching down lightly. Striding over to Thorn, he examined the sprawled out giant wolf with an uncharacteristically grim face.

  “Thorn got into a fight with a strange Orc Shaman and caught something nasty. Everything happened too fast for me to track. It looks like he got hit with a plague spell or something like that.”

  “It’s a curse. A curse.” Alph said, his fingers never stopping. “I should be able to stabilize it, but I doubt I’ll be able to eliminate it completely. Thorn’s resistance is too high. Of course, that is why he is still alive, but it sure is annoying when trying to treat him.”

  Watching Alph’s fingers flying as flowers, roots, and all sorts of other strange ingredients were added to a vial, Athena’s eyes narrowed.

  “Aren’t most of those poisonous?”

  “Most of them? Haha, they’re all poisonous.” Alph said, grinning widely. Plugging the end of the vial, he shook it vigorously, turning the strange sludge like mixture into a neon green liquid that bubbled and popped.

  “And how is that going to help him?” Athena’s tone was dangerous, but Alph paid no attention.

  “It’ll stabilize the poison in his body and fill him so full of energy his body will explode. Or, it would if he was normal. As it is, it’ll probably be like drinking a fizzy energy drink to him. Move away, move away. Here, someone help me hold his head up. The amount of energy his body contains is ludicrous, so we need to use an equally absurd stimulant to get his energy pumping again. Once that happens the curse will have to fight against the potion, which will free him up to purge the curse.”

  “And if he can’t?” Athena asked, reaching out with her hand to stop Alph.

  Glancing down in surprise at Athena’s neatly manicured fingers, Alph paused, a slightly confused expression crossing his face. Looking up, he met Athena’s eyes directly.

  “Then he’ll be dead, right? At that point the poison will be overtaken by the curse and will have its effectiveness tripled, killing him for sure.”

  “We just need to make sure he gets registered to the spawn point here in the harbor first.” Corvo said, patting Athena’s shoulder. “One way or another we need Thorn to beat this curse. If he can do it while staying alive, great. If he can’t then we need him back sooner rather than later.”

  Holding Alph’s gaze for a moment, Athena finally sighed and stepped aside.

  “You’re right, sorry.”

  “Sorry? Sorry for what? Hey, someone help me open his mouth.” Alph seized the opportunity to get closer to Thorn, gesturing for someone to pry the giant wolf’s mouth open.

  Before anyone could, Thorn issued a groan and his massive wolf body began to shrink. His black and grey mottled fur vanished, replaced by dull looking metal armor. Patches of rust covered the fine Dwarven craftsmanship, as if it had been left out in the rain one too many times. Slowly sitting up, Thorn managed to tuck his legs underneath him before reaching out a shaking hand for the potion that Alph held.

  Trying to grasp the vial, Thorn found his fingers lacked the strength to close around it, nearly causing it to drop. Seeing Thorn’s weakness, Alph helped him lift it carefully to his lips. The bright green liquid slipped down Thorn’s throat, settling in his stomach. A loud rumble shook the surroundings as Thorn’s body trembled with the energy that began coursing through him. Closing his eyes, Thorn rested his hands on his shaking knees and began to breathe deeply.

  “Corvo, can you tell what Thorn was hit with? If we’re going to encounter that Shaman again we need to know how he managed to take Thorn down so fast.” Mina asked, her eyes fixed on Thorn.

  “Yeah, I was just checking.” Corvo’s eyes flickered as he scanned Thorn. Letting out a whistle, he shared a window with all of the players nearby.

  “Wow, that’s nasty. A curse that turns you into an old man?” Alph said, shaking his head.

  “That is nasty. But at least it will only last for another six and a half hours.”

  “Well, haha,” Alph rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “If Thorn doesn’t figure out a way to kick it within two hours the energy from the potion will be used up and the curse will take over again. All I did was buy him some time. But don’t worry, if anyone can do it, Thorn can do it. I mean, he walked around with that stone whatever curse for how long?”

  “I hope so.” Mina said, shaking her head. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m more worried about that Orc Shaman. Arhtu the Cursed? He sure didn’t seem cursed when he was beating up on Akira. He was practically immune to my spells and if Akira wasn’t as fast as she is he would have crushed her.”

  “That good?” Athena asked, her brow furrowed.

  “Better.” Corvo joined in the conversation. “He wasn’t taking the fight seriously. He kept looking at the forest where Heidi, Duratan, and you were hiding.”

  “You mean we’re facing an enemy that could one-shot Thorn, and spare enough energy while fighting me and Akira to guard against a sneak attack. Seems a bit overpowered, don’t you think?”

  “There is no way he was strong enough in his Shaman form to punch out Thorn. We must be missing something. A special attack or trigger that caused this curse to transfer to Thorn.” Corvo gestured to Thorn who was still meditating. “We’ll need to wait for him to recover. Or die. Either way, once he is able to tell us what he experienced we should be able to piece together enough information to clear up what went down.”

  Sittin
g with his legs folded beneath him, Thorn breathed in and out, carefully examining the battle taking place in his body. The turbid energy of the [Aeon Curse] was thick and heavy, wrapping around his body in an attempt to suppress his incredible vitality. While his race gave Thorn a nearly limitless amount of life, the [Aeon Curse] seemed to thrive on it, extracting his lifeforce as soon as it was produced. Opposing the curse was the potion that Alph had fed him. It had settled in his stomach and was producing a constant stream of berserk energy that attracted the curse’s attention. If not for the [Aeon Curse], Thorn could only imagine the damage that the potion would be doing to his body.

  As it was, the energy pouring out of the potion in his stomach was taking enough of the pressure off of his vitality that he was able to think, though not very clearly. With his body in a rough balance, Thorn took a closer look at the curse with his [Spiritual Sense]. As he examined it carefully, strange ancient looking symbols began to appear in his head. The symbols flashed and faded too quickly for Thorn to grasp, leaving a faint feeling of horror behind.

  Frowning, Thorn turned his attention away from the [Aeon Curse] in his body and to the window that described it. Down at the bottom of the window the remaining duration of the curse ticked away.

  From Alph’s explanation he knew that the potion would run out within two hours leaving him on his own to fight against the curse. At that point it would simply be an endurance match between his incredible life force and the duration of the curse, a match he would no doubt lose. What none of the others realized was that while the [Aeon Curse] was consuming his life force, the duration of the curse was growing rather than shrinking. It was only when the new source of energy was introduced that the duration began to shrink.

  Wracking his mind for a solution, Thorn continued to breath in and out, using his meditation to calm himself down and restore his equilibrium. His early experiences with a body of ever present pain had given him enough practice detaching his mind that he was quickly able to separate his thoughts. As he stabilized his breathing his thoughts grew clearer and clearer and his [Spiritual Sense] began to expand, sinking into the earth beneath him.