Chapter 55: The Extinction…? Part 1
note: Vote in the poll at chapter 54
Every single monster in the forest was shocked, all of the enemies of the hero prospect Sophia had their ears bleeding as they screeched loudly, They could not even speak properly and only their tragic screams could serve as a testimony to how much pain they were going through right now. Monsters that are not even part of the conflict and are just busy escaping have either their brains fried because of the sheer information shock or outright exploded while they are running away from the forest, Their fate is the best example of what the rules of this world are.
The strong is the ruler, the wise is the retainer and the weak are canon fooders.
However among all the monsters involved in this sonic pulse that have the first settlement as the epicenter are the monsters who are protecting it, the infantry goblins and the monkey light cavalry were dazed, they looked at the shattered corks in their hands that were still dripping with sand whilst still remembering the sound of the sonic pulse, it was nothing that grand, it was just a simple "Boom" amplified by a hundred or even a thousand times if anything, it sounded rather feminine if not for the fact that it made their eardrums in the verge of erupting even though they already have corks in their ears.
"That was... Amazing..."
"Yeah..."
"It was like a giant shouted at us..."
"I was wondering why the commander is always underground, but to think she's making a magic circle of that power..."
All of them started to forget that they were a war and chatted among themselves like they were in a park instead of a battlefield, these caused frowns to form on the faces of the three undead captains currently leading them namely Philo, Lyra, Kabuto They were quite shocked by the power of the sound pulse as well how brilliant of an idea that is.
"Disturb the echolocation of the bats by a very strong sound wave."
It sounds plain, but as Eleanor has said, the greatest of strategies are not always the most complicated ones, but instead the one that fits the situation well, simplicity or complexity comes next. Be that as it may, they cannot let their soldiers forget about the war because the army of maddened goblins are still marching despite their damaged ears, probably because all of their senses are numbed, but they didn't seem to lose balance despite such damage to their sense of hearing.
"Soldiers! The fight is yet to be over, ready your spears and load your bows!"
The infantry, cavalry, and archers (the archers seemed to be unnecessary in the hunt of the pink bats, so Lyra went and provided range assistance) flinched in surprise, but as the soldiers that they were, they immediately recognized their mistakes and with a brief "Sorry!", they readied their spears and made a neat formation as they wait for the goblins to reach the center of their encirclement.
"... Just a little bit... ATTACK!"
Kabuto shouted and all of the melee units marched, at that moment, Kyra who was riding Philo went out of his back and started drawing her arrows, meanwhile, Philo growled as he pounced on the enemy goblins as if he was not even thinking of his soldiers being repulsed by the idea of killing their kin, after all, Kabuto and Lyra, his comrades are shooting and indifferently killing them, so he doesn't have to hesitate either.
"For our queen!"
"For Hara Sophia!"
"To repay the gratitude of second life!"
All of the soldiers shouted their unyielding loyalty, loyalty that they had failed to show when they were still under that accursed skill, but now that they were already free to exalt their savior and sing her hymn of praises, they were like lions that got out of their cage, they did not even think of the maddened goblins as their brethren nor did they hesitated to pierce or slash them apart, for all of them have one thing in mind.
_IF I GOT MORE KILLS THAN MY COMRADES, I CAN PROVE TO HER MAJESTY MY UNYEILDING DEVOTION!_
Well, they might gotten a lot more intelligent, but in the end, the simplicity trait of a monster cannot simply be extinguished.
Meanwhile, the wolf cavalry who were mounted by monkeys ran at their top speed, immediately catching up to the running orcs and also beginning their slaughter, their leader glanced a little at the goblin soldiers of the settlement who looked like a maddened army, but with a leather armor made out of wolf skin, he cannot help but make an awkward smile.
_They sure are rowdy huh?_
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In some distance away from the battlefield, the four male bats who went unconscious finally regained their bearings, alongside it, the memories of what is the reason for their blackout came crashing into their minds.
_That sound pulse gave us an information overload by making us echolocate the whole forest..._
Luck or not, but the severed head of the queen of pink bats as well as her body are already inside the lair of Arachne, so they are yet to know the demise of their race. But then again, the information they got is just too much and they do not have the photographic memory of Sophia to properly scan the whole image of the forest in their head and for sure their mind will lodge the experience inside the deepest pit of their brains for them to forget the trauma.
_Shit... This war is already a lost cause..._
One of the pink bats, or perhaps all of them thought so to themselves as they used the claws in their wings to stand up, they then tapped the ground with it to see their surroundings, but all they could see with their echolocation were muddled pictures, they once again are in the darkness as they analyzed the situation.
First, their balance is out of whack because of the ear damage, making their flight ability and the ability their battle style is centered to, be useless, basically about sixty or seventy percent of their power was reduced. Second, the maddened army they so painstakingly raised through their melody lost their direction (Through the bats' songs) making them only a maddened mob of cannon fooders instead of a proper army with melted brains. Third, their queen is nowhere to be seen and by the look of things, there is a big chance that the spider queen and their majesty failed in their plan. And don't forget that not only them can be affected by sound, thus there is another shit they have to deal with, the other alliance army having their strength being cut off because of the damage of the pulse earlier.
_Furthermore, the enemy seems to cover their ears properly... Have they preparing this trick for a long time already? That's plausible considering that Sophia is the hero prospect of the god of the undead, so she must somehow information about us from her lord..._
The bats despaired while thinking of such things, to think that they already lost before it even all started, to imagine that they looked like corpses to their enemy the moment they formed an alliance... Those facts were just too much to bear, but all of them shook their head hard, they are the prideful race known as The Lord of the Sky, they will not accept such defeat, they will NEVER accept it.
But for now, they do not have any means of fighting back, thus all of them went to a common agreement immediately.
_We have to escape and meet up with our queen somehow._
They then made their shaking legs forcibly stand up whilst their claws were still planted to the ground, they assumed a crouching position, the position they thought was optimal when escaping if their wings were rendered incapacitated, it was a lesson given to them a long time ago before the destruction of their race.
"My brothers... Let's meet three hundred kilometers from here, be sure to elude any pursuit-!? RUN THEY ARE HERE!"
Just when their echolocation had gotten to an acceptable degree, one of the pink bats and the second strongest just next to their queen spoke, but he immediately stopped as he saw three figures, two of which were humanoid and one of them was a goat running towards them with terrifying speed.
"WHA-!? WHY IS THE GOAT SO FAST!?"
The minds of the bats were in turmoil because of the sound pulse and also the realization of their defeat, thus instead of retreating, one of them shouted, his voice was like that of a mirror being scratched by metal nails, the bat who shouted those words glared at the smallest bat, the one who brushed off the clearing that suddenly appeared in the part of the settlement forces.
"YOU! ARE YOU THE ONE WHO SAID THAT HE'S A SLOB!? WELL, LOOK AT HIM NOW EVEN FASTER THAN US WHEN WE ARE FLYING AT OUR FULL FUCKING SPEED!"
"Eh... I... I don... So..."
It was Arachne, it was her who said that Ruphas was a slob actually and the bat just confirmed such claims by observation, who can blame him? Ruphas always sleeps in front of the settlement, too. Seeing that, no one would be able to say "He's a goat who can run as fast as a fucking plane, that's for sure" right? But their minds are too muddled and in chaos that they cannot remember who the person who gave them this misinformation is.
They were just thinking about themselves at the moment.
The strongest amongst them finally cannot take it anymore, his race is already close to extinction and everything swayed for the worse except that all of them crashed next to each other and these chickens have the time to yap their mouth!?
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! YOU FUCKING DUNKIES REALIZE WHAT SITUATION WE ARE IN RIGHT!? NOW DON'T WASTE ANY FUCKING ENERGY BLAMING EACH OTHER AND LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!"
He fumed, his ears bleeding once more which he ignored, he finally caught the attention of all his remaining race members, and upon seeing that, he continued.
"Now, we have to run as fast as possible outside of the forest, we shall go our separate ways and be sure to not drag each other to the pursuers, no questions asked will be permitted, now disperse."
All of them, not saying anything started to run, if Sophia were to see the way they sprinted, she would notice that they were quite similar to how the villain of the Temple Run mobile game runs. Even though they are still unstable, their speed is already quite fast, so they are confident of illuding their pursuers.
________
Jin and Bernardo cannot help but grit their teeth as they are being outrun with ease by Ruphas, it is not like they are underestimating him, but as the tallest individual in the military manpower of Sophia, it is just unreasonable to also be the fastest, but they can see it, they see the yellow colored sparks coming from the feet of Ruphas that slowly but surely becoming denser and they cannot help but gulp.
Their dismay of being slower was replaced with excitement.
_How will he prove himself I wonder..._
That's what they are thinking.
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Ruphas can feel it, the glares of disbelief coming from his comrades that sent bouts of anger rushing into his mind, he just cannot understand it, why would they doubt someone who doesn't have any chance to participate in the war about his fighting ability?
_Wouldn't it be impossible to show off if there is no enemy?_
_What is wrong wrong with these people?_
His anger boiled up even further, alongside it, the strands of lightning in his feet climbed and affected his whole body, he snorted and sparks of golden electricity resounded along his exhale that caused the pink bat he was glaring into to flinch, and the bat immediately look at Ruphas and to his front to escape even faster.
"All of you just started underestimating me just because you have yet to see me fight..."
He muttered and the chewing of his mouth a trait of all goats started to produce a large amount of electricity, right now, not only did he outrun his two comrades, but he left them to dust as the sparks on his body grew larger and larger and even his diamond horn joined to produce currents that started to burn the grasses he stepped into.
His horn started to shrink alongside it, and the electricity it produced intensified until his diamond horn could not be seen anymore and was replaced by bellowing thunders that went and burned trees in every place he went passed.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at Bernardo and Jin who had excited yet shocked expressions.
What they can see is not a slob excuse for a goat, but a quadrupedal devil that has its body turn black whilst all of the fibers on his body generate electricity that even they are not confident of withstanding.
"Bernardo and Jin, you two shall be the representative of those ignorant enough to think that our Lady will name someone not worthy of serving him..."
You shall narrate to them.
Who am I named after...
... And why am I named after her?
(Author: Search Ruphas Mafahl)
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"DAMNIT! DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!"
The bats were inwardly cursing as they ran even faster for their lives, regretting their decision to go against the will of the forest owner.
If only they just obediently become slaves for Sophia, then they will not be tormented like this, if they are not just too arrogant, then they will not think that they can win just because it is not Sophia commanding the first layer settlement.
_MORE IMPORTANTLY, IF WE DID NOT FIGHT, THEN WE WILL NOT HAVE TO MEET SOMEONE WHO CAN TURN INTO A FUCKING THUNDER!_
They berated inwardly, but then a yellow flash went past them almost at the same time, this caused them to flinch and stumble, halting their advance, but surprisingly they did not feel any ounce of thunder in their body.
They sighed in relief and started running once again but then saw their male leader staring at the golden flash.
Did he just...
_Did Ruphas just..._
"DID YOU JUST GO AND TARGETED THE STRONGEST OUT OF ALL OF US TO FLEX YOUR STRENGTH!?"
Ruphas of course ignored the shout and his yellow-colored eyes glared at the bat leader, the bat leader was stupefied for a moment before his expression crumpled.
"JUST HOW THE FUCK! WE ARE EVEN YET TO FULLY FUCKING DISPERSE!"
The pink bat acting leader dashed into Ruphas too, all of his rationality left his mind and only his unyielding eyes were visible, he raised his sharp claw and cleaved it down, trying to use its five-meter reach to somehow land a strike on the devil in front of him.
But before it could even completely descend, his chest was pounded by the electric horn of Ruphas, causing his whole body to be charged with a large amount of electricity that caused him to shiver uncontrollably whilst his fur started to burn.
"GUUUUUWWWWWAAAAAGGGHHH!!!"
Ruphas did not stop running and bashed the strongest male bat into trees after trees as all of the bats became frozen with terror witnessing how strong the monster they disregard as a dead weight of their enemy is.
The skin of the pitiful bat started to be charred black as Rupha's speed did not even falter even though numerous trees already tried to halt their advance.
"For my lady..."
Ruphas glared at the crying figure of the bat, his feet and wings started to vanish because of the powerful electric current.
"...Disappear."
That was the last word that the bat heard before he saw himself slowly being turned into ashes in the yellow-colored eyes of the monster, no, the devil named Ruphas.
______Author:
Race of Ruphas
Dromi: The goat of thunder and the unique race of Ruphas the mount of the Hero Prospect Sophia Demiurge. It takes the appearance of a Diamond Horned goat but will transform into a being of lightning if needed.