Chương 86: Chapter 73 – Broodmare

Cade kept his eyes on the distant plume of ash as the massive shape beneath it surged in his direction. He picked up the reconstructed shell in his left hand, grabbing it by the protrusion on the concave side as he weighed his options. The worm was massive—easily the size of a school bus—and it moved with a speed that made the ground ripple in its wake. Getting close without a plan was a good way to end up inside it. If he wanted to fight the oncoming creature, he needed something with reach.

Something that would let him strike without getting pulled into whatever nightmare that mouth looked like up close. His attention drifted inward towards the rhizome that lay dormant inside his body. Cade hesitated for half a second before focusing his will on it. Grow. The response was immediate. A familiar pull spread through his body as the rhizome stirred, drawing on his resources—but this time wasn't the same as before.

The drain was still there—sapping his health, stamina, and mana—but there was something else layered beneath it. He also felt it pull from the essence in his channels. Cade's eyes narrowed slightly at the sensation. The essence cycling through his channels was being siphoned alongside everything else. It wasn't a violent or forceful pull like he had produced when Vorduun taught him how to conjure the white flames.

This was more like a gentle diversion of the flow as another resource was incorporated into the growing rhizome. Wood pushed outward from the palm of his right hand, dark and dense, twisting into shape as it extended into a long shaft. A fractal grain pattern formed along its surface, tightening as the structure refined itself. At the end, the wood sharpened, compressing into a wicked point that gleamed faintly despite its material.

When it finished, Cade flexed his grip slightly, adjusting his hand along the shaft. The spear felt solid. Better than the one he grew to kill the beetle. Through his essence sight, he could clearly see a faint green thread running from his hand into the weapon. It pulsed steadily as if it too were alive. Connected to him through the thin tendril of life essence that threaded through them both.

"… Huh." Cade turned the spear slightly, inspecting it. Nothing about the Primordial Heartwood Rhizome felt foreign or invasive, not like the violet lightning had. If anything, the rhizome felt like an extension of himself. His mind flickered inward again. The rhizome hadn't moved unless he told it to. Hadn't grown or tried to spread further in his body. There was no foreign will that he could detect. No subtle push to take control. Maybe the "gift" from the Great Tree was actually just that. A gift.

Cade exhaled slowly, the tension in his shoulders easing just a fraction. Still, that didn't mean he trusted it. Not yet at least. Just because it hadn't tried anything so far didn't mean it wouldn't in the future. There was obviously some sort of intelligence behind the Great Tree. Who knew if it had imparted any of that intelligence to the rhizome it had implanted inside him? He'd keep an eye on it. Watch for any changes. Any signs of it doing something he didn't approve of. But for now it was useful.

His thoughts shifted again, landing on something that had been nagging at him. The tree that grew from where he planted the spear earlier. It had grown quickly. Far too quickly for his liking. If that happened again… Cade glanced down at the weapon in his hand.

"… Yeah, that's something I should probably figure out after I fight this giant worm." If planting one of these things caused another explosion of growth, that could potentially be a huge problem for the ash tortoises. Or a great opportunity for the frogs. Cade rolled his shoulders once more, tightening his grip on both the spear and the shell. The plume of ash was closer now. Close enough that he could feel the ground beneath his feet trembling faintly as the massive body carved its way towards him.

Cade's stance shifted, weight settling forward as his focus sharpened.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath.

"Let's see what you can do." He leaned forward and broke into a run, ash kicking up beneath his bare feet as he angled toward the creature's flank. The worm moved in a straight line, carving through the ground like a living avalanche. If he met it head-on, he'd be crushed—or worse. So he cut across its path. As he ran around to flank, the shape beneath the ash became clearer. It was massive, clearly segmented, and each movement sent ripples through the ground like waves across water.

Even from this distance, Cade could see thick, pale plates lining its body.

"Great," he muttered.

"A giant worm with armor." Going straight for those would be a waste. He would need to strike in between the plates if he wanted to deal any real damage. Still moving, he focused on the creature and triggered his [Identify] skill. Corrupted Ashworm Broodmare — Level 15 A hulking, ash-burrowing predator that feeds on essence and flesh alike. Yeah, my Identify is still practically useless. I really need to figure out how to upgrade that. His jaw tightened slightly as he dismissed the prompt.

Then he pushed the thought aside. It didn't matter right now. What mattered was the upcoming fight. The ash shifted beneath his feet as he pushed himself forward, faster than he had ever moved before. His reforged body responded instantly, muscles coiling and releasing with explosive force as he closed the distance. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It was absurd. Every command he gave his body translated into motion almost instantly.

His muscles obeyed with a speed and fluidity that still felt unreal, each stride longer, sharper, and more efficient than anything he had been capable of before. The worm breached the surface again, its massive form twisting as it reoriented itself. Cade angled to the side, flanking the great beast. He wanted to stay well clear of its horrid mouth. He reached the body in seconds. Up close, the scale of it was worse.

The plates along its side were thick, layered, and faintly ridged, each segment the size of a car door. But between those plates were gaps large enough he could easily slide his spear into. Cade didn't hesitate. He drove the spear forward and the weapon punched through with surprising ease, slipping between the armored segments and sinking deep into the flesh beneath. He felt a slight resistance but not enough to stop him from plunging the spear further in. A pulse traveled up the shaft the moment it struck.

A strange, rhythmic thrum that felt faintly familiar echoed through the weapon and into his arm but he didn't have time to process it. He yanked the spear free and kicked backward, putting distance between himself and the writhing mass. The broodmare reacted a moment too late. Its massive body twisted violently, segments flexing as it recoiled from the strike. Thick, dark-purple blood gushed from the wound, spilling across the ash in viscous streams. Cade moved the instant the broodmare recoiled.

He drove forward again before the worm could recover, ash exploding beneath his feet as he darted along its flank. The broodmare twisted hard, its massive body writhing as it tried to crush him beneath the shifting bulk of its plated segments. He slipped beneath a rolling segment by a hair, ducking under the sweep of pale armor as it crashed into the ash where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier.

He should not have been fast enough to clear that cleanly, but his body had already moved before the thought had fully formed. Reflex and motion blurred together, instinct translating into action so smoothly it barely felt deliberate. Cade thrust upward. The spear punched into the seam between two plates and sank deep. Hot resistance dragged along the shaft as the point tore through dense flesh. Purple blood sprayed across his arm and chest in a steaming arc. He ripped the weapon free and ran.

The broodmare bucked violently. Its body twisted in a savage lateral snap, plated muscle whipping sideways in an attempt to catch him. Cade saw the motion and threw himself low, the massive segment screaming over his head close enough that he could feel the top of his scalp sting. The worm crashed into the ash behind him with enough force to shake the ground. Cade was already moving again. He barely felt the transition. One moment he was low in the ash, the next he was moving again.

His body flowed from crouch to sprint without resistance, every motion sharp and seamless in a way that made his old self feel clumsy by comparison. He pivoted, drove in again, and stabbed low. The spear slipped beneath another overlapping plate, this time closer to the underside where the armor thinned. The point sank deep and the broodmare convulsed as Cade dragged the wooden tip sideways on the way out, opening a ragged gash that spilled thick violet blood. The broodmare shrieked.

It reared, then slammed its body down where he stood, but Cade was already gone. He burst sideways in a spray of ash, feet digging hard as the broodmare's bulk cratered the ground beside him. The movement felt effortless. His legs drove harder than they had any right to. He was so much stronger now, so much faster. His reforged body responded like it had been built for exactly this. The impact sent a wave of loose ash rolling into his calves, but Cade barely felt it.

He was already moving again, circling, never staying still long enough for the worm to pin him. Constant movement was the key. Dart in, strike where he could, then get back out before the worm could pin him beneath its bulk. He drove the spear into another gap between plates and felt the weapon bite deep. Another pulse traveled up the shaft the moment it struck, a strange thrum humming through the wood and into his hand, but Cade ignored it and tore the spear free with a twist. The broodmare writhed harder now.

Its movements grew more violent, more desperate. It twisted its upper body in a brutal corkscrew, trying to catch him beneath the grinding roll of its armored mass. Cade sprang backward, then sideways, ash spraying around the battlefield as the worm's plated side slammed into the ground where he had been standing. The impact cracked the ash-packed earth. Cade lunged in again before it could recover. His spear flashed once. Twice. Three times. Each thrust found soft seams between armor.

Each strike punched into flesh and came back slick with dark violet blood. He carved into the broodmare in short, brutal bursts, never overcommitting, never lingering long enough for the thing to trap him beneath its weight. The broodmare tried to crush him but it failed. Again and again its massive body writhed, slammed, rolled, and twisted in violent bursts of muscle and plated mass, each attack powerful enough to pulp him if it landed. But Cade was faster.

He moved like something half-feral and sharpened by instinct he didn't know he had, darting in and out of reach in sudden bursts of speed. Ash burst beneath his feet. Purple blood sprayed across his skin. The spear struck home again and again, each hit opening another wound between the creature's armored plates. The broodmare bled, and Cade felt the rhythm of the fight begin to tilt in his favor. Then it bellowed. A deep, guttural noise that seemed to press against his chest more than his ears.

Cade raised the shell instinctively, bracing for a counterattack. But none came. Instead— The worm's body began to convulse. Its segments tightened, compressing inward as its head lifted into the air and pointed downwards towards where Cade was standing. What is it… The answer came a second later. The broodmare vomited. A torrent of thick, purple bile erupted from its maw and came straight at Cade. He barely had time to react.

Instinct took over and he threw the shell up over himself, hunching behind it as the violet effluent slammed into the curved surface. The impact hit like a tsunami. Thick sludge splattered across the shell in a wet, heavy spray, strands of stringy mucus and half-digested chunks of flesh splattered across its surface. None of it touched him. The shell caught the full force of the deluge, shielding his body behind its curved bulk as the vile slurry poured over it and splashed into the ash around his feet.

The smell hit a heartbeat later. Rot and decay mixed with something sour and chemical beneath it. Cade gagged and staggered back a step, his grip tightening as the sludge hissed where it clung to the outer surface. Then he felt the essence tether linking him to the shell tighten. A pull tore through his channels as the shell siphoned essence from him faster than ever. Cade's eyes narrowed as he felt the drain spike. What— In his [Essence Sight], the pathways within it flared as his essence rushed through them.

He could see hairline fractures spread where the purple bile clung, tiny cracks forming and sealing almost as quickly as they appeared. The realization hit instantly. Acid. The shell was pulling harder because the broodmare's vomit was eating into it—dissolving it. His essence was being dragged through the tether to repair the damage as fast as the bile could inflict it.

"Acid vomit? Are you serious?" Cade shoved the thought aside as more essence bled from his channels into the shell. Then his eyes locked onto one of the half-digested chunks of flesh writhing in the sludge at his feet. Through his [Essence Sight], he caught a faint green line running along its length. Then the large, uneven mass roughly the size of his leg—twitched. It wriggled and writhed as if it were alive. Cade's stomach dropped.

"…No way." He focused on it and triggered Identify. Corrupted Juvenile Swamp Leech — Level 4 An immature but highly adaptable predator twisted by unknown corruption. While not yet fully developed, it displays relentless pursuit behavior and an early taste for warm-blooded prey. Cade stared. Then slowly looked back up at the broodmare.

"That's where those things come from?"