Chapter 56: Outlier’s gamble
The Rootsite plaza in the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse was a shrouded fortress, a dense veil of thorned roots woven by Verdant Dominion cloaking Clayton Hunt’s desperate gamble.
His Heartseed Core screamed, Genesis Threshold at 95%, Aspect Strain critical, as he faced the Spore Plague Lord; a Luminous Seed Spore Crown Behemoth, its 20 meter fungal mass pulsing with toxic veins, Mycotic Tendrils thrashing against Verdant Bastion’s venom-sap pits.
His 23 Initiate Ember minions; 9 Thorn Hounds, 7 Howl Shriekers, 5 Ash Sprites, 2 Spore Drifters swarmed via Aphid Network, weakening the beast, but this was no ordinary hunt.
Clayton, an Initiate Ember, aimed to subordinate a Luminous Seed; impossible, suicidal, unprecedented, and yet his gutsy soul burned for it.
By now, Clayton was used to attempting the impossible.
After all, no human was supposed to survive that brutal part of Echoterra where he found himself for his 1st trial.
That ecosystem taught him the art of attempting the impossible for a living.
"Bow or break, mushroom!" He growled, blood dripping, dark humor a shield. "I’m not dying today, neither are you. So submit, mother*cker!"
His Regalia of the Verdant Warden stabbed into the Plague Lord’s fungal core; he ruthlessly twisted the spear, Core Maw biting, Symbiotic Command flooding its mind with Aphid Network’s will.
The Plague Lord screamed; a wet, psychic bellow that eroded sanity, its Toxic Spore Shroud burning Clayton’s Flame-Resistant skin, spores clawing his lungs.
The battle of wills erupted, Clayton’s Verdant Tyranny a blade against the Lord’s primal fury.