Chapter 73: CHPT 73: Nature’s Calling..
[HP is at 50%, 150/300]
Claude's eyes shot open, glowing madly. He could hear the Ghoul dragging its sword through the cold dirt and the uneven rhythmic stomp of its large clumsy feet getting closer and closer.
He exploded to his feet in one powerful unnatural movement to face his opponent. His red hot rage aimed at the Ghoul stopped him from feeling any other emotion or feeling— including pain.
He felt the link between him and Frosty and was able to realize Frosty was alright, just tired and a little roughed up. It did nothing to quell the maddening rage he felt in his mind and body.
"Frosty, stay where you are. I'm gonna dismember this bastard." Claude growled.
THUD....THUD..THUD
Claude met the Ghouls starved glowing blue eyes and felt himself begin to change.
His own long black claws filled and expanded the holes at the end of his gloves and his forearms and lower legs itched as thick black hairs sprouted from his skin. The hairs thickened and brushed against the fabric of his clothing.
His slight transformation concluded with him vocalizing his anger towards the Undead Giant in a deep and animalistic roar.
"rrrRRRAAAGH!!!"
Claude settled into a combat stance and waited for the Ghoul to step further into the forest. He squatted low and tensed his densely muscled legs as he raised his dulled sword and clawed free hand. He looked like the physical embodiment of coiled power as he waited in the dark forest.
The Ghoul fully entered the forest and stomped towards Claude with its sword raised and ready to swing. Claude closed the distance between them by running towards the Ghouls sword— seeming to offer his body up to the Ghoul.
SWOO!
The Ghoul gladly fell for the bait and swung. It cut the wind as it delivered a wild low sweep. Claude used his agility to his advantage and jumped over the sword. As he landed behind the Ghoul and rolled to soften his landing, he heard the Ghouls sword clash with one of the many trees that surrounded them.
THWACK!
He turned and saw the Ghoul struggling to get its sword out of the thick and sturdy leafless tree. It grunted and it's back muscles bulged with effort but the sword wouldn't budge.
A wolffish grin appeared on Claude's face as he jumped at the opportunity for a free hit. Quickly, he swung at the weak and pale flesh behind its knee, hoping it would sever another tendon and further impede its movement.
Swi—!
CRK!
Before Claude's sword could connect with the Ghouls rotting flesh, the Ghoul gave up on trying to pull its sword from the tree and delivered a devastating backhand to Claud's chest.
He rolled and tumbled through the forest until his back collided with the hard and dark bark of a tree in the distance.
RAH..RAH..Rah....
[HP at 30%, 90/300]
Claude opened his eyes in response to what sounded like an inhuman and chilling attempt at a laugh, the noise was completely off putting because it sounded so forced and unnatural. He looked straight ahead and saw the Undead Giant in the distance crouching low and seeming to smile at him mockingly. It's hideous facial expression screamed, "Haha, I'm smarter than you think."
This very moment was scarier than seeing the Undead Giant for the first time, it was showing a level of intelligence that would prove to be dangerous if it kept getting opportunities like the one it just got.
Claude sat against the tree holding his sword weakly, the only thing keeping him from collapsing was his hatred for the Ghoul.
He tried to suck air into his lungs and get back up, but breathing felt useless. His lungs still felt empty and his head felt light and dizzy.
"[Claude, you got the wind knocked out of you. I need you to not worry about how hard it is to breathe. Just get up!]" Arne yelled in his mind.
"Alright. I can do that....just get up...get up...get up!"
As he continued to try and force air into his lungs while fighting to stand, he began to hear someone in the distance— two someone's in fact.
"Carter?! Are you ok in there?"
"Come on, that kid's full of surprises. I'm sure he's somewhere deep in that creepy ass forest giving that Undead Giant the fight of its life. You just need to focus on healing Chadwick, he's fine."
Claude's eyes widened as he heard Brenda and Ansel's conversation and tiny green sparks danced in his dark brown eyes. The brief exchange between the two ignited a fresh flame of purpose to burn like the sun within him, bringing a burst of power with it.
"I can't die here...I can't die here...I have people to protect...I CANT DIE HERE!" He roared as images of his squad, Frosty and friends at the University flashed in his mind. He continued to chant the words as he dug his claws into the tree to help himself get up.
He heard the Ghoul make a throaty noise of satisfaction before stomping towards him, but he didn't turn to face the Ghoul or panic in the slightest. He was instead fully focused on something else..
"Tree.." he said plainly with a hint of astonishment as if he was holding a star in his hands. He couldn't fully explain it, but it felt like he could feel the last remnants of life churning inside the tree, just waiting to be reborn.
THUD...THUD..THUD
Claude turned to face the Ghoul, noticing it was slowly closing the distance. He looked at his beaten and weathered sword and realized he wouldn't be able to beat it with pure combat skills, it was a fact he simply had to accept. He instead decided to study his surroundings to see if anything around could help him, in that moment he stopped breathing and just stared all around as his hand fell from the tree.
".....I'm so stupid." He whispered with satisfaction while he looked at all the trees standing around him and looming overhead. In his haste to kill the Ghoul and loss of control, he forgot to even consider the possibility that the— assumed, dead trees could be used in battle.
He took a deep and cleansing breath to rid his mind of anything other than his hate for the Ghoul and his own weakness. Only intense memories and ideas swam around in his mind, just as Prof. Galen taught him.
He snapped his eyes open and bared his sharpened teeth as he threw his sword into the ground. The weapon sunk a few inches into the dirt silently next to him.
"Alright, let's finish this!" He growled while raising his hands and calling to the faint remnants of living Nature in the lifeless forest.
He closed his eyes to visualize the spark of life deep inside each of the cold and dark trees. He could see it like beautiful green fire, simply waiting for the opportunity to burn brighter, stronger.
He could feel his mana begin to drain ever so slightly as he imagined it spilling out to feed the flame of life within the trees.
Slowly, he imagined the flames beginning to brighten and grow with the continued drain of his mana. Even though he was in a life or death situation with no guarantee of survival, he felt an unexplainable emotion as he visualized the trees life flourishing in his mind.
THUD...THUD..THUD
His eyes opened as the Ghouls footsteps got closer, it was now only 35 or so feet away, but he was ready for it.
He seemed to do more than he meant within the forest in his moments of intense focus. His hands glowed like flares in the dark forest as emerald green energy freely flowed off them and the ground around him burst with thick and soft grass that continued to grow and spread like wildfire.
The Ghoul hesitated for a moment in response to the trees in front of it brightening in color. They creaked and howled loudly as they abruptly came back to life. It didn't exactly understand what was happening, but it suddenly felt like it was entering someone else's territory. In response, it picked up speed to reach its target.
A thick sheen of sweat covered Claude's face and his body felt heavy, but he felt completely in control. The cold burn of his hate kept him focused and forced him to endure any discomfort so he could exact revenge on the Undead Giant for hurting his family.
"Come on! I'm right here!" He said though bared teeth as more trees came to life around him. On cue, the Ghoul began to start a weak and crippled jog, its overgrown and dirty nails flexed and stretched, ready to rip into Claude.
WWOAAARRGLGLG!!!
The Ghoul let out a hideous battle cry as it entered the ever growing life filled portion of the forest.
Claude felt time slow in the dire moments of urgency that played out in front of him. The Ghouls stomps spread the dirt and mashed the grass beneath its feet as it got closer.
"Not yet...Not yet.." he said while the Ghoul got closer. At the same time, the thick and sharp tree branches twisted and bended to Claude's will at incredible speeds until they all reached and pointed at the Ghoul like the legs of a giant wooden spider.
"NOW!" He roared and snapped his hands shut into fists.
CREAKKKSSHHH!!
In response, the tree limbs cracked and whined as they reached for the Undead Giants raised arms. In seconds, they wrapped and coiled around its arms and hardened like stone.
[MP at 15%, 30/200]
Claude read the notification and snapped into action. He quickly yanked his sword out of the ground and faced back towards the Ghoul as it strained and fought to break free of its wooden restraints.
"This ones for Frosty." He mumbled as green energy spilled out from his free hand and covered his sword.
SHWIP!
.....
"What the fuck?" Claude said angrily as he looked at the Ghouls neck. Blood and other unknown fluids gushed out like a black river from the depth and severity of the cut. The Ghoul seemed to move back just i time to avoid being beheaded, this was a problem since Claude could no longer strengthen his blade with Aura and he was steadily loosing strength.
"Ahhh fuck it!" He said and climbed up onto the Ghouls shoulders while it weakly snapped and jumped at him. He stretched his claws before cupping his hands under the Ghouls chin and pulling backward with all his strength to try and pry the giants head off.
"NNNNNRRRG!!" He strained as he tried to pull the Ghouls weakly attached head off. It's lifeless blue eyes looked at him angrily while frothy dirty spit came out of its mouth like a rabid dog.
His eyes burned brighter and his body ached as he began to force his transformation to take a monstrous step further.
They both sat in the center of the forest roaring and wailing madly. The Undead Giant fought and strained against its natural restraints while Claude continued to try and pry its head off.
"COME ON DAMMIT!" Claude roared as small black hairs began to sprout from his cheeks and his canines grew longer. He didn't notice it at the moment, but a light pain and fresh wave of anger washed over him.
"[Claude, listen and listen close. Your forcing your own transformation, you have to stop or hurry up and kill this thing before you seriously hurt yourself.]" Arne said.
"So it's kill or be killed? I already knew that, Arne!" Claude responded angrily.
He soon began to hear voices at the edge of the forest.
"Carter?! Are you hurt?....Carter?"
"No.....stay away...please.." he responded in a growl as his transformation increased. His claws lengthened— ripping deeper into the Ghouls skin, and the sides of his face were almost completely shrouded in shiny deep black fur. As it spread, he could feel himself losing focus and becoming nothing but animal instincts and rage.
Suddenly, a new set of footsteps sounded out a couple dozen feet in front of him.
"F-Frosty?" He said in a voice that was beginning to sound nothing like his own.
All he saw in the night were a set of large paw prints in the part of the forest that didn't yet have grass, along with something else. A steady stream of saliva glistened under the moonlight as it dripped into the dirt from a large set of invisible jaws, not much later and Claude began to hear an animalistic snarling resonating through the forest from his front.
He began to feel their link flood with anger as the paw prints rushed towards Claude and the Ghoul. It started out as a slow trot that slowly progressed into a heavy and purposeful run that pushed the dirt out from under its paws in small clouds of dust.
"ACK!"
Claude yelled in as his bones and insides began to burn and erupt in excruciating pain, it felt like they were being stretched and pulled on by an invisible force.
His eyelids became heavy and his strength started to leave him from the debilitating wave of agony, all he heard before losing consciousness was a beastial roar that shook the ground.
***
Frosty roared madly as he ran full speed at Claude and the restrained Ghoul, a wave of panic flooded him when he saw Claude's eyes lose their familiar green glow and slowly close. In response he jumped— a bit early, and headed straight for the Ghouls head.
Frosty soared through the air snarling madly with his large sickle clawed paws raised. His eyes glowed a bright shade of cyan from his use of an unknown source of energy that boosted his strength through the roof.
As Claude fully lost consciousness, Frosty's paws connected with the Ghouls chin and sent it off its shoulders with insane physical power. The force of the impact sent a shockwave through the forest as the Ghouls head was shoved off its shoulders.
***
The rest of Claude's squad stopped dead in their tracks as they heard a booming noise resonate from somewhere deeper in the forest. The meaty ripping noise was enough to make them all consider turning around and waiting at the forests entrance.
SHRIPPP!!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ Hey sorry for the late release, I had to deal with some personal stuff. As an apology I combined the two chapters into one long one, so I hope you enjoy! Thanks for the powerstones, frenandoi, alex99, Adam_Ketchum, Marco_Pricolo, Three_faced_God, ToXic and ReimanCordiero!!!
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