CHAPTER 146: THE ROAR AT THE WALL

GRRRR!

The night split open with a roar.

The Verdant Warden Thorn Crown Behemoth had arrived.

From the south horizon, its shadow rose taller than towers. Its body was jagged, a fortress of living thorn and bark plated with stone. Each step cracked the earth. Each breath made the Rootsite’s moss-lamps flicker.

When it bellowed again, walls rattled, dust falling from their joints. Even the bunkers below shuddered.

On the south wall, Clayton stood with his warriors. His hand tightened around Regalia, its shaft glowing faintly in spear-form.

This was not another raid, neither was it a scouting party. This was the kind of monster that could level a city if it chose.

Clayton’s eyes were calm and composed, but deeply burning with fire to protect his domain.

The Behemoth trudged closer, spines glinting like hundreds of spears. Its red ember-eyes fixed on the Spire at the Rootsite’s center.

"It knows where the heart is," Soren muttered from the line.

"Good," Clayton said. His voice was steady, calm, but every fighter could feel the weight behind it. "Better it comes straight at us than wanders where it wants."

"At least this way, we stay in control of the battle".

Torren cracked his neck, Pyreaxe resting on his shoulder. "Big bastard, I love big bastards. Finally something worth swinging at."

Kaelin crouched on the parapet, eyes narrowed as he observed the movement of the gigantic Behemorph. "It doesn’t wander, it hunts."

Veyra stood higher on the watchtower, her bow already drawn. She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to, as like Kaelin her keen eyes followed every movement of the beast.

The Behemorph gave another roar.

The spines on its crown rattled, a thousand thorns clashing like blades. Then it lowered its head and charged.

THUD... THUD... THUD...

The ground shook like an earthquake was ravaging the world as it charged.

"BRACE!" Clayton’s voice rolled across the wall, soothing the nerves of the soldiers as they got prepared for the inevitable clash.

The south line bent knees, shields locking, spears braced. The wood beneath them groaned as roots thickened, reinforcing stone.

The ground shook like a natural disaster was taking place, each step of the Behemorph smashing chunks of asphalt into dust.

"NOW!" Clayton shouted, then...

WHOOSH!

Veyra’s arrow sang.

It cut the air like lightning, striking the Behemoth’s left eye with deadly accuracy. The monster reeled, one eye blinded in an instant.

That created an opening, and the rest of the Rootsite core force erupted.

Torren roared and leapt from the wall, Pyreaxe blazing with fire as he cleaved down at the monster’s shoulder. The strike bit deep, searing bark and muscle as sparks and sap sprayed.

Kaelin blurred into smoke, shadows twisting, and appeared at its flank. His blades sliced at the tendons behind its leg, quick and sharp.

This Behemorph was gigantic, but with Genesis Ember powering attacks, the attacks of Awakened could cut pretty deep.

Harrick slammed his spear into the ground, channeling Genesis Embers into a burst of vines that tangled the monster’s front claws. The ground groaned as thorns wrapped it tight.

For a moment, the beast slowed.

But then...

ROARRRRRR!

It roared, and the world shook.

The Behemorph slammed its body into the wall.

The south wall shook like it would split in two as masonry cracked and roots snapped. A dozen fighters were thrown back, shields shattering.

That was when Clayton thrust his hand forward, igniting his Aspect as roots burst from the wall, anchoring the breach. His Heartseed Core throbbed, green fire running down his arms.

"Hold the line!" he roared.

Soren bellowed with him, his Emberblade glowing white-hot as he slashed across the Behemorph’s claws, forcing it back a step.

Veyra loosed three more arrows in rapid succession. One pierced the shoulder joint, and another split a spine. The last slammed into its other eye, but the monster blinked at the last second, and the arrow skidded off its plated lid.

Kaelin reappeared above, flipping off rubble and slashing at its crown. His blade chipped a single thorn before the monster’s roar blasted him off balance.

Plans were plans, but in the end, a Verdant Warden rank Behemorph was still a Verdant Warden rank Behemorph.

It would not go down quickly.

Torren struck again, flames swirling. His axe gouged another wound into the Behemorph’s hide, spraying burning sap.

The air was filled with heat, dust, and green fire.

The Behemorph suddenly reared on its hind legs, the shadow of it covering the entire wall like it was about to sprint, then it slammed both front claws down.

KABOOM!

The shockwave blasted outward, throwing fighters like leaves in the wind and off the wall as a section of the parapet collapsed.

Screams cut through the air.

Clayton gritted his teeth and forced more roots upward, patching cracks with raw Genesis fire. His vision swam, but he held.

The Behemorph pulled its front claws free of Harrick’s vines and swiped.

This time, Harrick took the brunt of the attack, his spear barely catching the blow as the force hurled him back across the courtyard, armor cracked.

"Mirra!" Clayton barked.

She was already there, vines racing to catch Harrick before he struck stone. Healing roots stitched his bleeding arm even as he gasped for air.

The Behemorph didn’t stop.

Its crown of spines rattled again, then it fired.

BAM... BAM... BAM...

Dozens of razor-sharp thorns launched like arrows, hissing through the night.

They hammered into the wall, shattering stone and impaling two Initiates who hadn’t ducked fast enough. Their screams echoed as Lorn sprinted to them, dragging vines to shield the next volley.

"Cover!" Clayton shouted.

The second wave of thorns ripped into the battlements, embedding into the wall like spears.

"Kaelin!" Clayton roared.

"I’m on it!"

Smoke swirled, and Kaelin was suddenly climbing the monster’s back, weaving between spines.

His blades flashed, cutting tendons at the base of several thorns. When the Behemoth tried to fire again, half its crown shuddered but misfired, thorns snapping inward instead of launching.

The beast screamed in frustration, thrashing wildly. Kaelin vanished before it could shake him off.

Torren seized the moment as Kaelin distracted the beast. He planted his feet and swung his Pyreaxe with all his might. The strike slammed into its chest, flames bursting across its armor.

Soren darted in low, his Emberblade burning bright as he slashed across its other leg. The smell of burning wood and sap filled the air.

Clayton’s eyes narrowed. He raised his hand, roots lashing out to grip the Behemoth’s wounded shoulder. They coiled, tightened, and dragged.

The monster staggered, one step forced back.

"NOW!" Clayton shouted. "Push it back!"

Every fighter roared as arrows were unleashed from the walls, spears jabbing. It was a rain of fire and arrow as they bloated the night sky.

The Behemorph stumbled another step away from the wall. For the first time since it appeared, the Rootsite gained ground.

But victory was never free.

The Behemorph slammed its tail, a massive whip of bark and thorn. It swept the parapet, smashing half a squad clean off the wall. They fell screaming into the courtyard, armor crunching on stone.

"Shields!" Soren bellowed, rallying the line.

Fighters locked again, faces pale but steady.

Lorn’s vines burst through the floor, catching two of the fallen before they bled out as she quickly healed them. Mirra moved like lightning between them, sealing wounds with her Aspect.

Clayton’s chest ached as his Heartseed pulsed harder and harder.

He poured roots across the gaps, shoring up every breach. His mind buzzed with the weight of a thousand connections; his Aphid Network, the wall’s living roots, the cries of his fighters.

This was not just a battle. It was survival carved into the marrow.

Minutes stretched into hours, yet it didn’t end. The Behemorph attacked again and again, its massive body crashing into the wall, its spines raining death, its claws gouging trenches through stone.

And again and again, the Rootsite answered.

Veyra’s arrows clipped tendons, blinding its strikes. Torren’s Pyreaxe carved flame into its chest. Kaelin harried it from the shadows, cutting where no one else could reach. Harrick braced spears into its claws again and again, refusing to yield.

Soren’s line held steady, no matter how many cracks split beneath their boots.

And Clayton... Clayton stood at the heart, roots flowing from his arms like veins of fire, binding wall and city together.

Every heartbeat was a drum. Every roar was a challenge.

And the Rootsite had not fallen.

Not yet.

At the height of the night, as the moon broke through clouds, the Behemorph finally paused. Its chest heaved, sap pouring from half a dozen wounds. Its crown rattled weakly, several spines broken.

But it still stood. It still glared with burning ember eyes.

Clayton’s chest heaved, sweat dripping into his eyes. He looked at Torren, at Veyra, at Kaelin, at Soren. All of them battered, bleeding, and exhausted.

The first round was over.

The real fight had yet to begin.

Clayton’s voice was low but steady. "It’s wounded, but not broken. Tomorrow... we end it."

The Behemorph roared again, defiant, as if daring him to try.

And the Rootsite roared back.