Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

normal enemy. If it was, it would have been reset like every other monster was when he rested at the Pyre.

It had clearly been following him for a long time. There was no other way to explain how it managed to track him down.

Even though the Defiler Demon had nearly killed Jacob, at least that fight was one he thought he could win. If he died, he would have returned and with a better understanding of the quick creature.

But this? The Gnawing Hunger was unlike anything Jacob ever heard about, let alone faced. Alec never had to fight a boss that ate other bosses.

He hoped Camilla was safe.

As the Gnawing Hunger’s ribs cracked, black fissures opened in the bone. Sinew was crushed beneath the heavy assault of the [Vile Mace]. The mace’s corrosive ooze shriveled muscle and turned sturdy bone into brittle styrofoam.

Finally catching on to Jacob’s game, the Gnawing Hunger dropped to the ground, crushing him beneath its bulk.

His body exploded in pain and agony. A ruined hand summoned a [Cinder Ampoule] and crushed it just as the monster lifted off him and prepared to do it again.

Spitting out the blood in his mouth, Jacob got to his feet and swung with all his might as the crushing force of the Gnawing Hunger came down upon him again.

“I can take as much as you can dish out!” he roared in defiance.

The explosive crunch of ribs and sinew splattering filled the clearing. A sizeable crater of crumpled bone and oozing flesh appeared on the creature’s chest. Its newly acquired bone plates on that side were practically powder.

But it had crushed Jacob as well. He wasted no time using another [Cinder Ampoule] to get back to his feet.

This time when the Gnawing Hunger came down, Jacob rolled out from beneath it and as the dust blasted out from the crushing attack, he swung again. Breaking Rocks took the Gnawing Hunger in the elbow joint, knocking it the wrong way with a sickening pop.

The bare muscle and coiled black vines of the Gnawing Hunger snapped, spraying red blood and black ichor all over Jacob. He tried reversing the strike but the mace was too unwieldy and he didn’t have the Stamina for another heavy hit.

So he threw himself back, popping up to his feet just as the ground was split by a splintered bone that broke free from the Demon’s forearm. The black vines of the Gnawing Hunger snapped around the broken bone and pulled it back into place, buying Jacob enough time to recover his Stamina.

Wading into the Gnawing Hunger’s range again, Jacob twisted and swung with all his might at the wounded elbow. Out popped the bone again, cutting through the vines that flailed in the air like garden hoses with the water pressure on high.

Rolling with the hit, Jacob spent the last of his Stamina to obliterate that free-hanging bone. The sound it made was like a crumbling tower of pottery. Shards of glistening white bone fell free to the ground.

Jacob managed to scoop up three while he was trying to get out of the way with the sliver of Stamina that had regenerated already.

Explosive pain blinded him and he was flying through the air. The Gnawing Hunger snapped its head to the side, sending the blunt sides of its steel-hard horns into Jacob’s side.

He hit the ground in a heap of broken bones and internal bleeding. Jacob managed to get another ampoule into him but he was too slow to get to his feet.

On came the Gnawing Hunger, goring him through the middle with one of those streetlamp sized horns.

It thrashed around, and Jacob had to use a quick succession of [Cinder Ampoules] to stay alive through the agony even as the darkness crept closer and closer to the center of his vision.

Abandoning his two-handed grip, Jacob took advantage of his unique position and slammed his mace against the horn stuck through his middle with all his might.

But there was only so much a [Cinder Ampoule] could do while currently impaled. Even as his muscles and organs were healed, they ripped again.

Several heavy hits of the corrosive [Vile Mace] freed Jacob from the horn. Freed from the Gnawing Hunger’s head, Jacob fell with the horn still impaled in his middle.

Hitting the ground on his back blasted the broken horn out through the gaping wound. Jacob hurriedly rolled to the side to avoid a follow-up attack and used his last [Cinder Ampoule] to get back to full.

He couldn’t help but grin as he wiped the blood from his face.

The Gnawing Hunger was busted up. There was no way he could beat it, not without having any idea about how it moved or what its attacks were. But he thought he did a good job for his first attempt.

One side of the thing’s head was cracked and bits of its skull was missing. The horn on its right side was entirely gone, broken off at the base, and still glistening with Jacob’s blood just a few feet away.

Several more of its bones were heavily cracked and it was clear from their fight that the Gnawing Hunger’s black vine-like body was being used more to hold it’s body together than to defend it or attack.

The black whipping tendrils had stopped coming at him as he continued to beat on the monster. A puddle of gore dripped from the thing’s chest as it turned to charge at Jacob.

Raising the [Vile Mace] high, grinning through blood-stained teeth, Jacob roared in reply and met the charge head-on. At the last moment before he was gored - again - Jacob dove forward and tucked his shoulder into a tight roll until he was beneath the creature.

He broke to the side and swung with all his might into the Gnawing Hunger’s leading and broken forearm. Black ichor sprayed as he crushed through the tendrils protecting the bone and shattered what was left below.

At that instant his hands felt suddenly empty as his [Vile mace] vanished into