Chapter 687: Dead, But the Laughter Rose Again

While the Mother’s laughter filled the cavern, the battle at the water’s edge had turned into a slaughter.

The five undead Thunderhide Rhinos were still pressing the two Tithe-Bearers back, their horns lowered and their soul fires burning with a savage glow.

The two bone giants had stopped walking calmly.

Their hunched bodies shook with rage, and the black liquid on their rib-spears dripped onto the cracked stone.

The first Tithe-Bearer roared and swung its fist at the nearest rhino.

Bang!

The fist smashed into the rhino’s skull, and its head snapped sideways. Cracks spread across the bone plating, but the beast did not fall.

It lowered its horn and rammed it straight into the Tithe-Bearer’s ribs.

Crack!

Ribs shattered.

Bone fragments flew through the air, and the Tithe-Bearer staggered. Before it could recover, a second rhino slammed into its leg, and a third drove its horn into its stomach.

The second Tithe-Bearer reacted at once. It reached back, tore a rib-spear from the cage on its back, and thrust it at a rhino’s neck like a spear.

Whoosh!

The sharpened bone punched through the rhino’s neck and burst out the other side. The undead beast’s legs buckled, but it was already in motion.

It used its last bit of strength to charge forward, and the giant was forced to take a step back.

That was when the second Tithe-Bearer made its move. It swung its other fist at the rhino’s head and caught its horn.

Crack!

The horn broke in a single blow. Pieces of it scattered across the ledge.

Yet it did not retreat.

It threw its whole body forward and slammed its broken head into the giant’s chest.

Bang!

The Tithe-Bearer grunted and was driven backward. For the first time, its feet slipped, and it fell onto one knee.

The remaining undead rhinos did not need to be told twice.

Four of them charged at the first Tithe-Bearer, which was still struggling to stand, its ribs half destroyed.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The first horn pierced its side, and the second pierced its back. The third drove into its thigh, and the fourth slammed into its chest.

The Tithe-Bearer roared, and its bony hands clawed at the rhinos, but each strike only made them push harder.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Its legs gave out.

It collapsed onto the ground, and the rhinos did not stop. They trampled it, hooves coming down again and again.

The skeletal frame broke apart beneath their weight, ribs snapping, arms crushed into splinters, its skull cracked and then crushed under a heavy hoof.

Crunch!

Within moments, the first Tithe-Bearer was nothing more than a pile of broken bones, the black liquid pooling around it.

The undead rhinos stood over the wreckage, snorting and trembling, their soul fires flaring.

Across the ledge, the second Tithe-Bearer let out an ear-splitting roar of fury. It seized another rib-spear and swung it in a wide arc.

Whoosh!

The sharpened bone cut across the ledge and struck the nearest undead rhino in the shoulder.

The impact tore the undead beast off its feet and sent it rolling across the stone, but the Tithe-Bearer did not stop to watch.

It tore another spear from the cage on its back and hurled it at a second undead rhino. The spear pierced the rhino’s flank and pinned it to the ground, black fluid bursting from the wound.

Thud!

Two undead rhinos were down in seconds.

Three remained, one of them with a broken horn and another with a hole through its neck.

The Tithe-Bearer charged straight at the remaining undead rhinos with its arms spread wide, leaving its ribs, chest and skull completely open.

A horn drove into its stomach, and it ignored the pain. Another horn pierced its thigh, and it kept running.

It grabbed the first rhino by the head with both hands and lifted its huge body off the ground.

Crack!

The Tithe-Bearer fingers dug into the bone plating, and the undead rhino’s skull split. It kicked and thrashed, but the Tithe-Bearer hurled it into the other two.

All three crashed onto the stone in a tangle of limbs, horns and dust.

The cavern echoed with the Tithe-Bearer roar, wild and broken, like a creature that had nothing left to lose.

The undead rhino with the shattered horn was the first to stand.

Its soul fire flickered weakly, and the stump on its head leaked black fluid. It lowered its head and charged anyway.

Bang!

It slammed into the Tithe-Bearer’s chest.

Ribs cracked, but the Tithe-Bearer wrapped its arms around the undead rhino and began to squeeze.

The undead rhino’s bones groaned.

Its legs scrabbled against the ground, and cracks ran along its spine.

Behind the Tithe-Bearer, the second undead rhino pulled itself up with its neck still torn open. It staggered forward and drove its horn into the Tithe-Bearer’s back, deep between the spine and the cage.

Crunch!

The Tithe-Bearer shuddered.

Its grip loosened for a moment, but it twisted around and swung its elbow into the undead rhino’s skull.

The undead beast fell back, cracked and trembling.

The last undead rhino was already running.

It had been struck hard, and one of its legs dragged behind it, yet it lowered its head and rammed the Tithe-Bearer in the side with everything it had left.

Bang!

The Tithe-Bearer lost its footing.

Its massive body tipped over and crashed onto the stone.

Before it could rise, the three rhinos closed in.

The broken-horned one slammed its head into its face. The wounded undead rhino stamped on its arm.

The last one drove its horn through the center of its ribcage.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Tithe-Bearer clawed at them in its final moments. It tore chunks from their flesh and crushed one of their legs with its fist.

Black liquid sprayed across the ledge as the horns kept thrusting and the hooves kept falling.

Then the undead rhino with the broken horn raised its front legs and brought them down on the Tithe-Bearer’s skull.

Crunch!

The Tithe-Bearer’s head burst apart. The fragments scattered over the stone, and its arms dropped to the ground.

Dead.

Just then, the Mother’s laughter began to rise again.