It was like watching a bull facing down a trio of wolves. The three Blackburns were attacking him in unison with minimal effectiveness, due to the Lord Delaguna’s passive defenses combined with his cobalt transfiguration. However, they did have one destruction user, who finally managed to hit Salvador’s metallic shoulder. Cobalt burst apart into a thousand brittle chips, but scarcely a moment passed before it regenerated, allowing Salvador to charge forward undeterred. The destruction user was forced to retreat sideways so that the other two Blackburns could buy him time to avoid being flattened.
Hector couldn’t tell if Salvador actually needed help or not, but he wasn’t going to wait and find out. He dove in shield-first and materialized a pillar beneath the destruction user, knocking the mustachioed man off balance. Hector swung his sword vertically, looking to lop the man’s arm off, but instead, the iron blade only cut partially through the armpit before snapping in half.
The man, whom he now recognized as Tomas Blackburn, did not look pleased. Tomas brought a meaty hand around to use his ability, and Hector wrenched away in time to lose an arm instead of his head. The heater shield endured a pummeling and went flying out of Hector’s shredded grasp.
Hector didn’t let the loss slow him down, though. He discarded his busted sword, wrapped his good arm around Tomas’ half-severed one, and pulled with all his strength. The appendage popped right off in a cloud of blood, and Hector clobbered Tomas in the face with the man’s own soul-strengthened bicep in one smooth motion. Tomas went toppling backward, and Hector moved to recover his shield, which had nearly finished restoring itself to perfect condition already.
When he looked back toward Lord Salvador, he found the man overpowering his two opponents. Tomas was scrambling back into position, but it was already too late. A huge hand found one of their heads and tore it off as if nothing had been holding it in place. The other Blackburn retreated, and when Tomas arrived again, Salvador put him through the wall.
‘Maybe we should help someone else,’ advised Garovel.
Hector looked around the foyer and saw that everyone was quite occupied, apart from him. The frenzied collision of smoke and liquid metal in the middle of the room made the very air shudder, but he couldn’t even remotely tell if one of them was winning.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
His strength strength? And an arm is a limb, not an appendage (that would be the hand).
ReplyDeleteGot it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid you're mistaken about appendage, however. The word is used correctly here.
WAAAAAAAAAH NUUUU! I've only been reading for two days...how can I be caught up AND in the middle of a battle. Sobs in frustration.....
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's not exactly the most honorable tactic, but if i where hector i would be materializing iron spikes behind each enemy to impale them through the chest. This would pin them in place momentarily and disrupt there attacks long enough for his allies to get in a few good hits. It is kind of like what he did when he was fighting that aberation a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteProblem with that is hector still hasn't mastered adding velocity to his created material yet also his opponents have soul enhanced defense
ReplyDeleteBecause Sod's Law loves you? *hugs*
ReplyDeleteAnd, quite a few are really good dodgers with lots of battle-trained instincts to give them a microsecond's warning they can use to scupper that with... just.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha Yeh! My bibliophilic tendencies have tortured me again it seems :D at least I now have volumes 1 & 2 on my kindle now. Glad I was able to spend some money on this author! Now....when's the next addition? I'm already getting withdrawal symptoms..... :D
ReplyDeleteAnd his created material doesn't yet have soul empowerment
ReplyDeleteHe can still add to the back end of the spike. If someone is close to a wall he can poke them in the back though it won't hurt them. A distraction is all this tactic is supposed to be. Same as adding pillars bellow oponents. He can smash them into the ceiling or just knock them of their feet.
ReplyDeleteI tend to take longer on my archive binges, but I sure know the torment of being caught up too.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would go for bricking the hands and faces. Just one quick little materialized block if someone stops for a few seconds and they waste a few more seconds each on figuring it out and removing it, by which point someone scarier than Hector can administer a proper clobbering. Also, if they stop moving to remove it, add more to clog them up good. He may have the disadvantage in soul power, but breaking out of four foot thick iron is still a pain.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats beating someone over the head with their own arm XD
ReplyDeleteI've seen it threatened, but this is the first time I've seen a person ACTUALLY rip someone's arm off and beat them to death with it.
ReplyDelete"The man, whom [he] now recognized as Tomas Blackburn"
ReplyDelete"the man’s own soul-strengthened bicep[s]"
Fixed the first one, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe second, I prefer to keep as "bicep," as it's only referring to the muscle of one arm, rather than both. "Bicep" and "biceps" are both acceptable usages for the singular form, but I like the prior, because I think the added s just makes things needlessly confusing since the plural form is ALSO "biceps."
"The heater shield endured a pummeling and went flying out of Hector’s shredded grasp."
ReplyDeleteHeater? Either I've forgotten something that makes that make sense, or it just doesn't.
Watch out! He's armed and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteSeems clear to me. The destruction blast damaged the shiend and ruined Hector's had so he can't hold it.
ReplyDeleteA heater shield is a specific type of shield, typically having a flat top and a rounded point on the bottom.
ReplyDeleteAh.
ReplyDelete