((The Father's Day Special -- page 8 of 24))
The remaining two servants, Matteo Delaguna and Carlos Sebolt, were working together in support of Lord Salvador.
This was actually the first time that Hector had seen either of them fight. If circumstances were less chaotic, he might've liked to assess their combat prowess a little more, but he was only able make out so much in the unfolding mayhem. He already knew that they both used transfiguration, and he could sense them relying on it now to create soul-infused smokescreens and acid attacks.
Matteo was surprisingly agile, however. Hector wanted to warn him not to go so deep into the enemy's front line, but he was handling it well, bobbing and weaving between claws and flaming acid, only catching the occasional scrape here or there as he pummeled the monsters with fists that were quite literally on fire.
Carlos, meanwhile, was the only servant relying on firearms at all, but he was making interesting usage of them. He had multiple pistols on him, but the one he was currently using did not seem be a normal gun. Its loading chamber was very large, and Hector could sense him loading small chunks of his left arm into it instead of standard ammunition.
The resulting shots seemed to have different effects as well. Sometimes, they would drill through the monsters like tissue paper, and other times, they set the creatures ablaze or exploded on contact.
Carlos was also the first one to to start changing up his tactics, Hector noticed. He stopped trying to use fire and explosives and instead tried using bullets that froze on contact.
It didn't entirely work, since the bullets were small and only managed to freeze parts of the monsters, but it seemed clear to Hector that tactic was at least successful in slowing the little bastards down.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Page 2391
((The Father's Day Special -- page 7 of 24))
Hector was sure that his friends could keep the spawn at bay, but he felt like if he didn't keep a close eye on the Beast, it would disrupt their formation and tear through everyone.
The spikes that he'd materialized inside the cubes made things more difficult, throwing off their shape and making them more awkward and unwieldy to launch--but also more dense and impact-heavy.
Without a doubt, Chort did not expect the second cube to be any different than the first, because when it tried to catch it, the force sent its huge frog body flying, as if it had tried to catch a baseball that instead turned out to be a bowling ball.
Hector didn't let up. He lobbed two more right afterward.
With a spare thought process, he was relying on the Scarf to keep track of the chaotic battlefield around him. Salvador Delaguna was on his left, clobbering spawn with his huge, cobalt-infused arms. He'd merged with his reaper, Mevox, in what was presumably pan-forma.
The spawn weren't dying, though. They would get flattened like pancakes and even spew blood or have their limbs knocked off their bodies as if they'd barely been attached in the first place, but they didn't stay down. Their scattered body parts were scrambling back to one another and reassembling themselves.
It was like each piece of flesh had a mind of its own. Not entirely unlike the worms of the Undercrust, Hector realized, though this was far bloodier.
Fire wasn't doing much to them, either. Roman was soaring through open air, causing the creatures to burst into flames purely through particle-induced combustion, but it barely slowed the little bastards down at all.
Fidel Blackburn wasn't managing much better with his copper materialization, but he was at least keeping them away from everyone, shoving the critters back or just straight up flinging them away on platforms. He was buying everyone precious room to breathe, which was no meager contribution.
Hector was sure that his friends could keep the spawn at bay, but he felt like if he didn't keep a close eye on the Beast, it would disrupt their formation and tear through everyone.
The spikes that he'd materialized inside the cubes made things more difficult, throwing off their shape and making them more awkward and unwieldy to launch--but also more dense and impact-heavy.
Without a doubt, Chort did not expect the second cube to be any different than the first, because when it tried to catch it, the force sent its huge frog body flying, as if it had tried to catch a baseball that instead turned out to be a bowling ball.
Hector didn't let up. He lobbed two more right afterward.
With a spare thought process, he was relying on the Scarf to keep track of the chaotic battlefield around him. Salvador Delaguna was on his left, clobbering spawn with his huge, cobalt-infused arms. He'd merged with his reaper, Mevox, in what was presumably pan-forma.
The spawn weren't dying, though. They would get flattened like pancakes and even spew blood or have their limbs knocked off their bodies as if they'd barely been attached in the first place, but they didn't stay down. Their scattered body parts were scrambling back to one another and reassembling themselves.
It was like each piece of flesh had a mind of its own. Not entirely unlike the worms of the Undercrust, Hector realized, though this was far bloodier.
Fire wasn't doing much to them, either. Roman was soaring through open air, causing the creatures to burst into flames purely through particle-induced combustion, but it barely slowed the little bastards down at all.
Fidel Blackburn wasn't managing much better with his copper materialization, but he was at least keeping them away from everyone, shoving the critters back or just straight up flinging them away on platforms. He was buying everyone precious room to breathe, which was no meager contribution.
Page 2390 -- CCXXVIII.
((The Father's Day Special -- page 6 of 24))
Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Eight: 'The Battle of the Sunken Forest...'
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)
Hector had thirteen spawn-filled cubes whirling around him. He kept increasing the speed, bringing them to verge of what he was capable. He had to flirt with losing control in order for this technique to work, after all.
That limit was higher now than ever before, though. The wind that the boxes whipped up was strong enough to threaten his footing a little, even in his full suit of armor.
He loosed the first one at rocket speed, straight toward the Beast of Lorent.
The impact threw up so much dust and rock that, at first, Hector couldn't even see what had become of the monster.
But then a giant, bulging hand wiped the cloud away like a fan.
And Hector saw.
The Beast had caught it.
Two enormous hands had emerged from its frog-like form, and one was now holding the iron cube. The force of the catch had pushed the creature back a few meters and torn up some rock around its giant feet, but no damage appeared to have been done.
"Thank you," said Chort. "Now, the rest. But a bit gentler, please."
Certainly, Hector hadn't expected that one blow to end things straight away--not after what he'd seen during that vision--but still.
Just how strong was this fucking thing?
Well. First things first.
Hector raised his right arm and made a fist.
Every single iron box was immediately filled with spikes, skewering their contents.
"No!" cried the Beast, apparently able to sense what he had just done, and it bounded forward.
Its other children followed immediately after it, spitting fire and acid at the party.
Iron and copper walls rose up in their defense, shielding everyone from the vomited projectiles, but the creatures clambered over the structures like spider monkeys.
Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Eight: 'The Battle of the Sunken Forest...'
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)
Hector had thirteen spawn-filled cubes whirling around him. He kept increasing the speed, bringing them to verge of what he was capable. He had to flirt with losing control in order for this technique to work, after all.
That limit was higher now than ever before, though. The wind that the boxes whipped up was strong enough to threaten his footing a little, even in his full suit of armor.
He loosed the first one at rocket speed, straight toward the Beast of Lorent.
The impact threw up so much dust and rock that, at first, Hector couldn't even see what had become of the monster.
But then a giant, bulging hand wiped the cloud away like a fan.
And Hector saw.
The Beast had caught it.
Two enormous hands had emerged from its frog-like form, and one was now holding the iron cube. The force of the catch had pushed the creature back a few meters and torn up some rock around its giant feet, but no damage appeared to have been done.
"Thank you," said Chort. "Now, the rest. But a bit gentler, please."
Certainly, Hector hadn't expected that one blow to end things straight away--not after what he'd seen during that vision--but still.
Just how strong was this fucking thing?
Well. First things first.
Hector raised his right arm and made a fist.
Every single iron box was immediately filled with spikes, skewering their contents.
"No!" cried the Beast, apparently able to sense what he had just done, and it bounded forward.
Its other children followed immediately after it, spitting fire and acid at the party.
Iron and copper walls rose up in their defense, shielding everyone from the vomited projectiles, but the creatures clambered over the structures like spider monkeys.
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