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Bk 2 Ch. 38
🕑 Added 2024-08-13 19:54:28 +0000 UTC38.
The second cyclops died much as the first did, under a hail of arrows and then Santi coring it like an apple. Cameron’s shield was a twisted ruin that he had tossed away and Chloe had barely managed to avoid a deadly backhand. Santi stared at the purified metals that made up the golems and knew they’d be dragging the corpses out with them.
The third and fourth came in a stride eating gallop. Santi cast the same combo of spells on the rear golem while keeping an eye on the five cyclops that had exited out of the foundry and were working their way towards them.
“Keep backing up. Space the fuckers out.”
The team retreated, luring the unbothered closer. Chad was running low on arrows and mana, his face pale and strained as he sent another bolt through the golem’s chest. Cam and Chloe stayed ready, crouched and eager to slow it down. As the fight progressed, Cam came more and more out of the funk he’d been in.
“Chad, save some arrows and let your mana recharge to deal with the cyclops.”
“Got it.” Chad left the arrow he’d already strung still on the bowstring, but released the tension. Tank hadn’t been called to do anything yet, thankfully. Santi could only hope that Daniel and Hana had finished the extraction and would be hurrying back to reinforce them. A distant second option was calling for reinforcements via Rayleigh, but Santi was greedy. The remaining enemies were all higher level than them and offered a huge experience gain.
The third golem lumbered up and this time Chloe began the engagement as her skills wrapped around her axe. She struck hard and the golem lost half of a lower arm as it went to block. Chloe wasn’t fast enough to dodge the incoming blow that swatted her like a bug and flung her away. Tank was off in an instant, chasing after her flying form.
Santi surged up and took her place to the left of Cam as Cam tried to hold the monster's attention. His golden barrier shattered instantly and his personal shield cracked from a single blow in the time it took Santi to cross the distance. Santi slashed down with a giant curved sword, shearing straight through the golem’s upper arm and into its chest.
His new favorite tactic was employed and curved spike emerged from the flat of the blade so that Santi drug the innards of the machine out as he pulled the blade free. The golem shuddered and staggered, but kept going. It spun to face Santi, its remaining arms pistons as it punched at him.
The morph weapons transformed into a kite shield and the gong of metal on metal rolled out as Santi was lifted off his feet and tossed backward. He hit the ground in a roll and kept rolling before popping back to his feet. He was dusty and sore but unhurt from tanking the hit.
With the golem turned, Bianca took her chance and slashed down its back and side. Her skill empowered macauhitl shredded metal and the golem collapsed to its knees as it tried to spin. Cam deflected it counter attack but his shield broke in a spray of energy and the ugly crack of bone was audible.
Santi leapt, ground cratering under his feet as he shot towards the downed golem with his weapon turning into a monster pole-axe that he brought down like the wrath of god. With the distance the weapon gave him, the golem couldn’t hit him and the axe cut through it like butter. The two halves fell apart in slow motion as Santi was forced to spin and engage the next golem by himself.
Cam was being dragged back from the fight by Bianca while Chad had an arrow pulled back ready to act if necessary. Tank was getting Chloe back to her feet, but it was slow going. Santi didn’t wait for the golem but attacked.
Sprinting straight at the giant machine, he leapt to the side at the last moment and scored a solid hit along its side. The golem stopped its march toward the others and focused on Santi as he started to lead it off to the side. The cyclops were going to be on them soon and he desperately needed this golem out of the way before he started fighting the monsters.
With a flick of his wrist a razor whips wrapped around the upper right arm and he tightened and pulled.The golem reared back, trying to fight against Santi’s strength, but his feet were planted and he had leverage as he pulled. The morph blade sawed though metal and with a grinding shriek the arm fell off. The golem staggered back a few steps as Santi attacked with a lance, poking four holes in its chest in the blink of an eye.
He dropped to the ground as an arm passed overhead and he used a wide headed hammer to cave in the more vulnerable knee in a spray of sparks. The golem used its lower arms to catch itself while Santi sprung straight up and over it. A broadhead spear punched into its chest and held it to the ground. With a thought, the shaft thinned in half and a half hundred tendrils spun out through the delicate inner machinery. Santi pictured the tendrils splitting like the roots of a tree and then spinning.
A headache burst behind his eyes but a terrible cacophony emerged from the golems chest and sparks and debris began to rain out of it as Santi broke the machine from the inside. He looked around and cursed as he watched a golden arrow get swatted out of the air as the cyclops got within range of the group.
Tank and Chloe were almost back and Cam was standing in the front with his one arm dangling, his remaining good arm holding his long hatchet. They were fucked if he didn’t get back immediately. [Air Manipulation] reinforced [Gust] and caught the lead cyclops with one foot off the ground and managed to tip it over to come thundering to a crashing stop. The other four didn’t slow, simply plowing forward with murder in their eye.
Santi twisted the spear and got the ding of a kill. Liquefying the morph weapon he started to sprint, putting his all into every step. The wind bit at his face as he crossed the distance, but the math wasn’t lying. He wasn’t going to make it to stop the lead cyclops from trucking into Cam and Bianca.
Chad fired and his arrow split into three. Two were caught by the cyclop’s metal club, but one fell unexpectedly and pierced the lead knee in a spray of blood and bone. It staggered and skipped a step, gait broken from the sudden pain.
It was just a few slowed steps before it got to speed again, but it was enough. Santi dug deep and pulled forth a hidden reserve and he leapt at the lead cyclop’s wounded knee. His morph spun into a maul and he cracked the bleeding knee as it flew past it.
The giant monster screamed in pain, spittle flying like rain as it collapsed to the ground. Santi rolled across the ground before hopping up and casting [Crosscurrent-Orb] at the second cyclops eye. The creature used its wide steel club as a shield and the violent winds whipped harmlessly around it.
Santi didn’t care that the attack hadn’t worked, more that the second monster had stopped and blinded itself by putting the club in front of its eye. A golden arrow sank into its gut, bending it in half.
Santi was attacking his original opponent that was trying to get back to its feet with a busted knee. He stabbed the wide elbow that held the club with his spear and twisted as he ripped out, ruining the joint.
“Keep running!” Santi yelled at the others, sprinting away from the crippled cyclops. The two remaining healthy ones had passed by their two wounded brethren and the one he had knocked over wasn’t far behind. Tank had managed to make it back with Chloe and was working feverishly on Cam’s arm.
They all started to run, angling themselves away from the rift into a long loop that would eventually take them back to the foundry. The brutal heat was wearing down on them and all of them were drenched in sweat as they jogged to keep ahead of the oversized monsters. They were bloodlusted, what little reasoning they had long gone as they followed like baying hounds.
Their two wounded were left behind, slowly dragging themselves forward in a futile exercise to catch up to Santi and the group. The one who Chad had managed to wound wasn’t much slower, but the other with the busted knee was hardly moving. It limped along dragging its bad leg behind it with blood soaking the thirsty earth.
When Daniel and Hana emerged from its shadow and began to cut it, he had to smile. The two were vultures, but he did need the clean up crew. They just had to keep kiting them, leaving them wounded and defenseless for his two scouts. Not a fun or pleasant fight, but one he could pull off with his current team.
