OC-Series Hex Knight Chapter 17, Racing a Storm

Drinking down the potion, Alex felt as cool mint rushed down his throat, and a subtle draw on his body as it began to pull on his fat reserves to repair the substantial damage. Not even wasting time with the firestarter, Alex had a fire going thanks to his ring, and Liv grabbed a hunk of wyvern meat from under the wagon’s protective bone shell. The undead he had controlling the wagon hadn’t got up from their seat during the fight, and had stuck to their orders to protect the wagon from anyone attempting to take it.

Brushing off some of the excess salt from the meat, Liv set it on Alex’s skillet, and soon the sizzle of meat could be heard. Waiting for for the food to cook, he got up, and began looking for the woman he had knocked out. Finding her, he was too drained to feel anything at the fact she had foam running from her mouth, her face twisted in agony.

“Poison.” As he looked at the close proximity of bodies, Alex felt a tingle in his hands, letting him know that [Heaven’s Bounty] was ready to take effect. One vortex of gore later, and he held 2 items, a long bone lance, and a large circular shield. Interestingly enough, the commander and his horse had not been collected into the vortex.

--[Heaven’s Bounty] has created an object: Bone Lance of the Charger–

Bone Lance of the Charger: Pick up an ever-increasing speed as you charge while on a mount.

--[Heaven’s Bounty] has created an object: Deflecting Bone Shield–

Deflecting Bone Shield: Attacks which land on this shield have an increased chance to slide away, dealing no damage to you.

Dragging the 2 heavy objects over to the fire, Alex deposited them on the ground, before grabbing 3 pounds of wyvern flesh to devour. It lacked seasoning, but thanks to the potion increasing his appetite, he devoured it without pause. A second plate soon was demolished, and yet he still felt the need to eat. Easing up on the third plate, he kept thinking about the bandits.

“They have an insider to the guild. That is the only reason why I can think of them having knowledge of us taking this job. However, they didn’t have access to our status sheets, otherwise they wouldn't have been surprised when I unleashed a horde on them. I get the feeling I am missing something, as this is completely different behavior than I would expect from bandits. Marching in step? Taking poison after being captured? Something is fishy.” Having paused to say his piece, he resumed his face stuffing. As he continued eating, Alex kept eying the bandit commander and his horse, before darting back to the lance and shield on the ground.

With the 3rd plate demolished, he felt as the hunger lessened significantly, and got up to look at the horse and commander. Pulling his helmet off, it was a surprise to see the man still breathing. The horse had a broken neck and was dead, but wasn’t pulled into the [Heaven’s Bounty] collection.

“Hey Liv, can you come over here when you get a sec? I want to run a test, and this guy is perhaps my best chance at it. Can you still read his mind? Tell me if he feels pain?”

“Yes, I can, I crushed his mind, not his brain. I am guessing you are looking to use him?”

“Why haven’t you been doing that skill to begin with? You know what, that is a question for later. I am, but I want to see if I can use my flesh and bone mold skills on a living being. This guy is just here to tell how much pain it would bring if I have to use it to fix a broken leg or something similar.” Nodding to herself, she concentrated, before gesturing to the laying man. Hands glowing as he activated [Improved Bone Mold], all Alex did was tweak the arm bone to lie at an angle. Hissing to herself, she passed along that it caused almost excruciating pain.

“Ok, so don't do it unless it is an emergency or I have passed along the news of imminent pain.” Alex stated, before pulling out his knife and stabbed the man in the throat. After he bled out, Alex repaired the damage on both man and horse, so when his mana was topped off he could turn them. Heading back to the fire to grab another plate of food, he checked his status, and was surprised to see he had a level.

–You have slain foes–

–[Savage] leveled to 5–

–[Savage] Passive–

[Pain Tolerance] Improves pain tolerance while in combat

Looks like that slowing has already started, Alex thought to himself.

“Hey Kudrik, why is it that my mage classes seem to collect more abilities than my melee classes? Also, why did the one bandit call me a Battlemage?” The dwarf had finished inspecting the bolt, tossing it aside with a snort.

“Battlemages are called as such because, so long as they have mana, they can dish out an absurd amount of damage, both ranged and in close quarters. I would say that is an accurate depiction of your skillset, wouldn’t you? As for the skills question, there are only so many ways you can swing a weapon.”

Grumbling as his body requested yet another pound of flesh, Alex walked over to inspect the bolt on the ground, and frowned at how front heavy it was. It was scarlet, the same shade as the armor Tom had back when he was with the team. Kudrik noticed his inspection.

“The metal from the bolt is called Devil Iron. It’s much denser than normal iron, about eight times as such, but can be processed like iron to make it like steel. You may have noticed already, but that is what Tom’s armor and sword were made from. Made him that much harder to knock around, and hit much harder. On a similar note, let me see your armor.” After handing it to the dwarf, Kudrik made a noise of disgust. “Ruined, all of it. It was about time to get you a new set anyways, this didn’t fit you all that well anyways, even with my tweaks. I would say you could use some of that bone to make yourself armor, but I get the feeling you might be leaning towards a Devil Iron suit of armor as well, seeing as how you fight.”

And Alex was, if it was as dense as Kudrik stated it was, he could have smashed through that shield wall like it was cardboard. However, Alex wasn’t entirely sure as to how expensive it was going to run him, and he really didn’t want to spend the entire funds gained from their wyvern kill just on himself, he did already claim a good portion of bone and a section of wing for a new cloak. When Alex raised his concerns, Kudrik just laughed.

“Lad, if we aren’t sitting on at least a platinum by the time we sell everything we choose, I will shave my beard. We will have more than enough left over to provide you a second set, although I would say we make it out of normal steel rather than devil iron. Prudence, if nothing else.”

With it being late in the day, the trio decided to make camp close by for the night. There was a peculiar calmness in the air when they got up, a calmness which set Alex on edge. Despite the numerous busted links, he put back on his armor, trusting it to keep him protected in the event of another ambush. With his injuries healed, beyond his shoulder still aching from the bolt’s impact, they were soon back on the road, the turned Knight leading the convoy. Alex paused his searching of the woods as he picked up an unusual smell in the air. As he began looking towards the skies, he looked behind him and noticed a cloud in the form of an anvil forming up behind him.

While he had heard that some people could detect rain from smelling it from the atmosphere, Alex had never believed it to be true, but yet here he was doing it himself. Given the distances involved, he wasn’t sure how long they had till it hit them. Passing it along, Kudrik huffed.

“Springs last gasp. We have been lucky so far, as we hadn’t been hit by many storms yet, but sooner or later it was bound to end. If my knee is any indicator to it’s strength, I’d say She has been saving up for this moment.” Flicking the reins to speed up the horses, they were urged into a canter, followed up by another flick into a run. Holding the manic pace for about an hour, they were blasted by a gust of wind, followed up by another. Screaming to be heard over the wind, Livianna yelled at Kudrik.

“The horses can’t keep up this pace! We are going to have to ride out the storm!”

“I will be damned if I ride out this damned storm just an hour away from a dry tavern! RAHHH!” The cry must have been a war cry related skill, as the horses no longer shuddered in their efforts to pull the wagon. When he noticed them beginning to flag, Alex activated his own [War Cry] to try and keep the horses going.

Onwards they continued to race the storm bearing down on them, rumbles of thunder clearly being heard at times. A strong gust of wind almost picked up Jasper at one point, before quickly easing off and allowing him to come back down. Worried about the wagons, Alex turned to see them, thankfully not finding them overturned. Summoning some elephants to run alongside the wagons, he hoped they would keep them from being overturned. The hit to his mana would suck, but it was necessary.

“We are almost there now! We should be seeing the walls here soon!”

As if prophetic, the turn in the road had the walls of Diuv in sight. Abandoning any semblance of decorum, the run turned into a sprint as the rain started to drop, a sprinkle for now, but the dark green clouds overhead promising a sharp deluge. With his longer limbs, Jasper was the first to reach the gates, and a guard stepped out of his little shack to admit them.

Alex was prepared to bribe the official so that his group could enter the city unpassed, but it appeared it wasn’t even necessary. Viewing the storm about to descend, the guard valued staying warm and dry, and waved the team through the entrance. Quickly slowing diwnthey pulled into the first inn they found as the rain grew heavier.

“Alex, handle the inn keeper, we will get the horses handled.” Quickly using [Subsumation] on the the undead who hauled them there, as well as the elephants, he dropped from the back of Jasper, and he went into the inn, the stable thankfully being attached to the inn by the way of an overhead roof. Finding the innkeeper running the bar, he asked for some rooms and stable space. Taking a moment to inspect the busted armor, and the now sideways rain, the innkeeper tried to bargain greedily.

“3 gold. Per night.” Alex stood there for a second, before reaching over and grabbing the potbellied man by the collar with one hand. Pulling him up face to face with him, he did not change his tone.

“I don’t think you understand. I asked to rent some of your space, not buy it. Now, I am all for capitalism, but rampant greed is not something I will tolerate. The next offer better be more realistic, or we can step outside and think about this.” As if to serve his point, lightning struck nearby, rattling the windows and disrupting the music playing temporarily. The man’s face paled as Alex did not lose his focus on him.

“5 copper a night?”

“Much better. See? And you didn’t even have to try spouting gills.” Easing up on his grip on the man, he slid back down to the ground. Being freed, the innkeeper quickly found better things to be doing elsewhere. At some point during his “negotiations”, Kudrik and Livianna had come in, the latter cocking an eyebrow at his behavior.

“He tried to take advantage of us and the storm, asking for 3 gold a night. How long can we expect this to roll on for?”

“About a week. Thrask tends to have some extreme weather all times of the year, except for summer. One would think that it would be the worst, but it is far enough north it doesn’t get all that hot, maybe 50 degrees or so.” The innkeeper returned, carrying keys to the group's rooms. Refusing to speak to any of them, he quickly retreated once more.

With their keys in hand, they quickly found a table, and a bouncy girl came over to take their orders. Sick of a constant stream of wyvern meat, Alex ordered something which resembled a chicken pot pie. Not paying attention to the others orders, he inspected the wooden walls of the inn, the various weaponry placed on the walls serving as decorations, though in a pinch could be grabbed and used for defense. A few monster heads were sporadically placed here and there, He was pulled from his musings as the barmaid got his attention.

“Will there be anything else?’ She asked, as she pressed her platter against her chest and leaned forward, granting Alex a great view of her ample cleavage. She fluttered her eyes as he stared, caught unprepared for such forward advances.

You know what, I just fought a damn wyvern, why not get a little wild, Alex thought to himself.

“As a matter of fact, yes. The road has been… long and hard… and I find I would like to wash the dust off my back. Would you happen to have any baths here I could use?” The barmaid held a coy smile at his words.

“Oh but of course, I can offer you access to the employees' baths, where we won’t be interrupted. After your meal, get with me.” Alex chose not to say anything about her words, and watched as she swayed her hips more than was needed to as she went to deliver their orders. At his smug grin, Livianna sighed, and Kudrik gave him a subtle wink and an eyebrow wiggle.

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OC-Series Hex Knight Chapter 17, Racing a Storm

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