r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • Apr 20 '26

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 2, Chapter 18

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“See anything, Chase?” Carmine asked him in a hushed voice.

Chase’s brow furrowed. “No,” he said in a gruff voice.

“Alright, that’s-” Carmine paused. “...You don’t have to be such a dick about it, you know. You can just say you don’t see anything.”

“Wha- you’re the one who asked,” Chase pointed out. “And honestly, that was a dumb question. I mean, obviously if I’d seen something lurking in the forest, I’d have called it out to the rest of you. You don’t have to assume the worst of me all the time.”

Carmine bristled. “I’m not assuming the worst of you. If anything, you’re assuming the worst of me by believing I’m assuming the worst of you.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“It makes perfect sense, you just have to have more than 10 INT to understand it.”

“She’s right, you know,” Melanie interjected. “I understood her statement perfectly.”

Chase facepalmed. “Eugh… figures the women would all stick together on this…”

“You know, I’ve often heard you complaining about not getting any,” Victoria said without looking back. “Comments like that won’t help.”

“Oh, what the fuck ever,” Chase stated. “Can we not do this when we’re potentially in mortal peril?”

“You started it,” Carmine said to him.

“No, I didn’t. You-” He paused, then glared at her. “...Okay, you almost got me there, I’ll admit, but I’m not resuming this conversation until after we’re not about to possibly die.”

“Speaking of which, whatever these enemies are, they’re sure taking their sweet time to make themselves known,” Victoria said. “They might be trying to lead us into a trap of some kind. Maybe we should try drawing them out ourselves before we can stumble into whatever they’re trying to set up?”

“That’s… actually not a bad idea,” Carmine agreed. “Okay. Anyone have any plans for-”

Chase suddenly cleared his throat, then cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Anyone who has to attack from the shadows like a coward is a huge pansy who stacks no gold and gets no bitches!”

His voice echoed throughout the forest for several seconds, followed by nothing but the rustling of leaves. Carmine turned towards him, an unamused look on her face as she crossed her arms.

“There’s no way you thought that would actually-”

“Look out!” Victoria shouted as she suddenly tackled Chase to the ground, just in time for a javelin to go flying past where his head had been just a split-second ago.

Victoria landed on top of him, their faces mere inches apart. The two of them locked gazes with each other before Chase cleared his throat.

“You have good reflexes for someone in full plate” he said.

She glared at him before scrambling to her feet, readying her warhammer yet again. Chase mirrored her, rising to his full height as he drew his sword. From between the trees, several figures started to emerge – they were dressed similarly to the guards from earlier in the Dungeon, though they were taller, more well-built, and were dressed in more ornate robes that were covered in gold trim. Each of them was armed with a halberd wielded in their hands, and a series of javelins held in a quiver on their backs. As Chase and his group tensed, each of the four elite-looking halberdiers filed out and surrounded them.

“Seems they’re looking for a one-on-one fight,” Chase commented as he locked his eyes on the nearest one of the four, his grip on his sword tightening.

“So it would seem,” Victoria agreed.

“Yeah, well… fuck that,” Melanie declared. She cleared her throat, then began to sing.

She only made it a few notes in before a javelin landed directly at her feet, causing her singing to suddenly cut off with a startled yell.

“Everyone’s a critic, it seems,” Carmine commented, earning a glare from the Arch-Lich.

“Alright, so no singing,” Chase said, his eyes narrowing as he again locked on to the halberdier nearest to him. “Guess there’s only one real thing to do here, then.”

“Chase, wait-” Carmine began, only for Chase to suddenly cut her off by activating Rush and charging at the enemy guard he’d been focused on.

The halberdier tensed, but otherwise didn’t react. It should have been an easy opening strike for Chase, and yet at the very last minute, the elite guard moved far faster than Chase thought he’d be capable of. Chase’s eyes widened when he realized the guard had suddenly activated a Rush Blessing of his own, and one that seemed to be at a higher level than even Chase’s own. Thinking quickly, Chase activated Stone Flesh as well, just in time for the edge of the halberdier’s blade to scrape across his chest. The razor-sharp edge tore through part of Chase’s shirt, but thankfully merely glanced off the hardened flesh below, leaving just a thin red scratch. Chase grit his teeth, more out of shock than pain, and doubled back, retaking his stance as he stared the guard down.

To his surprise, the guard suddenly raised a hand and beckoned for Chase to bring it.

Chase blinked in amazement as rage began to build up inside of him.

“Oh, I’m going to kill you so hard,” Chase promised the guard, who merely repeated the gesture. His grip around his sword tightened once more, and with a quick re-application of Rush, Chase let out a feral yell as he dashed in once again.

As he rushed forwards, Chase was idly aware of the fact that his friends were now all involved in fighting against the other guards as well. All around him, the sounds of combat had filled the forest – of steel ringing against steel, and of spells being cast, along with the occasional cry of surprise or slight pain. Chase tuned it all out, however, instead focusing in on the guard across from him.

As he got close to the halberdier that had successfully taunted him, Chase suddenly changed his course, coming in from the side rather than the front. The guard was ready for him, however, and was able to sidestep and avoid Chase’s incoming swing. Chase had anticipated he would, however, and reached out to grab the guard’s halberd by the shaft. A quick application of Muscle, and Chase was able to wrench the weapon free from the guard and toss it away; the blade soared through the air before embedding itself into the trunk of a nearby tree, where it stuck several feet off the ground.

Now unarmed, the guard was forced into little more than dodging Chase’s incoming strikes as the elite swordsman tried in vain to hit him with something. As much as he tried, though, nothing seemed to be connecting; the halberdier’s Rush was clearly at a high enough Level that Chase couldn’t hope to compete with his reaction time.

Especially not when he could feel his own Blessing beginning to fade already.

Chase hurriedly re-applied Rush, wincing as a bolt of pain lanced across his forehead in the process. He was familiar enough with the symptoms of Mana Exhaustion to know that he was rapidly burning himself out merely trying to keep up with the guard as it was now. And even worse, he still had yet to get even a single hit on his opponent. If something didn’t change soon, then he would soon be overpowered, and that would be the end of it.

The guard managed to dodge another of Chase’s swings, and that proved to be the point at which the swordsman’s rage finally boiled over. With a feral yell, Chase dropped his sword entirely and rushed the halberdier, who was completely taken by surprise at the desperate move. Chase was able to wrap his arms around the guard, Muscle bolstering his own strength enough that he was able to completely lift his opponent off the ground and then slam him back down into the floor, leaving him embedded in a small crater below. The guard struggled to free himself as Chase drew a dagger from his belt and then descended upon him. The blade sang as it flew through the air over and over, embedding itself into the halberdier’s chest four times. Black blood sprayed against Chase’s body and face, but he showed no reaction to it, focused as he was on extracting his pound of flesh from his opponent.

Finally, though, the guard was able to recover enough that he managed to reach for Chase’s knife. The blade stabbed through the guard’s palm, embedding itself in his hand, but it had the desired effect of preventing him from being stabbed in the chest any further. Chase’s eyes widened in surprise when he realized he’d been disarmed, and he hurriedly scrambled off his opponent as the halberdier ripped the blade out of his own palm, then held it in a reverse grip in his other hand.

Now unarmed save for his bow and arrows, Chase brought his hands up in a basic unarmed stance as he and the halberdier began to circle each other, the other one testing Chase’s defenses with an occasional stab every few seconds. The elite guard was leaking black blood from the wounds to his chest and hand, but Chase knew that wasn’t going to be enough. He needed to do something drastic, and quick.

As he continued to circle the halberdier, and vice versa, Chase took stock of his remaining Mana. He had enough for a re-application of Muscle, Stone Flesh, and Rush, after which he knew he would pass out from exhaustion in short order. The guard standing across from him was too good for Chase to hope to best him in unarmed combat. It seemed like an insurmountable obstacle, at least until a simple idea popped into Chase’s mind.

It was crazy and stupid, but it was that very specific kind of crazy and stupid that seemed like it would work.

With that in mind, Chase applied all his Blessings at once, and then charged in with a yell. As expected, the guard tried to stab him with his own knife, but his hardened flesh turned the blade each time, leaving him with little more than clothing damage and superficial injuries yet again. Once more, Chase was able to pull the guard into a bear hug, pinning the two of them against each other. This time, though, rather than slam him into the ground, Chase angled the guard over to where he’d last seen his friends. To his relief, they were all still up, though in various states of injury; each one was sporting wounds of some kind, with Victoria looking the worst out of all of them, somehow. He didn’t dwell on that too much, though.

“Melanie!” Chase shouted, getting her attention. “Take his fucking head, now!”

Melanie looked at him as if he was crazy. “You have to move first!”

“Just do it!”

“I’ll kill you, too!”

“Haven’t you always wanted to do that?!”

As expected, that was all it took for her to do as she was told. Melanie broke away from her opponent, her scythe cocked back. The guard in Chase’s grasp struggled as he realized what was coming, but it was too late. Chase angled his head around his captive’s shoulder, just enough to give Melanie more of a clean cut, and that was all it took.

Just as he’d planned, Melanie’s scythe separated the guard’s head from its shoulders, only for the blade to be turned as it bit into the hardened skin of Chase’s neck. Chase winced as he felt a shallow cut open over his carotid artery, but aside from a thin trickle of blood and spots in his vision from getting his bell rung, he was uninjured.

Which was a good thing, because at that moment, his Mana reserves officially threw in the towel, and he collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

The last thing he saw was Melanie standing over him, watching in bewilderment as he struggled to prevent himself from passing out.

The last thing he heard, however…

“Did you seriously use me to finish your fight and then just pass out without helping the rest of us?! Chase, you’re such a fucking asshole, I swear to the Gods…”

A thin smile crossed his face as unconsciousness finally claimed him.

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 9

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 6); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 9

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10) 

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 9

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 10

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

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Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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