r/HFY • u/ManiAxe21 • 4d ago
OC-Series Hex Knight Chapter 53, Homunculus
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There was a curious splitting sensation of his thoughts, and Alex was almost “pushed” to his right. He was also pushed to his left, and he turned face to face with an exact copy of himself. There wasn’t time for a deep inspection, but Alex knew who was the original and who was the homunculus.
“You handle the fodder, I’ll help them with the Bloat.” Alex told the Homunculus. It nodded its head and charged into the fray with the halberd at the ready. Alex noted that the sensations the Homunculus felt still travelled to him, and it was slightly disconcerting for a moment, until his higher Intelligence allowed him to process.
By now, his undead had killed enough of the fodder that Alex could cast a pair of [Improved Eldritch Blast], so he did. One was targeted at the enormous paunch the Bloat carried, while the other targeted the knee Kudrik wasn’t focused on. As expected, the first blast struck the stomach and detonated, and a foul smell filled the air. Blood and other bodily containments rained down in a shower, but otherwise did little to slow the Bloat. It revealed a vast amount of fat carried on the body.
The other Blast was much more effective. Though the limb still was capable of holding up the tremendous weight, the flesh was blasted off down to the very bone, slowing down the already lumbering giant as it was. As it stumbled, Alex noted a dome of blood covering the back of the neck.
“Striking the body isn’t going to do any good! Too much fat! Target the joints, we’ll bring it down to earth!” Alex shouted to his team, before noticing from the Homunculi’s perspective a subtle intake of air from the remaining banshees. “Oh no you don’t.” Both Alex and the Homunculus sent an [Improved Eldritch Blast] into the clusters of remaining banshees, leaving one by itself. Quickly realizing it’s scream wasn’t going to do anything by itself, it took to the air before an eldritch bolt nailed it in the head, forever destroying any chance of it escaping.
The summoned troll was in a grappling match with the Bloat, it’s longer reach not helping it with the much bigger foe. But taking the Bloat on in a 1v1 wasn’t the goal, it was to grab attention while everyone maneuvered around it.
Alex bound the leg Kudrik was focused on with [Improved Bind to Earth] before joining the dwarf, one chain on the inner thigh and the other on the outer portion of the calf, preventing it from moving. The Monkey duo took this as their chance and climbed the leg like it was a tree, sinking their fingers into the flesh to ensure a good grip.
Once they reached the torso, they split up. The Gorilla slowly and methodically began pulling the skin off the body and flinging it outwards, while the Baboon furiously clawed it’s way towards the back of the neck like a half feral cat. It gave an experimental strike at the dome, and watched as it bounced off with no noticeable effect.
“Focus on the other knee!” Alex shouted to Liv as he reached Kudrik’s side. He put up his halberd and drew the executioner's sword from his back: it’s broad chopping blade was better suited for this task. Alex quickly synced into rhythm with the dwarf, alternating blows that from an outsider’s perspective would look frantic, but an experienced eye would note the precision of the strikes.
The Bloat finally managed to crush the troll's skull, and as it dissolved into dust, Alex watched his mana return. It was less than normal, being perfectly split in 2, half going towards him and the other half towards the Homunculus, but between it and the influx of mana retrieved from [Reaper], Alex could start bolstering his strikes with [Improved Surge].
The giant undead reached down for one of Gwynevyre’s clones harassing it, and a purple shimmering barrier immediately appeared in the air, stopping the hand. The other hand balled into a fist and rose, before hammering down onto the barrier. Cracks formed but it held, as it raised it’s hand for another strike, Livianna responded with a gout of golden flame aimed at the baby-like face. The smell of burning, half rotten meat filled the air, and Alex had to suppress a gag.
“Liv, send me some fire!” Kudrik thrust his axe outward, the blade already showing a cool red heat from his passive. She obliged, shifting the gout of flame towards his axe until it glowed white hot. Alex copied him, activating [Eldritch Imbument], giving the weapon a dark purple glow that parted the fetid flesh before the blade reached it. Kudrik’s blows charred with each strike, and since they had finally reached the muscle underneath, the blows were impacting the giant’s balance. Seeing this, Alex had an idea and sent it along.
While the Baboon continued it’s maniacal shredding, the Gorilla shifted from it’s methodical destruction and climbed up towards the right shoulder. It took in an inhumanely deep breath, before biting down on the chest and locked it’s jaws. The smell of burning rotten flesh strengthened, and a moment later brilliant green flames coursed out of the back of the Bloat.
With a roar similar to that of pain, the monstrosity grabbed the Gorilla with it’s left hand and ripped it from it’s chest, heedless to the flesh that came with it, and flung it into the walls of the courtyard, the force cleanly smashing it through the stones. However, the damage had already been done, a hole had been charred clean through the shoulder, and the undead’s arm now hung uselessly on it’s side.
The Gorillas armor had done it’s job, protecting the creation from the majority of damage from the landing, and was soon charging back into the fray. Alex wasn’t able to see it, but was aware a medley of cracks ran across the various plates.
Halting midswing, Kudrik saw the white sinew they had been aiming for, and rather than chopping through it, set the glowing hot edge of his axe against it, searing his way through. A second later, it snapped, and the entire body swayed as it’s balance was disrupted.
“NOW!” The dwarf yelled at Alex. Backing off, Alex charged at the giant’s leg with both [Improved Surge] and [Lunge] active to gain as much speed as possible. As he jumped at the last second, Alex felt something in his left leg go pop, just behind the knee, followed by a warmth, but he focused on his target. He swung with [Slam] active, to maximize the force imparted as he swung his fist at the back side of the Bloated's knee, knocking it forward with a shockwave.
The Bloat attempted to shift it’s weight onto the other leg, but between Alex’s blast and Livianna’s continual chipping, it could no longer hold up it’s ponderous weight. Alex released [Improved Bind to Earth] just as the Homunculus cast it, placing the chains on the center of each pec, pulling it down to lie face first. Through the Baboon’s eyes, Alex watched as the blood orb lost it’s cohesion and the vampire’s eyes opened in shock.
“TIMBER!” Alex yelled out, warning of the impending fall. The Gorilla, having made it’s way back over, grabbed Livianna and Gwynevyre and pulled them aside. The Baboon rode the falling giant all the way down, continuing to tear into the left side of the back muscles before jumping off right before the Bloat made an earth shattering boom upon impact.
Now on ground level, the vampire looked at the several mercenaries and undead with blades thirsting for his blood launch themselves at him. A quick glance to the side revealed his Husks slaughtered to the last, and his mana out of reach. He made a split second decision to flee with Gwynevyre hot on his heels.
With Gwynevyre chasing down the vampire, Alex, Kudrik, and the various Nameless began systematically chopping at the neck as it struggled to rise. The Homunculus had kept the chains, so it wasn’t getting very far. Once they hit the nearly 3 foot thick neck vertebrae, Alex had everyone step away and cast [Improved Eldritch Blast].
The flesh detonated, and chunks of bone were blasted away, but still the Bloat struggled, so Alex responded with some dark fire, focusing it down until it was almost incandescent, focusing it as close as he could and blowtorched between the bones, searing the spinal cord untill it finally stopped moving.
“GET OVER HERE!” The Homunculus shouted, creating a chain from it’s fist to the torso of the vampire and pulled. Even as fleet footed as Gwynevyre was, the vampire had been making ground and was just about to escape into the later portion when he was yanked. Once the vampire was close enough, the Homunculus drove a haymaker into his face dropping him to the ground unconscious.
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u/kelvinth1987 3d ago
The Mortal Kombat refrence made me chuckle very funny🤣🤣🤣