In the marshlands, a swirling sphere of blood was ford out of seemingly nowhere. But to those present who witnessed the event they could pinpoint the origin of the sudden outburst.
It was horrible.
The origin of this blood was a lizardman... Not just any lizardman either, but the divine blood warrior, Rox.
"AAAAAAARGHHH!!!" Were it not for his ear splitting wails the other lizardn present would have believed him to be dead. The reality was however that a battle was being waged between to individuals at that mont.
Rox was the divine blood warrior of the blood bat, a being from the mushroom caverns with a natural aptitude for the siphoning of blood. For a blood bat and a blood clot to combine was a match made in heaven.
For such a blood clot to co across the defective hydra gauntlet was a nightmare. Rox's eyes were bloodshot as his body was being drained of its vital fluid.
"We need to stop it!" Huzlot, the divine blood warrior of human, shouted with a fiery conviction. Rox might have co off as a jerk lately but that was only due to the influence of the blood clot.
"We can't let a friend die!" All the lizardn Var Agus chose were already previously acquainted and as it just so happened to be in this case, they were sotis friends.
Before Huzlot could lift his spear and try attacking however the salmon warrior, Zaoxl, was far quicker. He steeled his face, jumped off his ship, and swung down his spear with a swoosh.
The swirling blood was split apart, its dramatic swirling then stopped.
"You… You did it…?" Huzlot was stunned. He was planning on attacking the swirling blood as well but he didn't think it would actually work-
Rox's body fell back on the ship's deck with a soft thud. His body was light and pale from the sudden and extre loss of blood.
Soon, the hydra gauntlet seed to have undergone a new change. Its exquisite carvings were decorated by a blood-red color and its sinister draconic imagery seed to have co to life.
As it turned out, the swirling blood was not stopped by a simple slash. It had all been routed towards the gauntlets opening at just the right mont to create this confusion.
More importantly however, the gauntlet's change was not simple.
Small blood limbs appeared out of the gauntlet. It had gained sentience, or at least the consciousness of the blood clot previously in Rox's body.
Crini who had been flabbergasted for the entire ordeal finally managed to break out of her trance. What a devious gauntlet! If it was able to catch her attention much earlier, for Rox and his blood clot the gauntlet was irresistible!
The first thing Rox had done after boarding the stolen ship was lock eyes with the gauntlet which Crini did not find odd, she had done the sa. Unlike herself however, Rox jumped at the opportunity of grabbing hold of the gauntlet.
This impulse to equip it ultimately resulted in this ss and a sentient gauntlet!
"Take this!" Crini yelled as she whipped back her spear and thrust out at the gauntlet. The blood tendril like limbs it used to stand on did not help it dodge this attack. The gauntlet was pushed back from the impact ultimately crashing against the ship's railing.
The force rocked the boat slightly but it also willed the gauntlet into action. Letting out a sound akin to the churning of bones, the gauntlet's tendrils expanded out and began touching and examining the surrounding surfaces before attempting to jump ship.
"No you don't!" Zaoxl shouted as he slamd his spear down on the monstrous gauntlet. The lizardman was secretly happy to nail the strike but this happiness did not last.
Fire exploded out from the gauntlet lighting up the entire ship's deck. For that very instance the floor was like lava and Rox's unconscious near dead body was unable to do anything about this.
All the divine blood warriors would try to help but at this mont they could only focus on themselves.
The constant sound of splashing, all the lizardn on the ship began to jump off fearing that their feet would get seared. By the ti the flas stopped, there was no one on the ship able to combat or capture the gauntlet.
Fortunately, the gauntlet and or blood clot did not know how to navigate a ship. This bought enough ti for Huzlot to jump back on board and make a move.
"Gotcha!" He shouted holding the gauntlet with both hands. His mouth ford a devious grin which was quickly overturned by an expression of exhaustion.
"Ah!" The tendrils from the gauntlet were free to move and latched onto Huzlot's arms. They were sucking out his blood at a surprising pace. Most importantly, his blood clot was in danger.
Huzlot tried to desperately let go of the bizarre existence but the tendrils were now the one holding onto him. In a desperate attempt, Huzlot's blood clot extend out creating thick bloody strings that connected the gauntlet and Huzlot.
"Help!" Huzlot shouted, he needed soone to sever the strings!
It was then that a spear ca down accurately on the strings.
"Kouzzo!" Huzlot shouted with great gratitude. This was his savior, the one and the only Kouzzo!
But just because the link between the two were severed it didn't an the gauntlet couldn't try to latch onto another. Naly, Kouzzo.
The sound of tal clanging against sothing shook the ears of the lizardn.
"Nice swing!" Huzlot was full of praises today.
With a small splash, the hydra gauntlet disappeared into swamp water. Var Agus had just swung it away from his trusted warriors without an ounce of hesitation.
A was the only one that suffered from this choice.
'Did it turn into living equipnt…' Ed was hoping to figure out how to make them so day. A, therefore, was also interested in them.
Another thing to consider however was how dangerous the hydra gauntlet had beco.
'It can steal blood without remorse and with ease' The tendrils needled into the body and siphoned it directly without any consent. While the gauntlet likely lacked most senses especially sight, with a blood clot in the mix...
'It could learn so dangerous skills out there!' This gauntlet was now a serious threat. The problematic thing however was that A knew none of them could capture it. They might have been able to do sothing while it was on the ship but now that it fell into the water...
'Finding the gauntlet is near impossible' The water might not be very deep but it was rather murky. There were also all sorts of diverse life in the water in spite of its depth. It was hard to find anyone in crowded spaces, the sa applied here with the gauntlet to a lesser extent.
That said, for better or for worse, the gauntlet did not need to be found. As it was driven by a maniacal thirst for blood, once it killed most of the prey in its area it would move to a new and more lively sector.
The new and more lively sector would be anywhere the lizardn gathered. It would be for the better if the gauntlet remained as it was now in terms of power. When the ti ca, capturing it or maybe even killing it would not be a pipe dream.
It would be for the worse however if the gauntlet ca back stronger. On the off chance that Ed was absent at that ti, the gauntlet could create a massacre and have a feast for itself.
"But… What do we do now?" Zaoxl asked with skepticism. One of their comrades had died! They managed to finish off so leftovers from the nsch tribe but they also released a much more dangerous creature.
Var Agus was the de facto leader, the question was geared towards him. He entered a pensive state as he carefully considered their options.
As Var wanted to leave a good impression on the mushroom god, the gauntlet had to be dealt with.
"We will return to the settlent and maintain a wary stance" Var responded. While he did want to leave a positive impression on Ed, he didn't think that wasting resources or ti searching for a monster they might not be able to beat was the way to do it.
Var thus chose to instead focus his efforts on helping his lizardn reach a greater level of strength in both mind and power. The ways to do this were nurous for the likes of Ed, but frankly Var was not sure how to even approach such a thing.
However, on that sa note, he was certain of one thing and that was that anything was possible when it ca to the mushroom god. He just had to consult and with the mushroom god's guardian!
While the guardian didn't seem to speak the language, Var knew it was not dumb. If they struggled hard enough they would be able to communicate. Otherwise, how did anyone ever learn new languages?
If a baby could do it so could the mushroom god's guardian! Var Agus firmly believed the mushroom god's guardian was better than a baby.
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