Steamforged Sorcery - Chapter 35 (Patreon)

He averted his eyes just before a brilliant flash lit up the catacomb. When he turned back, three hulking creatures had appeared in the center of the room. They stood more than two times taller than Angel and strongly resembled demonic gorillas. Their banana sized fangs jutted out the bottom of their mouths and their hair was matted and shimmered in a way that looked eerily similar to armor.

Angel flicked his eyepiece down. The gorilla in the middle lit up with orange light as he scanned it and text sprung up on the screen before him.

Race: Gorant [Old World]

Level 70

Status: Disrepair

Information accuracy: 92%

Strength: 103

Intelligence: 12

Nimbleness: 20

Toughness: 57

Rating: Incredibly Dangerous

Weak point(s): Not Enough Information (0/100)

Element(s): Earth

Error: Unable to analyze further. Information incomplete

“The look on your face isn’t filling me with confidence,” Cowl said dryly.

“I was just holding back a sneeze,” Angel replied, rolling his shoulders as the three monsters all turned to look straight at them. The creature in the center was slightly larger than the other two, and a quick glance revealed that the flanking Gorants were both level 60. “The big guy in the center is the strongest.”

“Couldn’t have figured that one out on my own,” Cowl said, adjusting his grip on the sword. “Make those spells of yours count.”

They dashed forward. The Gorant in the center let out a loud roar and pounded its clenched fists against its chest before lumbering towards them like a runaway steam engine. Every step the beast took shook the ground.

The ceiling was too far away for Angel to shoot a grappling hook at, but there was more than one way to use that particular tool. He pointed his palm at one of the smaller monsters and the barb whistled out, sailing through the air and punching into the beast’s matted fur.

Angel yanked his arm back and leapt upwards, swinging up and over the large Gorant. He ripped the grappling hook free midair, turning his palm to aim at the massive creature. A blast of crackling lightning screamed forth and slammed into the creature’s head, causing it to stagger.

The spent canister ejected itself from Angel’s arm and he twisted midair, dropping into a roll as he hit the ground several feet behind the two smaller monsters. He popped to his feet and dashed to the side moments before one of them leapt at where he’d been standing, crashing into the ground with enough force to crack the stone.

Angel’s grappling hook whipped back into his palm with a click and he spun to see the effects of his attack. A small stream of smoke rose up from a blackened portion of the Gorant’s head, but the creature didn’t look particularly injured. It let out a furious howl, spinning to track Angel.

Cowl took that moment to shimmer forwards, blurring through the air and bringing his massive blade down on the creature’s shoulder. A loud clang rang through the room and Cowl darted backwards to avoid a powerful swipe.

His strike hadn’t done much more than dent the monster’s thick, armorlike hair. Angel gritted his teeth, but he didn’t have time to think further. One of the two smaller Gorants lumbered towards him.

It raised its hands to pulverize Angel. He dove forward, sliding between its legs and popping up from behind it. The creature let out a howl as its prey escaped and spun, reaching out to grab Angel.

He launched the grappling hook straight into its forehead and launched himself upwards, yanking the creature’s head back. With his free hand, Angel grabbed another canister and fitted it into his arm. Twisting his arm, he retracted the grappling hook.

Angel hurtled towards the creature’s head. Its eyes widened in surprise at the crazed seeker and it instinctively flinched, raising its hand to protect itself.

The Seeker ripped the barb free of the monster’s head and angled his body to fly in between the Gorant’s hands and its head. As he passed, he thrust his palm into the monster’s face.

A blast of frost ripped out of his palm. It hit the Gorant square in the face. The creature staggered backwards, clawing at its features as ice enveloped its head and neck. Angel didn’t give it a chance to recover.

He grabbed a fistful of the monster’s thick, musty chest hair and heaved himself upwards with his left hand. Then he reared back and drove his mechanical arm into the monster’s face with all of his might.

The Gorant’s head shattered into dozens of shards. Thick, frozen blood oozed out of its neck as the beast swayed in place for a moment before falling backwards and crashing into the ground with a violent thud.

Meanwhile, Cowl had managed to hold both of the remaining Gorants at bay. Neither the Hunter nor the monsters had managed to get any significant progress in the fight, but Angel could see that Cowl’s movements had started to slow. The Hunter was stronger than the creatures individually, but he didn’t have a window to attack when fighting two of them. On top of that, their armor was a perfect counter to his sword.

Angel fitted his third spell into his arm and charged towards the fight. When he grew close enough, the larger of the creatures turned to glance in his direction. With a smirk, he slammed his hand against the ground.

A canister flew out of his arm and the ground beneath the smaller Gorant rippled. A thick spike of stone erupted from beneath it, its sharpened point driving straight up into the creature’s backside. It pierced clean through the hairy armor and the monster let out a scream of pain.

Cowl blurred forward, his blade lighting up with bright blue energy. He reared back, taking advantage of the monster’s pain to line up a strike, and thrust the blade straight into one of its eyes.