Reborn as a Demonic Sunflower - 025 (Patreon)

The beast that emerged from the forest made Haylock almost crap himself.  Not that it was possible. If it had been, there would be a massive load now present.

Through the trees came a fourteen-foot-tall beast, as tall as Haylock was, knocking down a tree with very little effort.

“That’s bad!” Mimi yelled as she dropped from the tree she had been hiding in. “We need to somehow crack its shell! I can help then!”

Haylock sensed the tone in the older woman’s voice and knew if she was helping, it had to be even worse than he thought.  Fufu was growing into his roided out form, looking like a hopped-up easter rabbit with a carrot cake and roid addiction.

Reminds me of Andy Kay from the custodial department…. The guy always had something to help people feel better.

Ignoring the random thought, Haylock tried to figure out how they were going to actually damage the monster.

It had four legs, each thicker than a tree trunk and about six feet tall. Those legs were covered in what looked like a crab shell, thick shells that had extra protection at the joints. A long body rested on the legs, stretching back about twelve feet. It was covered in the same shell but with two long arms, each with a massive claw that clamped open and closed. Purple, green, and brown colors mixed together made it look god-awful and ugly, but even worse was the head on top of it all.

A bone skull with a gaping hole and about four hundred teeth that looked like a black hole of death focused right at him.  There were no eyes, just a smooth skull with a single hole designed to shove stuff inside it.

Fufu darted off into the woods, leaving Haylock to face the monster that charged at him. An eerie roar came from the black hole.

Pouring chi into his roots and vines, Haylock prepared to try and slow the monster down, not going for attacks that would pierce a shell he knew had to be immensely thick.

As the monster got in range, the ground beneath the hulking brute turned into a sinkhole, dirt shifting and becoming soft as the roots thrashed around inside, making it sink a few feet into the soil.

Every root Haylock had available to be used came upward, forming a wall and trying to wrap around those armored legs.

The force of the monster's advance was so powerful that it snapped three roots immediately before Haylock could slow down its approach. It howled, bending its arms down and snapping at the roots before it, slicing like a pair of scissors fighting a piece of paper.  

The pain came from the injuries, and the amount of chi Haylock had used to reinforce those roots didn’t seem to matter at all.

Two daggers plinked off the armor from the side, ignored by the monster as it tried to wade through the constant waves of undulating roots.

Haylock’s mind ran with every option available, using roots at the back of the creature to try and hold it back, doing what he could to keep them from being easily snipped by the massive claws.  His vines whipped out, smacking into the leg and armored body, trying to inflict damage while avoiding the pincers that moved with blazing fast speed.

Fufu!

His familiar came as if on demand, running out of the trees and at the back of the monster.  Like a ninja blender, the rabbit began to slash at the creature’s armored back with those claws it sported on his pink hands.

Another roar came, and the monster turned slightly, struggling to move from the roots underneath it, which had wrapped its back legs up completely.  A claw came toward Fufu, who managed to jump out of the way, almost caught by the speed at which it had moved.

Haylock didn’t waste time, sending his left vine to attack the claw that had just closed, snipping a root that was trying to hold on to the front legs.  The vine latched on, wrapping around, and as soon as it had, the monster pulled back, trying to free itself while its claw moved to open.

It’s stronger when it clamps down, not when it tries to open it up!

Sensing that Haylock was more dangerous than the pink-tailed rabbit at its back, the monster turned toward the demonic flower and reached out for the vine, holding its claw.

Haylock’s right vine lashed out, trying to stop the attack he knew was coming, hitting the armored claw and causing it to go upward for a brief second.  Sensing that it was going to reach his vine, Haylock quickly started to unravel it and pull it back.

When the claws came together, they made a loud sound like cars crashing, catching the fleeing vine and cutting off seven feet of it that hadn’t escaped in time.

Black blood squirted out from the injury, and Haylock roared, causing the area they were fighting in to vibrate slightly.

Everything was on the line. This fight wasn’t like the ones against the smaller chi monsters.  Whatever this one was, it most likely ate any and all creatures it caught.

A small thread of purple blood was flowing from the joint where its right arm connected to the shelled body.  Haylock noticed Mimi off to the side, doing her weird blood dance.

How is it bleeding? Did she injure it?

During his fight, when he had the claw wrapped up and immobilized, Mimi managed to get a dagger into the joint area, driving it through the protective shell and into the tender meat underneath.  The injury wasn’t massive, but it allowed the blood cultivator to do what she could.

Emboldened by the success, Haylock fought back the fear he had and went back on the offensive, trying to keep the creature's attention while the other two worked on damaging it somehow.

He could see that the monster's joints were weaker than the rest of the outer shell. The armor was thinner and needed mobility to move and attack. Doing what he could, Haylock sent his right vine up and out, trying to draw the claw toward it.

Like a snake lunging for prey, the claw went after his vine, snipping off the three feet Haylock had left in range.

Bullet Seed!

A seed launched from his face, traveling with the same speed as the first, and hit the joint he had been aiming for on the right arm.  The shell cracked, the seed embedded itself partially, and purple blood started to immediately come forth from the wound.

The right claw started to fall downward, no longer held up above, as its weight, with an injury on the joint, took its toll.

His right vine attacked, ignoring the pain of the missing piece. He whipped at the injured area repeatedly.

The monster let out a guttural roar as it tried to deflect and clamp down on Haylock’s vine, unable to move its offensive weapon like it had before. The claw's thick armored plating absorbed Haylock’s strikes, preventing him from reaching the area the flower hoped to hit.

Fufu! Get the injured spot! It won’t be able to use its claw on you!

Like a professional cowboy who used whips to entertain the ladies, Haylock turned into a demonic sunflower who put on a show. Both vines snaked across the ten-plus feet between them, causing the monster to give up its offensive attempts and shift to the defensive.

With a claw not working, Haylock’s roots had more opportunities to wind themselves around the legs and start trying to dig themselves into the joints of its armored body.

The creature seemed to sense the shift in the battle and tried moving backward, but Haylock’s roots held firm as his core spun faster and faster, sending ever bit of chi he had into them.  The noise of them straining against the armored creature sounded like ropes being stretched taunt.  At any moment it felt like they might snap but Haylock fought past the pain, focusing on the two things he could do.

Tiny sounds of armor popping as the first of the roots started to push through the weaker areas and into the protected flesh caused the creature to try jumping or bucking like a wild bronco.

A flash of pink under the creature revealed Fufu wrapped around the right arm of the monster and repeatedly smashing the injured spot over and over with a clawed hand.

More blood was coming from the monster, blanketing the dirt off to the side as Mimi drew more and more out, discarding the lifeblood on the ground.

It began to weaken as the three of them continued their onslaught.

Suddenly, the right claw fell to the ground, and purple blood sprayed from the severed arm at the joint.  His pink-roided-out rabbit was not covered in purple blood but didn’t seem to care, sticking his mouth over the end and drinking from it like a kid on a slushy machine.

With only one claw remaining, Haylock focused on the monster’s feeble attempts it made to clip and cut itself free. It snipped at roots and, when closed, found itself again wrapped by vines, this time held by two instead of one.

No longer fearing the trimming shears, Haylock ignored the exhaustion he felt and sent every root he had up the legs and toward the weak spots.

Fufu, I need that arm!

His rabbit didn’t look happy. Letting go of its free meal, it held the arm still as a root came to it, pushing itself inside and causing the monster to roar once more. This time, the sound was different—not a ‘I’m going to eat your soul’ kind of roar but more of a ‘stop eating my soul, please’ way.

As his roots dug through the flesh, it sensed the core inside, and Haylock could feel the power this one was giving off.  He just needed a little more time to reach it.