Sir Vino and Sir Gregory were left behind along with their clansmen so they could deal with all the homunculi that those Argonian assholes set loose throughout the region. Meanwhile, Gwen, on her swan spirit beast, went ahead on her own to return to Lageton, together with the dozen or so Senior-grade knights who weren't warbeasts or Mercers.
Reivan, on the other hand, rode Helen’s dragon spirit beast together with her because Zouros was still dead, booking it straight back to Lageton as well.
Well, straight wasn't all that applicable here, because they took a short detour so that Reivan could try facing a homunculi by himself. After all, it was the perfect time to experience doing so. Helen and the others had faced off against a few of the giant abominations when they rescued him deep behind enemy lines, so he felt oddly left out. He wanted to have a go at them too. It was only right and proper for him to do so.
Fortunately for him, one of the giant buggers haplessly decided to charge in Lageton's general direction.
"That… That is one big motherfucker." Reivan marveled at the homunculi as he restlessly shifted his position.
Straddling a dragon’s back was understandably more cumbersome than with an oversized wolf or a horse. Even harder than riding a giant winged serpent, as it turned out. Really, who’s idea was it not to prepare a saddle before all this? What an annoying oversight.
He firmly wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist as she directed her spirit beast across the clouds, thankful for the bubble of air around them that allowed for conversation without shouting at the top of their lungs. "It’s so big that I think it's messing with my sense of distance! Did you really kill one by yourself or are you just boasting?"
Helen mummed in affirmation. "You know I’m not lying.
"Fair enough."
"It's difficult because of how hardy it is, but it’s still doable. Even alone... Just making sure, but are you sure you want to try taking it out on your own? Your arm is..."
"My arm's fine now." Reivan chuckled. "Relax. And I'll have you bail me out in case it's too much. I already told you I won't be reckless…"
Just from the way she sighed, he could somehow tell that she also rolled her eyes at his response.“You also told me that your infiltration of the enemy camp—”
“Alright, alright. I get it. Please stop bringing it up!”
Somewhat exasperated at her for reminding him of his faults and guilt for those same faults, Reivan redirected his attention toward the walking mountain in front of him.
If he was made to describe the homunculi in a word, he’d probably say “draconic”. Or maybe “dinosaur-like”? Of course, they all had their subtle differences, but one thing they all had in common was how lizard-like they were from afar. Of course, once you got a bit closer, you’d realize that their skin wasn’t covered in scales nor did they have those tile-like partitions that a lot of lizards did. Instead, their skin was greyish and sickly, as if it was malnourished—or even rotten.
The one Reivan had the pleasure of gazing upon reminded him of that one dinosaur that was really similar to armadillos. Ank-something-saurus, it was called. He didn’t know the full name because his only exposure to it had been a manga where one of the characters gave dinosaurs cutesy nicknames.
But it had made an impression on him, that was for sure. It had spiky armor and a weaponized tail, basically letting predators gnaw uselessly at its back while whacking them. What an absolute madlad of a dinosaur, he had thought at the time, not knowing he would have to fight something similar in the future.
Of course, despite the similarities, there were some differences between the dinosaur and the homunculi he was in the middle of examining. This one’s back didn’t look much harder than the rest of the body, for one thing, though there were an alarming number of spikes here and there. Its head also didn’t match that of the ank-something-saurus he saw in the manga—instead, it had a head that looked like it belonged to the most famous kaiju in history.
The biggest difference for him was how the tail’s tip wasn’t like a mace, but was instead extremely long when compared to the length of the homunculi’s gargantuan body.
‘I’m… I’m kind of disappointed, not gonna lie.’
It would have been cool if he got to kill an actual dinosaur. How many people could even say that they’d seen one, much less hunted one? That would be a pretty nice flex to boast about when getting drunk with friends or when his future kids asked for cool stories of his youth.
"Anti-personnel techniques aren't going to do much to that, huh?” Reivan chuckled as he observed the lumbering giant, thinking about how he would approach the kill. “It’d be like trying to kill an elephant with a needle.”
Of course, needles still hurt and the elephant would probably go apeshit. But would it die from a needle attack? Probably not.
‘Only AoE attacks will ever work on something this big.’
When fighting against other humans or human-sized entities, using large-scale attacks was generally seen as overkill or outright unnecessary unless they were so fast that they could just run circles around you.
The body was more durable than people gave it credit for, but at the same time, it was a very fragile thing for someone who knew what they were doing. A simple slash across the throat or a stab through the eyeball would be enough to vanquish most foes. No fanfare was necessary. Such simple techniques wouldn’t be impressing any girls, but they got the job done and that was what mattered.
For foes this large, precision attacks like those were like mosquito bites. Blood would be drawn and pain would be felt, but all in all, it was just a minor annoyance.
That was why the answer to the question of how to kill giant monsters was "AoE attacks".
It hit a large area, so rather than being a mosquito bite, it was a giant toddler’s punch delivered straight to a giant face—you wouldn’t die the first, second, or third time around, but they’d get you eventually if you didn’t stop them.
‘I suppose that also means only knights with elemental affinities can deal with these things… Oh, and mages too, I guess.’
Knights preferred using their powerful bodies and their weapon skills to take out enemies. But without any elemental affinities, that was their only option in combat. Of course, this was no reason to look down on them because knights without affinities often grew into beasts when it came to close combat, simply because they focused on that one thing for their entire career. Even Reivan would have to bow to them in terms of pure physical combat technique.
In any case, it was a good thing he was not a knight without elemental affinities. Because it would help when fighting against these kaiju wannabes.
Reivan laid his chin on his lovely wife's shoulder from behind. “Any tips?”
“Hm…” Helen spent a few seconds thinking about it before she answered seriously. “Go for the legs first. If all else fails, you can just whack away at it in case you use up all your mana.”
‘Well, anyone could have thought of that.’
Naturally, he didn’t say that out loud. He’d already intended to do it from the very start. What he wanted was something along the lines of hitting a special organ or some other secret weak point. But if she didn’t mention anything, chances were that such a thing didn’t exist.
Looking at the gargantuan creature again, he really wondered how these artificial life forms were produced. And he also wondered if the empire could make them less ugly. What was with the empire and its fixation on nasty-looking monsters? Did they not have eyes?
If he had a choice, he’d build an army with hot maid robots. All the practical advantages aside, such an army would be really popular among the populace. It was like a weaponized idol group.
‘Hah. Yeah, right. Anyway, better get this over with…’
Reivan jumped off the green-scaled dragon that secretly hated him but acted cordial only because of Helen. The wind roared in his ears as he plummeted, but he’d already moved way past the inherent fear of falling that most humans had. Below him was the homunculi’s gigantic back, and with a smile, he summoned sixteen blades that flew down faster than he could ever fall.
Though being big and heavy had its advantages—such as the mere act of "rolling over" qualifying as a viable attack—it had the glaring weakness of causing slowness. After all, heavy limbs were significantly harder to move. On top of that, as quadrupedal creatures that could support such a mountainous form, they naturally had very sturdy legs. And usually, sturdy meant having thick hard bones and a thick concentration of muscle—both of which would add weight.
In any case, for all the threat they posed to structures and settlements, homunculi were massive lumbering target dummies that couldn’t dodge anything even if they saw a projectile from miles away. They could cover long distances over time simply because of their longer gaits, but traveling speed was not the same as agility.
Piercing through the air like comets, his blades descended on the homunculi. Eight of them dug around the beast’s left “knee”, while the other eight planted themselves into the flesh of its left “elbow”.
A moment later, a large concentration of white vapor burst into the area where the swords pierced. The swords did not survive whatever explosion occurred, but that was fine—they’d already done their job.
When the frosty mist cleared, the main joint of each left limb was entirely frozen. And from the way the beast stopped swaggering forward, Reivan was sure that those joints were frozen through entirely. In fact, the foolish creature kept on trying to move the joint-locked limbs, exacerbating its injuries and sending it closer and closer into the clutches of death.
Soon, cracks resounded—music to Reivan’s ears. A smile graced his lips as he rapidly fell from the sky. Moments later, the iced joints shattered as the giant beast started falling to its left side in agitation. Its roars of angry confusion resounded through the air, but nobody would come to answer them.
The cataclysmic sound of a literal flesh mountain toppling over made the very earth itself shake and shiver as the homunculi's body became acquainted with the ground. It tried to get up. Really, it did. But no matter how much it struggled, it could only fall repeatedly as it upturned the soil and continuously caused minor earthquakes.
It fruitlessly continued its worthless struggle while Reivan landed not so gracefully on the exposed right side of its belly, having used reconjured floating swords to gradually break his fall along the way. With a stomp of his feet, darkness spread from the soles of his boot and enveloped part of the homunculi’s body to sap away its strength.
‘Oh. So it really does work kind of like a biological creature…’
Reivan had initially thought that homunculi might truly be a mimicry of life because more experienced knights had told him that these hunkering giants didn't have a whole lot of internal organs. He was almost certain that the homunculi relied on some obscure resource to move. But when he started draining, he received a prodigious amount of stamina—and only stamina, which strangely suggested that the creatures didn’t have mana at all. Or maybe they did have some other energy, he just couldn't absorb it because he had no way to contain it. Really, who knew?
The homunculi roared and struggled, seemingly having realized that someone or something had just landed on top of it and was in the middle of doing something it very much disliked. But it could do nothing but screech for it did not have any way to get Reivan off its body.
“Behold, hapless creature.” Reivan conjured a blade and started stabbing the beast’s body repeatedly. “The power of hands!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Suddenly, Helen landed beside him with the grace and poise of someone with the wind affinity. Her sudden appearance made him hurriedly empty out a spot in the darkness so he didn’t start draining her too. “Van, you’re fooling around again…”
“It was just some banter.” He shrugged. “Also, I’ve got this handled. No help needed.”
“I know. I wasn’t going to, but I didn’t want to stay in the sky.”
‘Ah. Makes sense.’
Flying was nice and all, but it easily revealed one’s location. The imperial army was already in full retreat and likely didn't have any presence this far southeast, but he appreciated her caution nonetheless.
Reivan continued to “till the soil”, except the soil, in this case, was the monster’s body. It barely even flinched when he plunged his sword into flesh, but Reivan knew that his actions were hurting it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be trying to reach over and bite him, right?
Of course, he’d likened the thing to an ank-something-saurus, not a brachiosaur or a giraffe. The thing’s neck was nowhere near long enough to let its furious bites reach him. As such, the not-so-pitiful giant abomination couldn't do anything after getting tipped over like this.
‘Yeah. Keep going. Waste your stamina, moron.’
From the start, he intended to knock the thing out. Cutting off half of its limbs and essentially immobilizing it was just to make things easier for him to drain it completely.
Unfortunately, it seemed he underestimated just how deep the monster’s well of stamina went. Ten minutes since he started draining the big guy, and it still seemed energetic. And that was while the thing kept struggling to get a piece of him in any way it could.
“This is not a viable strategy against these fuckers, huh…” Reivan concluded, ceasing his harassment. He shouldered his blade with a sigh. “At least I know it now. Ten minutes is way too much time to invest trying to tire these guys out… and I’m not even sure how long it would take, exactly.”
“Mhm.” Helen nodded, chewing on some jerky while feeding some to the shrunken emerald dragon on her shoulder. After she swallowed, she looked toward him. “The thing with the joints is good though. Keep doing that when we fight them next time.”
“True. But damn. It doesn’t have mana, so I can’t just drain back whatever mana I spend killing it. How annoying.”
“Is it really? They'll usually be accompanied by Argonian soldiers, so just get mana from those guys if you need it after taking out a homunculi.”
“It’s extra effort, but I suppose that’s the only thing I can do.”
Reivan severed the homunculi's other limbs before moving toward the thing’s neck. With every possible way to strengthen himself active, he started hacking away at it. He could, of course, just end it altogether if he just did to the head what he did to the limb joints, but the purpose of this little encounter was to gather experience.
Killing it quickly served no purpose right now. He would rather find out how much effort it took to cut the thing’s head using the old-fashioned way.
The answer, surprisingly, was four minutes.
‘Fucking hell, I feel like a miner or something. I can feel the burn in my arms even though they don’t hurt.’
With how long it took to cut through an immobilized homunculi’s neck, he’d truly confirmed how inefficient close combat techniques were when used against these gigantic dino-rejects. He would really have to take note of who he deployed to battles where these things could potentially show up. In an ideal world, only those with AoE skills that were a good match against homunculi should fight them in a combat situation.
“This has been a good learning experience.” He nodded to himself before gesturing at the entrance created by the homunculi head’s absence. “Wanna check out what's inside?”
Helen—a beautiful woman who usually maintained a mask of stoicism—grimaced in disgust at his suggestion. “Why? Why would we do that?”
Reivan shrugged. “There might be supplies in there. And aren’t you curious what’s inside a homunculi?”
“No. I can’t say I am. Never was.”
“You really lack romanticism and curiosity…” he muttered to himself as he shook his head in exasperation. “C’mon. Let’s check out the disgusting giant monster’s innards.”
She vehemently shook her head, even taking a step away from him. “Don’t wanna. You do it yourself.”
As she crossed her arms and turned away with a sigh, the tiny dragon on her shoulder hissed angrily at him as if to defend her mistress from his bullying.
“You’re gonna let me go at it alone? I thought you were going to stick to me like glue?”
“Stop fucking around, Van. I’m not going in there.”
At her vehemence, Reivan raised both arms and chuckled. “Okay, okay. I’ll go by myself, geez…”
Honestly, he was a bit surprised that she refused him so adamantly. He’d grown up with her and he’d seen her in much grosser situations. One time, she’d dived into the mouth of a particularly large and sturdy nightmare spawn. Moments later, she cut open its stomach to get out, nonchalantly saying that it was the most efficient way to kill the thing.
She wasn’t the type of person to get grossed out by stuff like this.
‘Plus, she already knows that this thing is mostly hollow. So there’s not much disgusting innards to speak of.’
Thinking that she may have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed today, he shrugged and ducked into the homunculi’s insides by himself. For very obvious reasons, he was in full armor.
‘It sure is dark in here…’
Good thing he had the darkness affinity. That way, he didn’t need any illumination to see.
Exploring the interior of an artificial kaiju was surprisingly… well, boring. Reivan somewhat expected to uncover some secret weak spot with [Supreme Insight]. But he found a whole lot of nothing instead.
At the start, things were interesting because the giant monster’s insides were blue, providing a fresh experience considering the world was dominated by people with red insides. Homunculi didn’t have blood and subsequently didn’t bleed when wounded, so that may have been a part of it. But why the hell was it blue? Design choice?
With no blood, the beast also didn’t require organs like a heart or veins, though there were lung-like organs very deep in its body. The interior was just a whole bunch of hollow pathways, each leading to compartments with a wide space and a bunch of exits to other pathways.
Everything he knew about how biological beings worked felt useless while examining the homunculi. He just couldn't make sense of how the thing was even moving.
‘I got a whole bunch of supplies, but it’s not like they’re very useful to me and Samsara.’
In the hollow compartments, he’d found food, barrels of water, some sundry supplies, and weaponry. There was a bit of everything. As the prince, however, he didn’t see all that much value out of them.
He was basically just taking them so they didn’t end up back in the hands of the empire somehow. And also because he could.
“I’m back!” Reivan called out as he exited the strangest theme park exhibit ever. But when he searched the surroundings for his wife, he was surprised to discover her bent over and unloading her breakfast very far from the homunculus. “Oh my g—Helen! Helen! Are you okay!?”
His heart gripped with worry as he rushed to her side, Reivan cautiously kept stock of his surroundings. There was nobody around but them and a decapitated dino. Helen didn’t have any noticeable wounds on her body either.
‘Did someone attack her then dipped? Or is it an esper!? Are they hiding in the ground?’
Reivan really doubted that a few measly espers could catch Helen off guard, but it wasn’t exactly impossible. The chances were in the decimals, he was sure. But it wasn’t zero.
When he reached her side, full-plate armor surrounding his body, she held up a hand and rasped out an “I’m okay…” before resuming her sudden quest to empty her stomach. Though she assured him that she was fine, he still watched out for enemies that might pop out of the ground like horrid moles.
After a while, Helen straightened up and tiredly wiped off the leftover barf on her lips. “It wasn’t an enemy. I just felt sick.”
“Oh.” Reivan’s tense shoulders relaxed and he dispelled his armor. Then he started to truly process what she said. “You felt sick…?”
That was weird, to say the least. Helen was pretty much always the picture of health. He even had her take vitamins via... well, sex—his ability to turn any body fluid into medicine coming in very handy for this. Yeah, she ate like a world-devouring serpent, but she worked all of that off through exercise. And not being picky with food, she did make sure to eat a healthy helping of veggies and other nutritious food after eating too much of whatever the heck she wanted.
Furthermore, she was a Half-Ascendant. One that, in her words, could step into the next realm whenever she wanted. Every morning she circulated essence throughout her body, ridding it of any impurities.
Someone like her didn’t suddenly “feel sick” for no good reason. Forgive his wording, but his wife was a badass bitch.
‘Wait a minute…’
A sudden thought crossed Reivan’s mind and his gaze suddenly fell to her stomach. “This is just a maybe, but… perhaps this is some form of morning sickness? And the homunculi guts made it worse?”
Helen also straightened up, her brows rising. “So… I’m pregnant?”
“Maybe…? Don't ask me, it's not my body. But think about it. You’ve never been grossed out by creature guts, right?”
“That’s true… But somehow, I just couldn’t stand them today.”
Reivan crossed his arms and nodded. His sudden thought was becoming a lot more plausible now. “We can’t really confirm it here, no? We should zip back to Lageton and consult a physician. Or I dunno, a priest? Probably best to go to the former first…”
Helen nodded vehemently. Somehow the lethargy and nausea she felt earlier seemed to have gotten blown away. Grabbing his hand, Helen jumped into the air with him.
‘Wait wait wait, you just left behind the dragon!’
It took a while before he calmed her down and they rode on her spirit beast instead.
Flying on a big dragon expedited traveling by a lot, so it didn’t take long for Reivan and Helen to land in Lageton. It would have taken much longer on foot, but they didn’t need to be as cautious of being spotted by the enemy on a return trip.
Besides, if he brought up being careful to Helen right now, he might just meet his maker.
Ignoring everything else, they hunted down the nearest state-approved physician. Now, a more tactless husband would have pointed out that only the woman was needed to confirm the pregnancy, but Reivan wouldn’t be caught lacking in that department. It was a matter of course that he would accompany his wife in this matter, even if he was extremely busy. That was his brat inside her, for crying out loud.
The doctor, unfortunately, couldn’t be sure at the moment either. So Helen pulled him along to the building that Reivan granted the Church of Sormon as their temporary base here in Samsara.
“Oh my. Congratulations on your pregnancy!” the young priestess closest to the entrance when they arrived, and was hence the one Helen consulted, smiled widely. “It is faint—which is perfectly understandable, given how early it is into her pregnancy—but I can feel a spark of life forming in her womb.”
Helen’s face brightened as she turned to him, her grip on his hand tight. Too tight, actually. Any more and his bones might start making sounds it shouldn't make.
Reivan, though still in shock at the confirmation of his fatherhood, beamed as he subtly extricated his hand from her claws and hugged her. “This is great! I don’t really know what to say though… Uh, nice work…?”
She laughed a little. “Wasn’t it a team effort?”
“Fair enough.” He chuckled with her. “So I guess we say ‘We did it!’ or something, huh?”
While they were being silly, the priestess just kept smiling as she chimed in. “Uhm, I know that the lady is also a knight, but I believe it is prudent to take a break from knightly activities. Preferably from now until about a week after the birth, depending on how quickly she recovers.”
Helen seemed a little troubled by that, but she begrudgingly nodded. “Yes. It’s for our boy.”
“Eh?” The priestess cutely tilted her head. “My lady, it is far too early for the baby’s sex to be decided. I’m afraid that you should temper your expectations so you aren’t disappointed…”
Frowning, Helen was probably about to insist that she was somehow going to conceive a boy, but Reivan butted in and thanked the priestess with a smile.
“Thank you for your advice, priestess,” he said, grabbing his wife’s hand to remind her not to mouth off to a woman of the cloth—who was only saying very sensible things. “My wife here is just really hoping for a boy. She can get a bit insistent on it. You know how pregnant women can be…”
“Ah, yes. Of course.” The priestess bobbed her head with an understanding smile. “Please feel free to come here for a sun bath every morning to help boost your health, Lady Helen. And I’ll be sure to inform my brothers and sisters here to pray to the Sun God that you may be graced with a boy.”
The priestess’ words seemed to please her greatly because the surprisingly moody Helen eased up. “Thank you.”
Not wanting to disturb the clerics with their duties, the two of them exited the building under the surprised gazes of nearby citizens. While Helen didn’t really mind them, Reivan noted how there was a surprising amount of people in the building who weren’t there for healing.
‘Hm. I guess the Sormon Faith is converting more people than I thought. Good for them.’
It could only be a wonderful thing if Samsara’s people welcomed the church with open arms. That way, more priests would feel safe enough to venture here. They would probably come even if the risk remained, because that was just how they were. But it was naturally better to be welcomed.
“That girl was nice,” Helen commented, hugging his arm as they walked through the somewhat abandoned streets of what was probably a shopping district. “We should donate.”
Reivan couldn't help but chuckle. “We already do. The kingdom has a budget just for donating to the church, you know?”
“No, I mean we should. I think I have a bunch saved up… I don’t use my salary anyway.”
‘Yeah. Because I pay for everything…’
Not that he was complaining. He wanted to do that. It was a guy thing, he believed, to buy stuff for the woman he loved. Women, in his case. There was more than just one, after all.
“Let’s talk about that later. Helen…” Reivan momentarily glanced down at her as he adjusted his pace to match hers. “You can’t come with me anymore. Now that… Y'know. The baby.”
She groaned. Loudly. “I know…”
Seeing her agree, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “I’m glad that you’re not trying to insist.”
“It’s for our boy, after all.” Helen smiled as her other hand rubbed her belly. It was still flat—muscular, actually—but today confirmed that it wouldn’t be for very long. “I don’t get to decide for myself anymore. He needs to be taken into account in everything from now on.”
“Don’t forget about your husband too.”
“Of course. How could I, when he's so fond of worrying?”
They smiled at each other and enjoyed the warmth of knowing that though they couldn’t see them yet, there was now a third member of their little family.
