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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3464713" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 149LOOK INTO MY EYEVaro felt the unnatural power of the umber hulk’s stare as it unleashed its gaze attack upon him.  The swirling pattern of chaos in those eyes called to him, but the priest of Dagos was a master of chaos, and with an effort of will he tore his eyes free of that confusing gaze. Serah tried to get away from the grasping arms of the first hulk, but the creature was both faster and far stronger than the cleric.  It seized her in its claws, and pulled her up to bite.  The claws that could burrow through solid stone were given little difficulty by even magical chain links, and they penetrated deep into her body.  Its mandibles would have taken her head clean off, but Serah managed to get an arm up to push away.  The move saved her life but cost her, as the hulk’s jaws seized upon the limb, savagely crushing the bones.  The priestess screamed and lost consciousness, falling limp in the monster’s terrible grasp. Dar, rushing to engage the ants, had reversed course the instant that the hulks had appeared, and now he charged into battle, Bullo close on his heels.  Dar smote the hulk holding Serah, driving Valor through one of the armored plates covering its torso.  The hulk let out a high-pitched shriek and tossed the unconscious cleric aside, turning its wrath upon the fighter. The second hulk had surged toward Varo following the failure of its gaze attack, but it was diverted as Bullo rushed at it, his axe raised above his head in both hands.  The hulk had superior reach, though, and it smashed the warrior across the body with a huge claw.  Droplets of blood were flung through the air as the claws pierced Bullo’s armor, but the legionary kept on coming, turning with the force of the impact to drive his axe down toward the creature’s head.  Unfortunately the hit he’d taken had thrown off his angle slightly, and the axehead glanced off the side of its head without inflicting damage. “Don’t meet its gaze!” Varo yelled in warning.  Unfortunately for his allies, the warning came too late, as both fighters were confused by the shifting patterns that flickered through the hulks’ huge eyes.  Dar shook his head, dazed, unable to stop the hulk from picking him up and hurling him across the cavern.  He landed hard twenty feet away, groaning in pain. Bullo let out a wild yell and tried to attack the hulk again, abandoning all thought of defense in an all-out surge of violence.  But the hulk was faster, tearing into the fighter’s armored body with its claws.  The force of the blows knocked the fighter aside, his axe clattering on the rough stone as he fell hard to the ground.  The rest of the companions were coming to help as quickly as they could, but they still had their hands full with the remaining ants.  Talen killed the last soldier ant on his side of the battlefield and ran back toward the melee with the hulks, while Pella recovered her bow.  The knight heard Varo’s shout and averted his eyes, trying to keep his gaze on the lower half of the hulks’ bodies.  It made for a difficult rush, and only a slight shifting of the legs of the nearer of the two warned him that an attack was coming.  He raised his shield, barely deflecting a powerful hit from a claw that numbed his entire arm from the force of the impact.  He surged forward, sweeping his holy sword across the hulk’s lower body.  But the effort of averting his eyes had thrown off his stroke, and the sword glanced harmlessly off the creature’s thick torso plates. The hulk immediately tore into him with its claws and mandibles. Shay saw the hulk attack and Talen’s charge, but she could not immediately move to join him.  Even the split second of distraction nearly allowed one of the worker ants to get its jaws closed around her knee; she still suffered a painful wrench to the limb as she tore free of its bite.  Baraka, having finished the second ant he’d engaged, leapt to her aid, ignoring another that was worrying at his back, trying to get hold of a leg or arm.  “Go!” he yelled.  “We’ll finish these!” Kalend yelped as an ant bit him, but the rogue was canny enough to shift to the side, taking up a flanking position opposite the mountain ranger. Shay leapt backward, spinning around in midair to hit the ground running ten feet away.  She had heard Varo’s warning, but beyond that had personal experience with umber hulks; she knew not to look directly at them.Varo tried to get to Serah, but was blocked as the second hulk rumbled straight for him.  He held his ground, keeping his eyes low until its claw locked onto his torso, threatening to crush his ribs through sheer strength.  The cleric’s concentration held, and he touched the hulk at the joint where its claw met its wrist, pouring an inflict critical wounds into it.  The hulk shrieked and fell back, its damaged claw trailing blood that oozed out from the gaps in its chitinous armor.  A loud roar emerged from the rubble behind the creature.  Bullo reared up, holding a boulder twice the size of his head in his hands.  Ignoring the blood trailing down his body from the ill-treatment he’d suffered at the hands of the hulk, he rushed the creature from behind, driving the stone into its back with enough force to crack one of its heavy dorsal plates. The hulk immediately spun to finish the fighter, but as it turned an arrow knifed deep into the narrow opening in its armored body, under the spot where its right arm met its body.  The arrow disappeared entirely into its torso, and the hulk collapsed to its knees.  Bullo lifted the rock and smashed it repeatedly into the hulk’s head, until the stone was covered in blood and gore.  Varo turned to see that Allera had reached Serah, who was already regaining consciousness, brought around by the healer’s powerful magic.  But he also saw something else more dangerous.  “Allera, look out!” The healer turned to see Dar charging straight toward her, madness in his eyes as he lifted Valor to strike.</blockquote>

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