Hex Knight Chapter 5, Armored Transport

Safe back in his grove, and having slept to refill his mana, Alex inspected the corpses of the 3 bandits, and fought the urge to hurl. The bear had done it’s work too well, and if he was to use them to get out, he would have to fix them. One of the bandits was still in decent enough shape that it wouldn’t take too much effort to get him up and going, while the other 2 were torn to pieces.

While powerful on land, the bear was clearly outmatched if it was in the water. Alex shuddered at the thought of the monstrously sized crocodile likely patrolling the fringes of the island, waiting for any unfortunate sap to wander too deep. An idea occurred to him though, why not combine the bear and the croc, creating a powerful undead for no matter the location. Bears back home were very comfortable in the water, and crocodiles had some very robust natural armor. He could combine them, create something able to tackle anything this swamp threw at him.

Given his luck, he would likely get out of here, just to run face first into a dragon of some sort. So, whatever he created would need to be capable of squaring off against one. Something the size of Smaug would be unviable, scaling up mana costs would likely drain him completely and not do anything, ignoring getting that much material to work with. Of course, this was all conjecture if he could even combine the bodies of 2 different creatures. Looking at his jigsaw puzzle of people though, he had a means of testing if it would work.

Grabbing a broken femur from the leg of one of them, Alex fused the 2 halves with a simple cast of [Bone Mold]. Now came the test. Grabbing another femur, he held them side by side and casted [Bone Mold] again, with the intent of fusing them together. After a second, they began to flow like water, combining into the shape of a larger femur.

It worked! Quickly setting about repairing the largely whole bandit until he was staring at a patchwork of a man. A cast of [Turn Undead] had him at a sliver of mana, but a new undead staring at him, awaiting orders. While his summoned undead lacked organs, Alex had checked, he had been sure to include everything with this guy.

“Can you speak?” He was eager to find out, not only because they likely had a camp somewhere, with supplies he could snag, but also he wanted some conversation with someone, even if it was an undead creation.

“...yeeessss…” It was strained, as if out of practice, but it was speech nonetheless.

“Do you know where your camp was in life? Do you remember anything from your time in the living?”

“Yes, and no.” The replies were much quicker this time, and better focused, as if the undead was in better control over his body. Cursing the fact he couldn’t find out anything about where he was located in the wider world, he still had something he could work with.

“Good, we will be going there after my camp gets put away.” Quickly ordering the skeletons which had been standing around to start picking things up and carrying them, his entourage was soon headed back to the bandit camp. The undead mouse, still hanging about his camp, was quickly picked up, before it took up its usual cranny behind his neck. While not looking forward to seeing any more wastes of humanity, he did need to know if there were any hostages, which the bandit undead told him there wasn’t.

Reaching the camp, there was a very large guy stirring a pot with unknown contents over a fire. An array of rusty weapons leaned against a tree, and bedrolls lay on the ground in various places. Quickly ordering the undead to enter and kill the sole man had netted him with another body. Strolling in like he owned the place, he looked around to see what might be usable. Looking at the soup, it was easy to tell that it was done, just being kept hot while the guy waited for his group to return.Eating his fill, he quickly found nothing of worth. Alex pitched his tent, had his undead stand guard, and as it was turning dark, went to sleep.

He awoke early, eager to get to work. Using the 2 bandits in pieces, he set about merging and adding them to the large man. 2 arms were fused with the already bulging arms of the man, while a second set was placed below it. The torso was lengthened more than it was made deeper, and since he wouldn’t be using them anyways, the guts were tossed outside the camp. Legs were fused together, both in length and in muscles, until the total body would stand at almost 10 feet tall, and likely weighed somewhere in the 600lbs. Casting [Turn Undead] had a *ping* as the goliath stood up.

–You have successfully created Flesh Golem.--

–Bonus xp has been granted for first creation.--

–For your efforts with the bodies of humans, you have been granted the title: Mad Doctor.--

–Mad Doctor: Bonus knowledge in biological matters.--

Feeling as though someone was pressing his brain with a red hot poker, Alex quickly shut his eyes against the sudden influx of information. When it ceased, he opened them to find his Flesh Golem standing, waiting for orders. Thanks to [Mad Doctor], he was aware of certain flaws he had made with the second set of arms, namely around the shoulders. Nothing that would inhibit their usage, but the range of motion would have been nowhere near where he wanted it. Alex was unsure as to if he could still use [Bone Mold] and [Flesh Mold] while the Golem was active, but better to find out here and now rather than in combat.

His worries were for nothing, as a few minutes later, the shoulders were fixed. Ordering it to throw a punch, he could hear as the air was moved from the force of the swing. Having it run to a tree and back, he was glad to note that the Golem was quite impressive, both in speed and power. Telling it to stand guard over him, he looked for what he could do elsewhere.

Fixing the Golem had run him out of mana, so while he couldn’t do anything to prepare for his creation, he could prep for the journey. The weapons held by the bandits, various bows, swords, spears, and a couple of halberds, were in far too bad of shape to be useful on his travels, however as temporary weapons for summoned undead, they would more than suffice. Looking down on his own armor, Alex noted rust forming. Sitting down, he spent the rest of the day scrubbing rust off, using a small brush he had found in the bandits camp. With the setting sun, he rose from his seat, armor freshly gleaming, and laid his head down.

While it grated on him, he had a plan, summon as many zombies as he could before going to bed, and when he woke up, he would summon even more, since his mana would be refilled. With the 24 hour time limit, the summons from the night would still be there. But as he was eager to do something, Alex set about gathering food and water, rolling up bundles of stuff he was taking on his journey, and organizing his inventory, since when he had put it together, he was feeling a little rushed. Night came, mana was drained creating about 15 zombies, and he went to sleep.

The next day, Alex awoke and summoned as many zombies as he could. Arming them with the weapons from the bandits, he was displeased to note several of them would be going unarmed. After giving the Golem a pair of battleaxes and short swords, he thought of how they should hunt it. Making a plan, he ordered the horde to find the gigantic crocodile, haul it ashore, and help as the golem and bear killed it in whatever way possible. Once successful, bring the body back, and if any of the Turned died in combat, bring their bodies back as well.

He noted with amusement that the Golem and bear seemed to be pretty evenly matched in terms of speed, while the zombies had to struggle to keep up. A passing mental order to the 2 of them had them slowing down to enable the horde to keep pace. While he would have liked to go there and help out, the last thing he needed was to be caught as the crocodile thrashed about, and this was likely going to be an all or nothing approach. It either worked, or it didn’t, and his presence wouldn’t change it either way with no mana. Keeping an eye on his status, Alex awaited for any kind of news.

At the edge of his hearing, on account of [Bestial Senses], a roar passed through the air, different from the roars that he had been hearing from the bear when it was alive. Looking back at his status, he noted one of his summoned zombies had been slain. A second later, another. His feed soon filled with death after death of summoned zombies. Shutting it, Alex chose to wait and see, checking on his feed occasionally as he continued packing. A couple hours later, another roar split the air, this one higher, more desperate. Close to evening, and he received the message he had been waiting for.

–Undead Summon has slain lvl 48 Dire Croc Broodmother.--

--Bonus experience awarded for first defeat of an enemy of this type–

–Due to distance from kill, experience has been diminished.--

Well, that is one part down, time to begin the second part. As Alex waited for whatever returned from his impromptu horde, he began thinking of how he would build up his mount. While something like a dragon wouldn’t be viable, as the knowledge imparted by [Mad Doctor] was based on his world, there was something from back home which could potentially throw hands with a dragon of similar size, a dinosaur.

His first thought was to do the most powerful carnivore to have existed, a T-Rex, but a few issues arose from that. Namely stability, since having 2 legs would likely not make the most stable of foundations, but also how well whatever he created could swim. If Alex was to ride it through the swamp, he had to look elsewhere, or just modify it. Biped would become quadruped, and he could just use the paddle tail from the croc as the tail, ensuring it would function well in swimming.

A dragging sound could be heard outside the camp, distracting Alex from his thoughts. Looking out, he noted about 11 of his zombies had survived, with the Flesh Golem and bear having been slain in the fight. The sole bandit zombie had been obliterated, just having chunks brought back. The fur of the bear was in tatters, the snout was gone entirely, and one of the limbs had been removed, though it was also carried alongside. The remaining zombies struggled with hauling the almost 50 foot carcass laden down with the 2 bodies on top, causing Alex to hurry down, and help out as much as he could.

Wide eyed at the sheer amount of material he had to work with, Alex began inspecting the bear and Golem. Injuries similar to electrical burns covered their bodies, leading him to believe that the massive croc also had a skill, just like the spider queen and the bear while it was in life, likely something electrical. With his mana empty, there was little to do except wait for the next day to roll around, so he laid his head down, confident that nothing would approach in the night.

With his mana refilled, Alex stripped the bear of it’s hide before moving to the muscles of both, straining just how much [Flesh Mold] could move in one go. A chunk of his mana bar gone, he looked at the croc body, and after a simultaneous cast of [Flesh Mold] and [Bone Mold], the tail separated clean off the main body, ready to be attached to the bear skeleton, once given a few tweaks to the hips.

Starting at the head, Alex shook his. The complete front of the bear's face had been removed, and not cleanly. He would have to use the Dire Croc to replace it. Going for a blend between the croc and the bear, he managed to get something oddly dinosaur shaped. [Mad Doctor] telling him it was similar to that of a Fasolasuchus, whatever that was. True, it was his idea to create a dinosaur, but not to this extreme of an effect. Given how there were no teeth from the bear, the croc’s teeth had to be used, but he wasn’t going to leave it at that.

Taking a horn from a swamp-ox from one of his hunts during his extended stay, he had turned it into a tool head, having used [Bone Mold] on it to bring it into various shapes, sometimes an axe, sometimes a pick to better bust apart the tree roots when he had built a clay pit, so he knew the horn material was tough. As a set of canines in the front of the mouth, it would work wonders for breaking through scales and armor. Returning back to the one Alex had seen on his first day, he had the horns in his hands in short order. Melding them with the leftover crocodile teeth for that off yellow shine, he then had his canines. Footlong and the base being about as big around as his fist, they would put out some serious damage.

On to the body. Mostly leaving the hips alone, he paid the limbs very little attention, beyond rejoining the missing limb and making said limbs thicker and more muscled. He also made sure the feet were webbed, although they still looked like a bear's claw if you didn’t look to closely. There was some work done to the rear hips to support the tail, but the tail fused with the main body seamlessly after he finished.

This just left him with the skin. Massive as it was, even the Dire Croc couldn’t cover the full body, not as it was anyways. As small as it was compared to the now larger frame, the bear’s shaggy hide would not cover the entire body anymore, so after using [Flesh Mold] to repair the damage, it was smoked to potentially preserve it. Hopefully he could find someone who could tan it and turn it into a saddle at some point. Which meant he had to look elsewhere. Alex’s mind drifted back to the other crocs he had hunted. With him not having any means, or the know-how, to tan any of the hides, they had begun to stink over the course of the 2.5 months Alex had been stuck there. Given how some of the older ones were beginning to rot, they either had to be used or tossed. Thankfully, there was enough he didn’t have to go for a hunt.

Since it would have been a waste of time for no benefit, no organs were in the chest cavity, meaning it was hollow. That wasn’t to say there was no organs, as both the, uh, family jewels and the brain had been kept. Doing that may have been a waste, true, but so far as Alex cared, none of his creations would ever be called brainless. A mix of all the brain matter he had on hand was used to make up the creation's brain. As for the dangly bits, they had been tucked in behind a slit, because he figured somehow he had been molded like thus, the loss of his favorite parts would upset him greatly.

During his work, [Lord of the Dead] had leveled twice, so great was the amount of material he had to work with. First level gave him [Arm the Dead], which allowed him to spend a low amount of mana to provide weapons and armor to his summons, which lasted as long as they did. The second level gave him [Improved Manipulation], and without that, he wouldn’t have been able to put as fine a touch on the soon to be undead.

After 4 days of work, Alex stared at his creation. About 7 tons of armored zombie laid in front of him. Estimating it to be 15 feet tall and 40 feet long, the creation was absurdly huge. Massive ridges formed where the shoulders for both sets of limbs met. Was it perfect? No, the scales didn’t match on both sides, there was a clear quality difference between the bear’s material and the croc’s, although he couldn’t tell which one was superior, but it would have to do.

The bear hide had been laid over the nook he had created in front of the shoulder leading to the neck. It would serve in place of a proper saddle. Climbing on his mount, he readied himself. Everything was bundled up and ready to go. With his mana full, Alex casted [Turn Undead] and watched as his mana bar disappeared at an egregious rate. When it hit zero, a throb of pain pulsed, and a migraine threatened to descend. After a short second or so, the custom beast rose up, Alex sitting on it’s back securely.

–You have temporarily created Undead Behemoth.--

–Due to not meeting mana demands for this creation, no experience has been awarded.--

Closing his eyes against the migraine now beating his brain into mush, he gave the mental command to the beast to head west. Feeling the creation lurch into motion before finding a smooth motion, Alex focused on not falling off and staying conscious. As little as they provided, he was glad he had tossed the bandit corpses in the build process as well, since having them follow would have slowed him down, and in the case of the Flesh Golem’s case, would have been hard to explain. He still didn’t know how the world would react to his presence, but given the command made by Muurgre, it wasn’t good. But that was for later, right now he had to focus on getting out.

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