Crack! Crack! Crack!
These minotaurs were clearly no longer normal.
The heavy armor on their bodies contracted, fusing with their flesh and blood; even their arms fused with their war hammers:
The hammerheads became their palms.
Crack! Crack!
The hammerheads, armor, and other fittings split open, turning into gears, connecting rods, and more, merging with flesh and blood.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Plumes of white steam rose from their bodies as their muscles writhed and bulged.
The many wild monkeys on their heads chattered away.
They raised wooden sticks high, hopping and jumping, performing some unknown sacrificial rite.
Awooo!
The bull-headed monsters roared. Under the monkeys' sacrificial rites, the horns on their heads erupted with thunder and fire, turning into beams of light that shot skyward and collided with the Blue Lotus.
Boom!
The Blue Lotus collided with the beams of light atop the ten bull-headed monsters' heads.
The lotus withered.
But some of its power also fell upon the monsters.
Crack!
One monster was completely enveloped by the Blue Lotus's power, then froze, finally turning into points of light that scattered across the sky.
Another portion of its power fell upon a second bull-headed monster.
Half of this monster's body dissolved into points of light and dispersed.
The flesh and metal of its remaining half writhed, vainly attempting to regrow.
But no sooner had a few gears and some flesh grown than the Blue Lotus's power swept over them, freezing them before they collapsed and shattered.
The other eight bull-headed monsters were completely unscathed.
The flesh-and-blood gears on their bodies spun madly, and more white steam sprayed from their elbows, knees, spines, and other places.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The steam spread, resembling dragons and snakes baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, roaring in different voices.
"Nothing can stop us!"