Between a Rock and a Carapace

31. Dust to Dust

Lightning crackles through the air as Tiny unleashes his full arsenal. The edges of his fur lifts, his whole body positively choked with snaking lightning. It curls around his arms, sparks off his ears, and runs down his huge, silver back.

As the creature continues to coalesce around us, Tiny begins to blast lightning from his fists. Every time he takes a swing, a spear of lightning flies out and annihilates one of the blobs. They continuously scatter and reform, each time a little smaller than before.

Even so, dozens of clumps are still forming, each about the size of a person. It’s creepy as heck. These things pulse and shift—on the ceiling, walls, and even the floor of the tunnel in every direction. Just when I start to wonder how the monster is supposed to attack us, the closest blob flexes, changing its shape and revealing a mouth ringed with razor-sharp barbs.

[Look out! Mouths!]

I step backward. Crinis has already acted, lashing out with tentacles to seize the offending shape. Her limb wraps around the blob and tightens, crushing it in an instant. It doesn’t slow the monster, though, as the individual particles are still able to gather.

[It’s on me!] Crinis cries—the dust sticking to her tentacle is slowly creeping toward her main body. [Get off of me, you filth!] she roars and whips the coated limb around, flicking the offensive dust away.

[Tiny’s hurting it, but not enough. Do you think we should run for it?] I call to my pets.

“ROOAR!” Tiny bellows, his face alight with glee as he blasts out electricity.

[How dare you touch me, you traaaaash!] Crinis screams, her tentacles whirling in all directions, scattering the blobs.

Ooookay. No tactical retreat then? Doesn’t look like it’s possible at any rate. Both in front of us and behind, the blobs have merged together, blocking the tunnel with a pulsating wall. The wall shifts, and a huge bulge protrudes, taking the shape of a circular mouth, massive in scale, with needle-like barbed teeth.

What the heck is this monster! My Mana Sense confirms the monster is all around me, as if I were already in its stomach. Not a great feeling. And if I’m not mistaken, the more time passes, the faster this thing is able to move. As if it’s waking up… Perhaps, the more it’s able to bring itself together, the more control it has over its body.

Movement is everywhere, drenched in protruding mouths and teeth, faster than what Tiny and Crinis can destroy.

I’m frozen by indecision. How do you fight something like this? Biting won’t work. I don’t think Gravity Magic will work. I could hose it down with water, will that do anything? Should I try and connect to its mind? I just don’t know!

Seconds pass as I try to settle on a plan of attack, but the decision is taken out of my claws as the yawning mouths extend to consume me. My antennae blaze with warnings of attacks from all sides, and my nervous system lights up like a Christmas tree.

Without having any time to think, my reflexes fire, informed by my defensive Skills. I dodge two bites and allow another to scrape across the tough armour of my carapace. I flinch as the teeth gouge into my exo-skeleton. Those are something special, yikes! I’ll need to be careful.

And to make things better, the giant formations blocking the ends of the tunnel have begun to advance, attempting to squeeze us in the middle.

Come on, Anthony! There has to be something you can do! Gritting my mandibles so tight they grind against each other, I shunt control of the Healing Mana Construct to one of my weaker sub-brains. It’s going to push that mind pretty hard, but this will free up resources.

I don’t think water is going to work on this monster, and I don’t want to take a chance on Mind Magic. Tiny’s lightning was able to burn away small chunks of the creature, maybe fire will help?

I quickly throw up the menu and buy the Fire Mana Affinity Skill as my two free sub-brains start to throw together a Fire Construct. It takes precious seconds to puzzle out the unfamiliar shape, time I don’t have.

[Tiny! Time to go all out! Crinis, you too!]

Tiny’s been having the time of his life. He’s been blasting out wave after wave of electricity at every blob he can see. Anything that comes close to him, he scatters with his hands directly. Every burst of lightning illuminates a savage grin twisting his features and reveals a fiery light in his eyes. At my words, he howls bright and pours out the last of his reserve of lightning, saturating the air with chittering sparks.

From her place on my back, Crinis expands to her full size, her mouth opening to reveal the void she carries inside, ringed with teeth. Dozens of tentacles extend rapidly to fill the tunnel, the thick limbs whipping so fast they blur to slap and tear at the dust wherever she can reach it. It slows them down, a little.

As fast as the pieces are scattered, they come together. The entire tunnel is full of the beast now. No part of the walls, floor, or ceiling are visible, now cloaked entirely in congealing and amassing mouths that gnash and leer at us.

The situation is looking grim.

The Fire Mana Construct snaps into place, and I feed Mana into it. My antennae twitch and my limbs fire as the mouths descend from all sides. It looks as if the tunnel is collapsing and darkness fills my vision.

Omen Chomp!

The dark, ethereal mandibles punch a hole in one side and I leap through it, the rest of the teeth scraping on my carefully angled armour. I activate my Meditation Skill in an attempt to push away the chaos that threatens to wash away my calm. Take the Fire Mana, shape it, quickly.

It glows a deep red and my minds seize upon it, weaving and shaping it. The knowledge of basic Fire Magic has been trickling into my brain since I purchased the Skill, and I grasp onto a shape I know well. The water cannon has an equivalent here, and hopefully, it works the way I want it to.

Visibility is effectively zero. Tiny is bellowing and roaring from nearby, and the crunching sound of Crinis slamming her limbs into the rock echoes from above.

[Duck!] I cry.

A torrent of fire erupts from in front of my face, so bright and hot, my eyes and antennae flare with pain. Actual light and heat! I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it down here.

Greedily, I feed Mana from my core into the Fire Magic Construct, taking hold of the magic and pouring it into my spell.

As the first tongues of flame lick against the creature, it unleashes an ear-splitting shriek. The form that presses in all around me shudders as I direct the fire to burn it. Fire was a good choice! It’s super effective!