Come on… what are you going to show me?
The monster’s lips draw back to reveal a horrifying smile that pierces through the shadows, given that its teeth literally shine in the dark, coated as they are with a thick, green slime. As I draw ever so slightly closer, the monster slows its own movement, watching my every move with those bulbous eyes. I hesitate. Should I try and communicate with it? Go all out on offence? Judging by the power of its core, this beastie is tier six for sure, there’s no doubt that it would be intelligent enough to approach sentience.
Only, between the monster itself and the toxic atmosphere surrounding it, I dismiss the idea of engaging in conversation. There’s something about the way it’s eyeing me that makes me think trying to talk to it wouldn’t be wise…
If that’s the case and we’re going to go for it, then I’m better served by going large early. The Omni-Elemental Construct is prepared, and I start pumping burning hot Blue Fire Mana through it, weaving the resulting energy into a jet of flame that I hold at the ready. My feet continue to creep forward, and gradually the monster draws nearer, the aura and stench of infection growing stronger all the while.
I draw my mandibles wide in a threatening fashion as we start to circle around each other. The other monster is lithe and wiry; if it weren’t for that head, I’d think it was well built for speed, but—
WHOOSH!
After leaning to one side and pausing, the creature vanishes from sight. My senses scream in warning, my antennae burning with predictions of a dire future. My nerves fire and my large body darts to one side with deceptive speed, flashing out of the way of slime-coated jaws that snap shut in the space I had occupied only a moment before.
That was close! This guy isn’t just fast, he’s super fast!
Reacting on instinct, I lunge, trying to catch the beast before it can recover. The muscles in my face release their tension and my mandibles slam forward as I activate my most potent bite attack.
DOOM CHOMP!
The jaws of black light manifest and chomp together before I even register the pain, but the moment I do, it’s agonizing. I feel like my whole face is on fire! What the heck is going on? My mandibles crash together, and I find that the creature has almost managed to escape without harm, a jagged tear down the side of its body the only mark I put on it, but just being this close to it is causing me damage.
Burn it with fire!
A wave of blue erupts from between my mandibles as I unleash a raging gout of flame that wouldn’t shame a dragon with its heat and size. Instantly, the frozen air of the shadow sea is filled with flames and everything before me begins to burn. Gwehehehe. Crispy enough for you?
66. The First of Its Kind
The monster did not enjoy the crispy fire. The only unfortunate thing was that it didn’t not enjoy it sufficiently enough to immediately perish. Having missed its initial bite and then been bitten and burned, the toad creature snarls, its lips pulling back from those horrendous teeth and grinding out a sound like nails on a chalkboard combined with bones snapping. It’s quite distressing.
I allow the flames to dissipate to get a better visual of my opponent, and I find them lurking just out of the fire’s range, staring at me with baleful eyes. With this level of distance between us, I feel confident taking a second to evaluate myself with one of my sub-brains. What I find is more than a little shocking. Despite not suffering an attack, despite only being close to the stupid toad for a few moments, it’s chewed through ten percent of my HP. How!
[Invidia! Can you check me for impurities in my Mana?]
[Sssss. It will be done.]
The piercing green eye flashes with power as that immense brain goes to work, and in a few heartbeats, the little demon has already finished.
[It hassss infected you. Your Mana issss being tainted.]
How in the hell? Watching the frog carefully, I use my sub-brain to turn my Mana Sense inward, scouring through my Mana channels, and I’m shocked to find that Invidia is completely correct. It’s small, but there are places where the creature’s Mana has somehow gotten into my system, and just as it’s doing in the area around us, it’s converting the Mana it comes into contact with into its own, further spreading the damage.
But that doesn’t explain how it got in. Desperate to understand, I angle my body slightly so I can better see my own carapace and discover a few places where the glittering diamond has crumbled into a blackened mess. The spots are small, easy to miss if I weren’t searching so carefully, but they are definitely there.
It managed to break down my carapace so quickly? That’s insane! I didn’t even feel it. Except there was that moment of blinding pain when I drew close enough to bite… That hadn’t felt like it’d come from my back, though, or anyplace in particular. It’d felt like my entire body had been dipped in acid mixed with poison, with an added spoonful of radioactive viruses and a sweaty sock.
Is it just an aura power?
The more I stare at the toad, the more I think I’m right. Somehow, the Mana around its body is corrosive, infectious, and replicates itself. There’s a very real possibility that it can control that Mana at will, as if it were an aura generated by a gland. It’s the only thing that makes sense…
My musings are rudely interrupted as the frog decides it’s had enough of sitting back on its legs and launches into action. With two leaps of its withered, twisted limbs, it rockets around the tunnel, opening its mouth wide to deliver a blast of pure toxic Mana in my direction.
Not good!
Nerves afire with panic, I get the heck out of the way as that concentrated ball of pain splashes onto the rock where I’d been standing, dissolving it into a hissing mess in an instant. Holy Moly! That is intense! Keen not to get hit again, I continue to move in rapid bursts, relying on my nerves and foresight to track the frog as it throws its body around the tunnel at Vibrant-pleasing speeds, raining hell on me from above, to the side, and any other angle it can find.
Dammit! This is making it hard to find a window to retaliate. If I want to get my mandibles on this punk, then I need to close the distance, which is hard when it’s so much faster than me… Even though getting closer to it is a guaranteed way to suffer from that horrendous aura effect, it’s better than trying to hit this thing with spells from range as it zips all over the place, bombarding me with this sludge Mana!
DASH!
Firing my legs in sequential bursts to stack up multiple Dashes at once, I rocket forward, zooming in a straight line toward the point I predict the frog will have to land next. As I’d hoped, it doesn’t seem capable of changing direction midair and is forced to complete its jump, which will place it right in range of my jaws. Another ball of sludge flies over my back to impact the floor behind me. Mandibles wide open and locked in place, I close the distance between us in an instant.
That burning pain returns, except this time, I somewhat know what to expect. When I’m paying attention, I can feel it go to work, eating into my antennae, my carapace, my eyes, and legs, everything that’s exposed. I certainly don’t want to put up with it for long!
DOOM CHOMP COMBO!
Using my new rapid-fire combo Skill, my mandibles enjoy a massive increase in speed at a vast increase in stamina cost. In less than a second, I launch three rapid Doom Chomps, my entire body straining with the sheer amount of energy it takes out of me, but it’s worth it. Put in a poor position to dodge, my toad nemesis is forced to evade my bites as best it can but is not as successful as before. It manages to escape, though not unscathed, one of its legs now only a shadow of its former self.