Chapter 23. No rest for the Weary

“Now is as good a time as any. If we are going to have a chance at killing this thing then I am gonna have to move fast,” I said to Sherlock as we approached the outer edge of the moat that surrounded the island that the Swamp King currently inhabited.

I had retreated back into the thick swampy forest with the intention of finding an opportunity to make my initial attack and maintain the element of surprise. The Swamp King knew I was out here but it didn’t necessarily know what direction I would strike from.

“Sherlock, can you plot a trajectory for me? I want this first grenade to land near its tail. I don’t see any weaknesses in that carapace but I know the underside of a normal crawfish tail is somewhat softer than the shell on the main body. If I can hurt it at all it will help.

“Trajectory showing now. The armor will regulate your strength and assist with the throw if you accept the suggested trajectory. If you miss it is completely due to user error,” Sherlock said.

“Always a ray of sunshine,” I replied as I pulled a plasma grenade from my waist, wound up and threw it at the Swamp King.

The plasma grenade landed and rolled directly under the massive horse sized crawfishes tail. The charcoal grey sphere rolled to a halt the a ring of light surrounding the outside flashed three times before the sphere exploded. Dirt and chunks of grass flew hundreds of feet into the air as the swamp king pulled it’s tail under its body and twisted in pain. The crawfish spun searching for danger, trying to find the cause of the pain that it was now suffering.

“No turning back now,” I said as I activated my boosters and shot out across the moat.

The moat was about 30 yards across and surrounded the Swamp Kings island which was approximately the size of a baseball infield. As I flew I equipped the Blood Blades and was surprised to see them pulsing. A crimson aura fell from the blades like a light fog as I approached the Swamp King.

I landed on the ground in front of the still reeling crawfish and prepared to fight. I didn’t have an ability that I felt confident in using against the swamp King. Each of my abilities had awesome offensive or defensive capabilities but the flip side was the curse that came from using each one.

Pulsar blast was mainly used for disarming enemies. There were some offensive aspects of the ability but I didtnt have confidence that I could injure the Swamp King enough to justify the cooldown. The defensive bubble provided was nice but being stationary for any amount of time wasn’t something I was willing to chance. Big bang had the same drawbacks except for the small issue of losing my armor and all the protection it offered for several minutes. Do-over didn’t offer any relevant advantage. Shield of Solaris was an option in a pinch but the damage I took form it wasn’t ideal. So I was depending on my untested swords and my ability to out think this monsters. It would have to do.

I leapt for the Swamp King as I held the Blood Blades in a reverse grip, the blades pointing down. I landed on the back of the monster and stabbed down with all the strength I could muster. My intent was to end this quickly, I knew the heart was on the top of the body under the carapace. If I could pierce it early I could end the fight quickly, and with all my limbs. That was the ideal outcome.

Thunk

The Blades managed to barely pierce the surface of the carapace not even achieving an inch of penetration. The Swamp King stopped thrashing as one of his black, antennae like eyes twisted around to gaze squarely at me.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, as I realized that things were about to get a bit more unstable.

The crawfish lifted his left claw over his head and pointed it in my direction. The claw opened then slammed shut with a force that sounded like the sound barrier shattering. Waves of sound blasted into me throwing me off the monsters back and into the nearby shallows of the moat.

“I think my ribs are broken,” I coughed as I got to one knee and reacclimated myself to the battle.

“Scans show 2 ribs broken and several contusions on your torso. I would suggest avoiding that attack in the future,” Sherlock replied.

I mentally activated my health stim to start the healing process and ensure that I would have continued mobility. If I couldn’t move freely then I would be easy game for the monster shellfish that was now hurriedly scuttling in my direction.

“I need to adjust my plan of attack. I cant pierce that shell directly by stabbing. Its time to see what this damage over time ability can do,” I said.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The Swamp King rushed, both claws open and swiping in my direction. As it swung with its right claw I spun, avoiding the attack. The left claw immediately followed and I ducked but the attacks kept coming. I couldn’t find an opening in the furious attacks and it was all I could do for now to dodge and avoid getting snapped in half.

“This isn’t working, I can’t find an opening and it isn’t letting up long enough for me to counter!” I said.

“Just do your best, Captain. I’m rooting for you,” Sherlock replied.

I didn’t have time to respond because of the barrage of attacks that were continuously being rained down by the Swamp king. Without warning the crawfish reared up and extended its claws to the side. I had seen this before with normal sized crawfish, if you get a couple of them and put them in front of each other they will often display this same behavior. It was a sort an aggressive posture they would sometimes take to show dominance before attacking.

BOOM, BOOM

The King snapped both claws simultaneously as waves of sonic energy slammed into me once again. I was thrown into the air once again, this time I completely cleared the width of the moat to slam into a giant cypress tree and slide down to the ground. My health bar plummeted, now flashing red. It was too soon to use another health stim and I was in bad shape with only about a quarter of my total health remaining.

The Swamp King rushed across the moat, intent on finishing the job this time. I sat motionless with my back against the cypress tree. My breaths were ragged, as again I had broken ribs and based on the blood in my mouth I had potentially pierced a lung. I watched as the crawfish approached, its claws snapping wildly. The King slowly made it’sway to my broken body and brought his head directly in front of mine. Small antennae were probing my helmet as it’s beady black eyes inspected me. The Swamp King forcefully nudged me, trying to provoke a response. It wasn’t happy with just killing me, it wanted me to fight, it wanted to make sure that I had nothing left in me before it would end my life.

I dismissed my faceplate so it could see my eyes, I wanted the beast to see the defiance in my eyes.

“hah, ha…cough…ha” I half laughed, half coughed in the face of the massive monster.

The Swamp King hissed furiously as it moved to grab me with it’s claws, but it was too late. While the monsters attention was on my face I had slipped another plasma grenade from my waist, as the creature hissed in fury I reached forward and shoved it into the small circular mouth at the base of it’s head. For good measure I activated Shield of Solaris as I shoved my arm into its mouth to the shoulder.

The crawfish raised and bucked wildly but it wasn’t enough. My ability was cooking it from the inside and as the plasma grew hotter the grenade detonated.

“Sherlock? Sherlock?” I yelled, but all I could hear in response was an intense ringing in my head and ears.

I was alive, I was aware of that at least. I was stumbling around a swamp? There was pain, so much pain. I stumbled and fell to one knee. My head was foggy, everything was a blur. I looked down at my right arm to see that my armor was peeled back to the wrist and my hand was a black mangled mess. I held the hand up in front of my face to inspect it.

“Wha…what happened?” I muttered.

I looked around to see a giant crawfish thrashing as yellow fluid poured from a wound in the front of it’s head. The crawfish twisted and thrashed as it had obviously been severely injured.

“Captain! Andrew! I need you to focus! Can you hear me?” Sherlock was speaking in a panicked tone as he tried to get my attention.

“Sherlock, is that you?” I asked.

“Captain, you are severely injured. The Swamp King is not dead yet. Are you combat effective?” Sherlock asked.

I shook my head trying to clear the fog as the memory of what just happened came rushing back tome like a blast of cold water.

“Holy shit, holy shit, It’s not dead?!” I said as the realization came to me.

My health bar was now under ten percent and flashing menacingly. I was out of options and had no other recourse but to push through and end this now. I equipped one of the Blood Blades in my left hand and stumbled toward the injured Swamp King.

Thwack, Thwack

I swiped defensively at the still reeling crawfish, dodging wild claws and the spear like legs of the twisting, thrashing monster. The sword began to lose some of it’s crimson aura as I struck repeatedly. I didn’t seem to be doing any major damage but black slices began to form on the carapace as I struck.

Thwack, Thwack

I continued to strike weakly, but with resolve, stumbling to one knee several times as I continued to deplete the small reserve of energy I had left. After several minutes the black slashes began to emanate an acrid black smoke but I continued to strike.

Finally I struck the last blow I could muster as the crawfish slowed its thrashing and lay on it’s belly. It slowly lifted one claw in my direction but it didn’t have any strength left and the claw fell limply back to the ground.

I slumped to my knees, breath ragged and painful. The Blood Blade had been completely drained of its crimson aura and was now completely black, resembling a chunk of sharp, black granite more that a crimson glowing tool of death and destruction. I let the blade fall to the ground beside me as I had no more energy left to lift it.

As I sat I watched the smoke from the various cuts and slashes on the shell of the Swamp King grow and without warning the Swamp King thrashed on final time as sprays of blood shot from every slash, rising into the air and accumulating into an orb of blood above the now dead beast. The orb floated silently above the carcass before slowly floating over to the Blood Blade, turning to mist and reabsorbing into the black blade returning the red blood aura to the blades.

“Well, that’s handy,” I gasped

“I never doubted you, Captain. Bravo!” Sherlock said, “You can use a stim now, by the way.”

I mentally activated my health stim and heard the familiar hiss followed by a sensation of warmness as it began repairing my broken body.

“I think I’m just gonna take a breather while the stim does it’s thing,” I said.

Level 1 complete

Proceed to the Center of the swamp for reward and entry to second floor.

The message popped up on my interface as I sat catching my breath.

“No rest for the weary, I guess,” I said as I slowly picked myself up and stumbled back toward the Swamp King’s Island.