The landscape around them shifts dramatically. They leave the ghostly quiet of the garden city, stepping into a fortified military encampment. The transition is marked by a sudden change in architecture and atmosphere. Barracks and armories replace the homes and forges. Each building bears the scars of a long-forgotten battle.
As they move deeper, the remains of abyss watchers become more frequent. Each corpse is adorned in their heavy armor, desecrated by the passage of time and the crimson crystal sprouting from them.
"This was their last stand," Kyle murmurs, his voice somber as he surveys the carnage. "They were fighting something that came from that door," he adds, gesturing towards the open doorway of a massive building. The crystals didn't kill them. Most are missing large portions of their bodies, as though struck by high-caliber projectiles. The patterns of blood spatter suggest the figurative shots were fired from near that door.
The air around them thickens with an ominous chill that seeps deep into their bones. Amidst the silent statues of fallen warriors, one figure stirs. Its movements are subtle at first – a mere twitch of an armored hand. Then, with a groan of metal and a cracking of the crimson crystals, an armored figure rises from the ground.
He stands taller and more formidable than the others, his armor intricately detailed and marked with symbols of rank. A tattered cape rises in the wind, projecting a long shadow in the moonlight.
He utters a series of guttural sounds, a language unknown to Kyle and only heard once by Ethan. Each word echoes in the cold air with a palpable wave of corrupted ether. They both clutch their chests as a freezing sensation grips their hearts, the waves of ether overwhelming their senses. The ground beneath them vibrates under the abyss watcher's steps.
He reaches into the mount of his fallen brethren, his gauntleted hand grasping the hilt of a great sword embedded among the bodies. With a force that belies the rust and decay, he wrenches it free with the sound of metal scraping against bone.
The sword, massive and encrusted with the same crimson crystals that adorn his armor, seems almost as formidable as himself. Hefting it with an ease that defies its enormous size and evident weight, the watcher fixes his gaze on Ethan and Kyle.
The abyss watcher hurls himself at them. His body cuts through the air, a dark blur barely perceivable. Ethan reacts instinctively, pushing Kyle to the side as they both dive out of the sword's lethal path. Russ runs back, hiding a few meters away, terrified by the creature's aura.
The sword slams into the ground where they stood moments ago, sending a shockwave of cracked stone and crystal shards into the air.
Scrambling to their feet, they barely have a moment to recover. Despite the bulk of his armor, his movements are fluid and unnervingly fast.
Kyle opens fire, the bullets of his AKM ricochet on the armor, flying far in the distance. The projectiles that hit at the right angle splatter across the metal, leaving only a scratch. "It feels like shooting a tank!" Kyle yells.
Ethan throws the KS23 and a belt of shells to Kyle. "Shoot his legs; I'll try something!" he orders.
Unyielding and relentless, the watcher raises his great sword. He strides forward, each of his steps an Olympic leap that scars the ground.
Kyle relies on agility, rolling to the side as the watcher swings, the great sword slicing through the air. The ground trembles as the blade strikes, each time embedding itself momentarily. Using the opening, Kyle blasts the watcher's weight-bearing leg.
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The impact of the slug reverberates through the night. The shot distorts the armor's metal and imbalances the watcher, who staggers forward.
Meanwhile, Ethan pulls out two books from his haversack and quickly opens them. Their contents flow into his mind in a few risqué seconds. He stands, placing his hand forward. His mind races through the just-obtained memories of ethereal diagrams and sigils. He closes his eyes, visualizing the flow of ether around him, feeling it swirl with a cold, dark presence exuded by the abyss watcher.
Ethan begins to draw upon the energy, channeling it from the environment. He sees it as streams flowing from the air, through the exposed part of his skin and the thin fabric of his trellis. He feels it collect in his heart, a pool that grows with each beat, each thump reverberating in his mind.
"Ether manipulation leveled up."
With deliberate intention, he guides this energy upward, through the core of his being, toward his mind, where thought meets will. He shapes it, his focus sharpening the raw ether into the diagram of his spell. The sigils of the hex echo in his mind, and he mouths them silently despite ignoring the language.
With a final mental push, Ethan releases the debilitating hex towards the abyss watcher. The spell flies from his hand in a spiral of spectral smoke, its path twisted and unnatural. As the hex strikes the abyss watcher, a visible shudder runs through the behemoth's form. His steps falter, his movements becoming sluggish as the hex saps his strength.
Kyle aims his shotgun at Ethan, who hears too late the armored footsteps thundering behind him. From the corner of his eye, he glimpses a blade descending in a lethal arc. Suddenly, a shadow darts forward, latching onto the neck of the menace. Russ grips the soldier tightly, ferociously tearing at his face.
The watcher's eyes, glowing fiercely with crimson light, focus on Ethan. He rushes toward him at an unnatural speed, despite his unbalanced and hindered steps. He raises his great sword high and slams it with a force that does not just bite the earth but shatters it. The ground buckles under their feet, and they struggle to keep balance amidst the disintegrating floor.
The ground collapses, swallowing Ethan and the watcher into a pit of darkness. Ethan hears a yap above and realizes Russ is falling with them. He grabs his dog by the collar and spins around to throw his companion up. The last he sees of the hole is Specter nine catching Russ by the neck as he reaches the edge of it.
Ethan quickly orients himself amidst the debris and darkness. As he and the watcher plummet through the crumbling keep, Ethan reaches for his SCAR-H, which hangs across his chest by its sling.
The abyss watcher, still reeling from the hex, is driven by a primal rage. His massive form is a blur of motion in the limited light piercing through the collapsing ground above. He hurls his great sword at Ethan, and the blade spins in the air, narrowly missing its target.
Ethan braces his rifle, aiming for the narrow gaps in the watcher's thickly armored joints. The gunshots report deafening in the enclosed space. Bullet after bullet punches at the watcher's armor. The high-caliber armor-piercing rounds dent the joints with each impact.
Despite the barrage, the abyss watcher's momentum is barely hindered. As they continue to fall, the watcher reaches out with his massive left gauntlet, grabbing Ethan with an iron grip. The force of the grasp crushes Ethan's plate carrier, squeezing the air from his lungs.
Ethan gasps, pain flaring across his ribcage. He struggles to place his muzzle into the watcher's wrist joint. The bullets tear into the watcher's forearm. His grip on Ethan loosens, giving Ethan just enough leeway to wrestle free.
As they continue to fall, the watcher's blade, released in the chaos, descends in a slow, spinning motion. Ethan manages to grab the handle, angling the blade to skim the watcher's chest plate. The velocity difference isn't enough to penetrate the armor. Ethan uses all his remaining strength to keep the blade positioned against his adversary as they plummet.
Through predator's sight, Ethan senses the ground rapidly approaching. Reacting quickly, he opens his status and boosts his constitution to eighteen, bracing for impact.
The collision is a brutal blur of pain. his body tumbles through what feels like a field of blades. Sharp rocks and debris lash out at him, each causing an excruciating laceration. Just as he thinks they might finally come to a stop, his back slams against a wall with a force that renders him unconscious. For a fleeting moment, everything fades into darkness. As he drifts off, the only sound piercing the silence is the system notification echoing in his mind. "You leveled up, you leveled up, you leveled up, you leveled up."