A foul scent filled the air and made the smells of death and decay all around them seem tame by comparison, only growing stronger as the Corruptor spewed out the final shot and wobbled slightly. David wrinkled his snout angrily as he abandoned his assault momentarily, blasting out nothing but a regular breath of frustration before hammering a few Echolocations out almost at random, and the complex imagery he got back a split second later didn’t look good. He metaphorically let go of the wheel before his instincts slammed themselves into the driver's seat and floored it, both wings working almost independently as he accelerated. Rather than try to outrun the attack or dodge every single shot, he rocketed upwards, firing Echolocations the entire way.

–Echolocation has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp–

David’s eyes were unfocused as he allowed the images from the mental map to overlap with his actual vision, providing a much clearer picture of the falling wads of foul ichor. Within only a few heartbeats he saw the opening and tore through the gap between two of the falling mortars, hissing with pain as a mist of droplets flecked his wings and began to burn. He felt his muscles screaming in protest and knew his Stamina was dropping as he bolted into the sky but ignored it, racing the final shot upwards before gravity won out. He flapped mightily and tucked his wings in, rifling past the shot as he did so before snapping his wings out and catching the wind as he hovered high in the air.

Holy shit! You think you’re so clever, huh? God that smells so bad. Let’s see you do that again when the Gloom stacks up, you bastard!

Movement at the edge of the foul lake caught his attention as Claire slammed through a stand of skeletal trees, brittle wood exploding into matchsticks against her heavily armored body. From his vantage, David saw her snout swivel toward where he was framed against the sky, then snap back toward the dip in the ground past the lake as she thundered forward. With a grin, he tucked his wings and began to fall, and David noted that Claire adjusted her charge slightly to align her path toward where he was diving.

–You have taken 11 Acid Damage–

He ignored the burning sensation spreading across his body from where the mist of droplets had struck him as he dodged the Boss’s attack and locked his gaze firmly onto the Corruptor as he descended on it. It had begun to twitch violently, and the thick coating of Gloom on its body was visible even from the sky, muscle spasms rippling outward from the densest concentrations. Its eyestalks seemed to lose their coordination, one still angled to track his approach, but the other bent in half and pointed at the ground ahead of it. The feral half of David floated a brilliant idea, and David concurred wholeheartedly with the plan as he suddenly rolled forward in the air, curling into a ball until his back was facing the ground as he tucked in his wings. He twisted, snapping his left wing out and flapping hard, gritting his teeth against the strain as he flipped himself over, now facing completely away from the creature.

–Flight has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp–

Wind surged in David’s ears as he tore through the air, forcing himself into a tight arc as he adjusted his heading and came tearing in from a new angle, the length of the Corruptor’s body looming ahead of him as he traded altitude for speed. The vague sense of smugness he felt from the enormous slug evaporated as it struggled to force its now uncooperative body to turn as he barreled at the side of its head, unable to bring its mouth around to fire off any shots to intercept his attack run.

Huge leathery wings snapped out, killing some of his momentum in preparation for his stunt as he coiled his body and threw his feet forward, leaning back in the air as he sailed over the top of the Boss's head and the talons on his wings scythed out, cleaving through the first eyestalk cleanly. A split second later he activated Nocturnal Strike, using the recoil of the first attack as it yanked him upright to swipe at the second eye with the opposite wing, failing to sever it completely but leaving it a crumpled ruin as the trail of Gloom blasted loose from the impact fell to soak into the wounds.

–You have taken 8 Acid Damage–

–Squamous Corruptor is afflicted by |Blind|–

–Bonus: Control Combo |3|–

–Gained 9xp–

Then he was gone, firing a quick Screech downward into the top of the beast's head before rifling off into the air again, surging upwards with tremendous effort before unclenching his muscles and forcing himself to relax slightly as he sailed over the blighted marsh and began to come around for another run.

–Health: 174/190–

–Stamina 261/425–

–Corrosive Blight–

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Can’t believe that worked, felt like my talons were about to be ripped off, I’m lucky I was moving so fast or I’d have caught the splatter from that. I’ll never badmouth you again, Spooky.

David’s turn brought the Boss back into view just as Claire crested the top of the small hill above it like a freight train, somehow managing to eke out some extra acceleration as she hit the slope. Her jaws nearly unhinged as a bone-shaking roar rattled the swamp around them and she barreled into the slightly smaller creature like a wrecking ball moments later, swinging her armored skull into its side like a battering ram as she attempted to flip it over. David watched the shockwave of the impact visibly ripple through the almost gelatinous creature while it spun from the force of the blow, the sticky slime beneath it preventing it from tumbling over as it was instead almost bent in half. It lunged at her, face splitting open, and for a moment David thought she’d hit it so hard it’s body had ruptured.

A circular fleshy wad poured from its head, thousands of teeth glinting malevolently in the light before it suckered onto the armor covering her back like the world's nastiest sticky hand, and a heartbeat later Claire’s reptilian eyes widened, an agonized bellow tearing out of her jaws. David snarled as he accelerated hard, closing the distance as Claire went berserk, whipping her tail hard into the Corruptor’s side with a sound unlike anything he’d ever heard before. As soon as he thought he was in range David began to sing, the cadence strange and staccato, weaving together with his wingbeats as he landed heavily on her armored back.

–Health: 174/190–

–Stamina 211/425–

–Corrosive Blight, Moonlit Regeneration–

Claire seized the Corruptor by the back, her jaws slamming together like a trap as she pistoned her clawed foot into its side, a a torrent of foul liquid pouring out of the wound before she retracted the limb and slammed it to the ground. David felt her body contract under the armor as she stomped, the ripple of muscle traveling upwards into her tail as it whipped around to deliver another crushing blow into the beast's side. David clung on for dear life, lips wrinkled back ferociously over his fangs, ears pinned tightly to his head as he wormed his way forward to where the Boss had suckered onto her back.

Oh, that’s just fucking nasty.

–You have taken 6 Acid Damage–

The beast's jaws’ were stuck firmly to the armor of her back, bright red blood oozing from around the seal of its mouth as it bored into her, a hellish grinding sound barely audible to David over the roars and snarls from Claire. His eyes widened as he saw the Corruptor rally, its body began to contract similarly to when it was going to fire a shot off, and he realized it was going to try to inject her with its acid. A massive surge of adrenaline hit him, and he lunged forward, digging into the creature’s flesh, swinging nimbly below its jaws to cling to its throat before beginning to rip and tear frantically at the sturdy tube of flesh.

The fight devolved into complete savagery for the next few seconds, all three of them simply tearing at each other with abandon as David shredded a hole into the surprisingly sturdy muscle that he clung to, widening it as quickly as he could. He sliced, bit, tore, and ripped in a storm of claws and teeth before a hideous gurgle sounded from within the creature's body and the awful scent that precedent the acid gave him precious little warning as he simply hurled himself away.

–You have taken 26 Acid Damage–

A torrent of pressurized mucus blasted downward, catching David full on the lower back as he failed to move in time, and he shrieked in pain as the liquid began to eat into him. He felt his skin sizzle and pop, skin stretching taut before cracking as he impacted the ground and rolled, trying to scrape as much of the liquid off as he could. David’s world devolved into hideous pain and oddly muted noises of battle for several seconds before he managed to remove a large amount of the gel-like liquid and blearily refocused on the fight.

Claire had surged backward several feet as the shot had self-destructed and coated her right leg before the weakened mouth-parts tore free, unable to resist the momentum of her sheer bulk. Slime poured out of the front of the creature as it thrashed in agony, large spurts of liquid pouring out rhythmically as it attempted to blast them but had sustained far too much damage to focus the spittle. Claire roared again, half pain and half fury, before lurching to the side and delivering a hammer blow to its head with her tail, following up the attack by rearing up and delivering a titanic bite to the top of the Corruptor’s head as it sagged from the impact. The muscles in her neck bunched, and she widened her stance as her tail flung out into the air behind her, going stiff as she bore down and shook hard.

–You have taken 20 Acid Damage–

David surged to his feet as she released her prey and took a few trembling steps backward before her wounded leg folded beneath her, and she angled her damaged armor toward the beast by rotating her shoulder, hissing furiously as ichor dripped thickly from her jaws. He bounced onto her back and flung himself over her head, inhaling hugely before a massive Screech tore out of him and hammered into the reeling creature, driving it back as its body went limp and collapsed wetly to the ground. He flapped hard to kill his momentum, waves of burning pain accompanying every motion as he fell, snout bouncing painfully off the ground as he whiplashed hard as he touched down.

–Area Boss Slain!–

–Quest: Dead Silence complete!–

–Received: Fusion Token–

–Bonus Objective Complete–

–Received: Corruptor Bloodline–

–SysAutogen_BossLoot–

–Received: Corrosive Mutagen C–

–Gained 1,000xp–

–You have taken 14 Acid Damage–

“See, told you it’d be easy.” David barely managed to gasp out before his vision tunneled and he slumped to the ground.