Nick lurched back while whipping his head to one side, pulling his throat out of reach of a lethal bite at the last possible moment. He felt blood running down his neck from a pair of fresh cuts, as the beast’s jaws snapped shut with the clack of chitin striking chitin.
He made a clumsy leap to open more space, spinning to face his ambusher as he brought his blade to bear, the grit of sand grinding beneath his toes.
A glossy black body as thick as his waist undulated near the boundary of the bedrock, emerging from the sandpit like a sea serpent rising from the deep. A set of multifaceted eyes stared back into his own, pitiless orbs reflecting the cavern’s ambient glow. He backpedaled as the beast regarded him in turn.
Nick took advantage of the opportunity to figure out what he was dealing with before the giant bug came at him again. It was clear at a glance that it was one of the flesh-renders mentioned in the event’s description, since the beast’s hulking mandibles clearly fit the bill. Not to mention the double row of razored claws running all the way down the length of its body.
He was confused for a handful of heartbeats, but then the various components resolved themselves into something that he recognized. In that horrifying moment of clarity, Nick realized that he was squaring off against the top half of some manner of giant centipede.
Its shiny black body was covered in wedge-shaped plates of chitin, segmenting its rippling coils with a layer of interlocking armor. He decided that he was in trouble as he took in the sight of countless grasping limbs, any of which were more than capable of flaying the flesh from his bones, each tipped with a bladed black barb.
In short, the beast’s entire body was a weapon. The flesh-render’s mandibles looked thick enough to block his sword, and it was sure to be strong given it size. He had already learned that it was lightning fast, at least when the centipede was in position to whip its head down from a stable anchor.
Nick didn’t need a skill to know that the bladed beast was bad news. Although he was pleased to learn that size up gave him even odds of surviving a straightforward exchange of blows. Not that he had any intention of fighting in such a risky manner.
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On a slightly more promising note, the skill didn’t sense any hidden abilities. The beast’s danger came from the obvious threats posed by its powerful body and extensive natural weaponry.
Nick would have ignored the System message that popped up half a heartbeat later, if it hadn’t been so short that he could absorb it at a glance.
Event update: Your presence has been detected by a juvenile flesh-render.
Optional objective: defeat the beast before it informs the matriarch of your presence.
“Well,” he sighed. “Shit.”
Of course, there’s an even bigger one. There’s no time for complaints, Nick. You need a battle plan ASAP. Step one: make it mad enough that it wants to kill you instead of running to mommy. Step two: survive step one. Nick wanted to weigh his options, decide which of his spells or tools was the best fit for the battle to come.
But on this occasion, he wasn’t given much time to decide. The centipede that the System called a flesh-render, chose that moment to start sinking into the ground. Pulling its glossy body down into the sand, where it would be impervious to anything he could do from the surface.
Making a bad situation worse, instead of needing to turn and dig, the beast slipped into the sand like it was water, the rate revealing that some manner of magic was involved in the process.
Nick darted forward, shifting his sword into his right hand while drawing his wand with his left. Thanks to a combination of increasing his dexterity, raising his wand skill, and diligent daily practice, the maneuver had become smooth and simple, almost as natural as breathing. He only had time to make a single play before the beast disappeared, and he was gambling that his wand was the right tool for the job.
It was the only thing he could think of that would stop the centipede from burrowing away and rousing the hive. Since the sandpits didn’t seem to be continuous, the wand was unlikely to attract more attention. It was relatively quiet when it wasn’t smashing objects together and if the beasts had been able to sense vibrations from anywhere inside the mine, the rest would have found him already.
Just in case, I should get out of here fast when I finish dealing with this one.
All this passed through his mind as he raced forward, desperate to stop the render before it was too late. Nick leapt and landed on his knees, sliding to a stop near the edge of the pit. Mouthing a silent prayer, he pressed the end of his wand against the sea of grains, then fired.