Kyle’s breath caught as he regarded the creature. There’s no running away here. The massive centipede stopped to regard him, then it charged.
“Get inside the shuttle! I’ll try to hold it here!”
With that, Kyle ran towards the creature. Massive pincers lowered, ready to pierce through him. As before, he activated STORM SHELTER. The barrier held as the Endless smashed into it, rearing back and striking at it once, twice more. Cracks were beginning to form under the assault, and he deactivated the shield as his eyes glowed blue. I’ve got to hold it.
Instead of running away as the creature pulled back for a fourth strike, Kyle sprinted towards it. He thought back to his lessons with Garth and Frank. Sometimes the safest space against large weapons was deep inside their range. This wasn’t exactly that type of situation, but Kyle wasn’t spoiled for options at the moment. Dashing up close to the creature’s body, he rested a palm against it as he activated RESONANCE, the ground behind him shaking as the Endless crashed into the place he’d been standing.
Kyle felt his mana get swept into the creature, and swore. While he was certainly well above the centipede in terms of Willpower, the creature’s mana network was absolutely massive. Beyond that, the energy flowing through it was an order of magnitude stronger than anything he’d encountered so far. That, however, was within expectations. D Grades powerhouses, and the Endless was no exception.
No, the biggest issue Kyle had was the sheer size of the thing. For his mana to get enough time to circulate through the creature, he’d need several uninterrupted seconds. Given the Endless’ seeming desire to eat him, he didn’t think it would be kind enough to offer him the opportunity. Maybe if I can lead it away…
As soon as the thought entered his head, he felt his body begin to freeze up. He forced himself to take a calming breath, barely getting out of the way in time as the Endless turned to crush him.
“C.H.A.D.D., what was that? Can you see what made my body freeze?”
[SCANS INDICATE NO PHYSICAL INJURY, DR. MAYHEW. THERE ARE SOME PECULIARITIES WITH THE WAY YOUR MANA NETWORK WAS FLOWING. I WOULD OFFER TO HIGHLIGHT, BUT IT APPEARS YOU ARE SOMEWHAT OCCUPIED.]
Kyle grunted as he made another attempt with RESONANCE, getting a little more of a response before being forced away.
“Good observation, C.H.A.D.D. Can you give me an abbreviated version?”
[IT IS MY PROFESSIONAL OPINION A VISUAL AID WOULD PROVE BENEFICIAL.]
“We’ll have to do without! What happened?”
A note of panic entered his voice as he blocked the creature with another well-timed STORM SHELTER, narrowly avoiding getting caught by the pincers.
[THE FLOW OF YOUR MANA SEEMED TO ACCELERATE BRIEFLY, THEN STARTED TO CLAMP DOWN ON YOUR MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM. I CAN MOST CLOSELY DESCRIBE IT AS SOME TYPE OF REFLEX RESPONSE, ON A LARGER ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.]
“That doesn’t make any sense though!”
He dodged a series of massive legs attempting to trample him as the Endless wove in a circle around him, attempting to pin him in. Kyle grabbed onto one of the legs and used it to vault himself onto the centipede’s back, pressing his palm into the creature as he activated RESONANCE.
“I’ve never had that happen before, C.H.A.D.D., and I’ve been around D Grades more than most.”
He was thrown off a moment later as the monster undulated, though this attempt caused more damage than any before. The Endless chittered angrily, legs stamping in random patterns as it regarded him. Waves of mana were pouring off the creature, and Kyle could feel a palpable hatred from the creature.
It coiled like a snake, raising some of its forward segments into the air. With a sudden, violent motion the Endless lunged towards him. Kyle was prepared to dodge, but what he didn’t expect was for the creature to smash deep into the ground, embedding the legs into the earth.
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Kyle almost took the opportunity to attack, though the strange sense of animosity he felt gave him pause. A moment later, C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning and Kyle barely dodged as a spear of hardened soil shot up from the ground at his position. His eyes widened as he understood, Auric Perception revealing mana being condensed in dozens – no, hundreds of different places on the rainforest floor.
Soon, he found himself overwhelmed with dodging projectiles. Even though he dodged the majority, there were simply too many. Impacts rocked him, and soon his rhythm was disrupted. It’s too much. Each individual spear didn’t contain too much power, and between his strong defensive attributes and armor they didn’t deal too much damage. The real danger was in the sheer number, with more coming up every second. If the attack was taxing to the Endless, it didn’t show any indication.
Activating STORM SHELTER, Kyle’s vision was quickly obscured by a thick coating of soil all around the barrier. He wasn’t out of the woods, as he still felt the mana building in the ground just below his feet. “C.H.A.D.D., can you give me a projection of where it’s at?”
Without a word, the drone overlayed a simple view of the Endless, twenty meters away from where Kyle stood. Bracing himself for what he knew he had to do, he deactivated his skill and charged towards the massive creature. Condensed spears of soil struck him, scouring his skin between the gaps in his armor. Between his Enhanced Carapace and ADAPTIVE REGENERATION he shrugged off the damage, covering half the distance in moments.
The beast’s back half was still mobile, attempting to stomp Kyle into the ground with its back sets of legs. C.H.A.D.D. provided plenty of warning, as he weaved past the defenses, finally landing on its back again. Pressing both palms onto the shell, he activated RESONANCE. He felt the energy that the creature was pouring into its attack, and disrupted it with barely an effort. He then let the energy flow deeper into the Endless, surprised to see how much of the damage it had already healed. This thing is dangerous.
Focusing, he twisted. He felt multiple ruptures throughout the body of the centipede, but before he could do anything else he felt an extreme pain in his hands, jolting up into his body. Breaking the connection, Kyle dismounted as the Endless finally extricated its body from the earth, hissing angrily.
[IT’S A MANA-INFUSED TOXIN, DR. MAYHEW. IT APPEARS TO BE A VARIATION ON A CYANIDE EXCRETION.]
C.H.A.D.D. answered before he could even ask, and he focused ADAPTIVE REGENERATION on his hands to ward off the effect. As he watched, he saw the entire body of the creature covered in a gentle sheen, the toxic liquid likely having been released as a last-ditch defense mechanism. He was surprised at how difficult it was to isolate and repair the damage, but was glad that the Endless seemed to welcome a small break in the fight as well.
Unfortunately for the centipede, Kyle was still supremely confident in his ability to win battles of attrition. While the monster was still in the fight, so was Kyle. He could recover faster, and while the caustic coating on its carapace was going to be a problem, he felt that this was still a fight he could win. That’s when the monster turned towards the shuttle.
It lunged for where the other people waited, and Kyle knew he wouldn’t be able to get there in time. It was between Kyle and the survivors, even with HASTE active it he wouldn’t be able to outpace the creature before it covered the ground. However, as it turned away, it seemed to freeze for a moment. Kyle didn’t have time to consider the strange response as the centipede recovered, whirling towards him He dodged several stamping legs, but was caught by the edge of one as it lifted, knocking him off his feet.
It was far from the worst hit he’d ever taken, though it was enough to create an opening. As Kyle tried to get his bearings, the maw of the creature descended, pincers wide to end him in a single strike. Again, Kyle activated STORM SHELTER, and again the barrier held against the blow.
[DR. MAYHEW, THE CENTIPEDE EXHIBITED THE SAME PHENOMENON YOU DID.]
Pieces started to click into place.
“When was the first indication of the reflex response?”
[AS SOON AS IT TURNED AWAY TOWARDS THE OTHERS, DR. MAYHEW.]
As soon as it considered leaving the fight. He thought about their battle so far, about how he could dodge and counter without issues, but when he considered leaving, he froze up. He thought about the palpable animosity that the Endless had given off as their fight continued. Then he thought about trees, and the growth of a forest.
BOOM!
Cracks began to appear as the Endless continued its onslaught. STORM SHELTER wouldn’t hold much longer.
Intent. It all comes back to intent. The moment of clarity washed over Kyle as for the first time he felt he truly understood what the drone had been saying.
BOOM!
The barrier was almost broken, it wouldn’t withstand another strike. As the Endless descended, Kyle prepared to dash away. That is, until a silvery blast of force smashed into the side of the creature’s head, sending it into the ground with a crash. A loud thump drew Kyle’s attention as he saw the figure of a heavily-armored Duroc land heavily on the ground nearby, followed moments later by a small grey form wreathed in fire. The rescue was here.