The thunderous roar spread across the demonic land, signifying the appearance of the grand beast. Deafening, it was an attack by itself just from the sheer volume, threatening to hurt not only eardrums but shook a brain with a sound blast. Moreover, it seemed to have something more inside, almost as if the sound was imbued with hellish energy. It tried to terrify, gripping the very soul of anyone, who was unlucky enough to be present. To inflict fear deep inside the body, so it would be paralyzed until it was too late. To send the message that any resistance was futile while being nothing more than a greeting from the horrifying demon.
Well, it seems I need bigger earplugs…
Looking at the enormous figure of the Behemoth, Robert tried to evaluate its power, but its appearance only indicated a huge physical strength. The towering demonical creature had a form of a gym-trained bear, who neglected leg’s days. Dark red fur, giant front human-like arms with long claws, muscled torso, and unproportionally small lower limbs. The head of the final opponent on this floor had a resemblance to the alligator. Protruding, with a huge maw and visible row of teeth, it had tiny dark purple eyes, which were even hard to notice at once. And there was a spiked tail. Heavy, thick as a hundred-year tree, it was lying on the ground almost like to be an additional limb for the Behemoth.
Standing in front of this walking demonic mountain, Robert locked eyes with it. For a moment there was a silent confrontation between gazes. Both parties simply watched each other, testing the resolve of the opposite side. Rob even felt there was more intelligence in this creature in comparison with any other monsters that were made by the Tower’s administrator. And there was hatred. He didn’t know how he could see it in the ugly face of basically a demon, but Rob was sure that it wasn’t just rage or anger. Not, it was a pure hatred with a sincere desire to tear him apart.
“Hey, System, is it you?”
Another roar resounded through the surroundings. This time even the haze was blown away, being wiped from existence with a sound wave. It created a huge empty area around them, with an occupied by the Behemoth crater in the center of it. As if it was a battle arena for the upcoming boss fight. Technically, indeed it was. However, this thought only flashed through Rob’s mind only to disappear without a trace, when he noticed a real torrent of flying drool and even had to dodge quite a few drops himself.
“Hey, that’s rude!”
The black liquid immediately started to melt the sand and stoney surface, attracting Robert’s attention. Such distraction almost caused his death, when the Behemoth lunged himself forward, accelerating surprisingly fast for so gigantic body. Rob had only a fraction of a second to react. Fortunately for him, the improvement in his Stats gave him the ability to use the time properly.
Bracing himself, he hastily stepped to the side and instantly ducked down, pushing his own body right between the claws of the huge beast. He even felt how the airflow from the powerful swing tried to throw him backward, so close it was. Continuing his motion, he conjured a spear before planting it into the enemy’s leg. The speed of his thrust together with a quickly approaching limb made the hit with a heavy weapon quite devastating… for Robert as it was him who was thrown away from the impact.
Noting with an odd calmness amidst a flight how his thick spear was dented, while there were barely any signs of the wound on the furred leg, Rob cursed the System. The landing wasn’t graceful in the slightest. Still, the fall turned into a roll under inertia, which helped him to catch his balance and push him upwards. In the next moment, Robert dropped to the ground again, basically kissing the sand just to avoid meeting with a set of long claws that were easily half of his size each.
Rolling again and turning on his back, he gripped the clawed limb that flew above his body. The pull was so strong that Rob almost fell down from the enormous palm that was accelerating like a racing bolide. Only adding a steel construct to hold himself on his spot saved him. Stabilizing his position, he only thought about creating a weapon when he felt how everything had stopped. Raising his eyes, Robert met the gaze of Behemoth. Seeing a clearly mocking expression on the demonic alligator’s face, Rob hastily dispersed his steel, already feeling how the arm started to raise. In the next moment, the limb crashed onto the surface, creating a huge pit in the process. Luckily, Rob was not there.
Jumping from the creature, he conjured a huge axe, adding the weight amid the powerful overhead swing. Aiming at the second palm, Robert pushed even more steel into his weapon, making it gigantic. This time there was a reaction. The impact from the heavy-bladed axe crushed the bones inside the clawed pawn, causing a horribly loud painful groan from the beast. However, despite it, the demon still managed to catch Rob in its grip as he literally landed in the wounded palm. Squeezing him with insane might, while ignoring the injury, Behemoth attempted simply to squash him like a bug.
An instant later the steel was already fighting against the muscles of the huge demon. Additionally covering the limb, restricted the motion of the limb before the mental command followed. The sudden collapse of the conjured matter created a huge ball of energy. This time Robert’s mind was concentrated not on the control, but on the opposite, destabilizing the sphere as much as he could. Therefore, instead of a directed projectile, an unfocused destructive blast appeared.
Exploding right in the center of the wound, it simply tore the palm into parts, sending Rob into the flight together with remnants of flesh, bone, and blood. Conjuring huge wings behind his back to kill the inertia, he dispersed them before the landing. The moment later he was already launching himself forward, not wishing to give any opportunity for the demon to grab the initiative. And that was what the beast was aiming for. Pausing for a second as if inhaling, Behemoth opened its maw.
The stream of concentrated flame emerged from it, aiming to turn Robert into ashes. Having a mixture of red and purple, it looked more like a beam from the laser that connected two points with a constant flow of destruction. And Rob didn’t want to test the boundaries of its devastating properties. Shoving the painful sensation from the skill usage to the background of his mind, he conjured two pillars underneath his feet. The sudden appearance of constructs catapulted him into the air, helping to avoid the fire attack.
Not having time to check the consequences of the beast’s ability, Rob still was quite sure that he would melt under the effect of this flame. Therefore, he couldn’t afford any mistakes. Creating a new pair of wings, he made a sharp turn before dropping to the ground. The instant he touched the surface, Robert charged forward, squeezing everything from his muscles. All his plans to keep the distance had already died, while his inability to damage the beast with anything, apart from “Energy Blast” narrowed possible options.
Creating a steel flare gun, Robert hastily made a shot. Despite the absence of the proper aim, Behemoth’s head was too gigantic to miss. Moreover, when his target was even moving towards the projectile. A moment later a white ball, filled with energy, penetrated the protruding teeth of the giant before hiding inside its enormous maw. The following thunderous scream stopped the beam, allowing Rob to attack the knee of the distracted hellish creature. Jumping into the air, he simply hugged it only to cover the fur with steel. A new unfocused blast shook the huge demon.
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Clumsily dropping backward, Robert had to roll to the side to avoid being crushed with the wounded knee. He still managed to catch a glimpse of the bone but taking into account how the creature wanted to use its leg right after the injury, it seemed the damage wasn’t enough to seriously hurt Behemoth. Not that Rob had any opportunity to aim at a weak spot when any direct hit would end him immediately. Therefore, he could only react to the danger, following the flow of the fight before striking again.
Another roll brought him under the demon. Shooting once again, Rob had to retreat towards the tail when the beast tried to capture him with its paw. This was the moment when he realized the absurd level of regeneration that the enemy posed. There were barely any signs of the previous explosion on the clawed limb, and only by the gaps in the fur, he understood that it was exactly the same paw. It seemed Behemoth didn’t have many abilities, except a tremendous physique, fast recovery rate, and fire breath. However, that appeared to be enough to corner Robert.
In his case and in the current moment quite literally. Founding himself right near the beginning of the tail under the huge butt of the demonic beast, Robert only started to think about how to act in these conditions and what he could use to defeat the enemy when the traces of something awful happened to stroke his mind. Behemoth did the simplest thing the creature could in the situation where its nimble opponent was underneath his gigantic body. He tried to sit. And taking into account its size and quickness of the motions, Rob had no chance to avoid being crushed.
In full panic mode, his mind turned the flow of the time into a crawl, stretching even the tiniest fraction of a second into a long period. Everything to find the solution before he died. The first one to go was an idea to jump or to use the pillars to push himself out of the range. There was no way he would be fast enough. The second disregarded idea was to shield himself. Rob couldn’t know the precise weight of the creature, but he could bet it would be tens of tons without a doubt. And the demonic creature could move with ease, despite it. Therefore, it left him with one option – to attempt to counter it with an unfocused energy blast, which even sounded like pure madness from despair.
Or… shit… Why, System? Why did you create it?... Oh, I’m going to regret it even if I live…
Searching for his target, Robert mentally sighed before making a long step and creating a steel conical cover around his body. Pushing more matter into his construct, he smoothed the surface and made it to hug his body from all sides. Then Rob braced himself before the impact. Enveloped in darkness, he additionally held his breath. A moment later the enormous butt slammed into the ground, causing multiple cracks on the stone surface and a real shockwave that sent sand everywhere. It hid the place of the crash under the raised veil. However, the next instant a shrilling scream resounded across the area. Filled with pain, it had a mixture of resentment added on top, as if the demonic beast could decide what to feel.
Yeah, Dildo of Consequences rarely comes lubricated…
Tightly hugged by the dented steel, while constantly keeping its shape, Robert was no less lost in his emotions than Behemoth. Voluntarily becoming the very same Dildo not in a metaphorical sense was quite an experience that he wouldn’t ever want to repeat. Rob knew that the creature was created just a mere minute ago, and wasn’t alive truthfully, being just a construct of the System, made for a single purpose. Yet he still felt dirty. And that caused a wave of rage, overwhelming and unstoppable.
He didn’t know who was roaring at that moment – the hellish guardian or himself. The anger flooded his mind, searching for any gap to find a way out. Such a hole soon appeared in the form of an “Energy Blast”. Focusing on all the steel he could conjure, Robert mentally pushed it outwards, suddenly expanding the size of the construct that was stuck in the demon’s body. The following cry of pain went unnoticed. Rob only noted how chaotically he was moving in the space, but he didn’t care, concentrating on using his skill.
Creating a huge bulb over his head, he gripped the steel with his mind. This was the first time when he noticed the effect of increased Intelligence. The collapse of the metal right where he wanted, cutting off the part of his protective layer, but not making a hole. Improved Perception helped him to notice everything in detail. Moreover, acting on instinct, Robert directed it, accelerating the parts that had a clear delay in reaction, while slowing those that were too quick. That led to an almost perfect sphere of blackness. Tiny, barely sensible, it was smaller than a grain. And still, it contained an enormous amount of energy.
The conversion into a white ball also went under his control. It felt like he was a conductor. Each of his “musicians” knew their play, but he was the one to direct the flow of sound, or in his case, the energy. That was a wonderful feeling, comparable to riding on top of a giant wave. Or balancing on the cord over the abyss as if he was a tightrope walker. Even the smallest mistake could lead to dire consequences, and it was his responsibility to avoid any. The energy was obedient like never before, following his will without any delays or resistance.
Therefore, the conjured white ball, despite the visual similarity with previous ones, was much more concentrated. Not there was any ability for Robert to see his situation, being deep inside the body of the demon. On the other hand, his senses not only were telling him that the sphere was much more solid but also there was barely any backlash after creating it. However, Rob just noted the fact absentmindedly before proceeding with shooting. Aiming vertically up, he sent the projectile and started to create another one.
The demon’s body shook a moment later. The multiple spasmatic waves washed over it, causing a real tremble. The pitiful scream that Rob heard carried only traces of the previously horrifying roar. Another explosion from inside when Robert triggered an unfocused blast made Behemoth go silent. Then he felt how the surroundings started to fall, followed by the heavy slam on the ground. Not wishing to risk, Rob just repeated his spread attack, blowing up another part of the fallen body. There was no reaction this time, so he finally decided to get out.
Unsummoning the protective layer around his face, Robert saw the huge hole in the middle of a horrible mixture of flesh, fur, and viscera. Hastily walking from the corpse of the demon, he distanced himself before looking at himself. The fear of being covered in filth and shit partly came true – he was indeed in blood, but nothing else. Sighing with relief, Rob decided to check the enemy. The gigantic beast was in a pathetic state, having a part of its belly and butt missing. He could even some of the inner organs with different levels of damage. And despite that, Behemoth was alive as there was no notification from the System.
Tough asshole! I wonder if I could severely wound him without getting into it…
Walking around the fallen beast, Robert tried to gauge the damage he had done, while cursing the regenerative abilities of the giant. It wasn’t to the point to put it back on its feet in mere seconds, but Rob was sure that he had no more than a few minutes before Behemoth would rise, even angrier than ever before. And from what he had noticed, the destruction of the heart had no effect on the demon. At least nothing could be functional in the mess that was left after two inner explosions.
So, it has to be a head… Oh, crap!
Abruptly dropping backward, Rob barely missed the beam of energy that was created by a lying Behemoth. Flowing in less than a palm distance from his face, it sent a wave of heat at him. Turning around, he saw that the maw of the motionless demon was directed right at him. The hellish beast didn’t even need to do anything as Robert almost walked towards the laser all by himself because he thought there was no threat until the enemy healed back.
The single visible tiny eye was still looking at him with hatred. And when their gazes met again, it seemed to add more strength to the injured demon. The following tremble of the huge body for a long moment felt like Behemoth would raise… but no. The impulse had died a few breaths later, taking the remnants of the energy from the hellish creature. It still pushed the beam to the side, just barely missing from burning Rob. Only hastily made roll saved him from being toasted. However, the steel that he used to add a push to his dodge was melted in a fraction of a second, sending shivers across Robert’s spine.
Yep, let’s play it safe. I can shoot from behind with projectiles. Yep, let’s do it. Not coming closer to this thing.