The rest of the group was, understandably, far less keen to try their luck against a giant area boss. However, after explaining the plan I'd formulated on how to murder it, they were willing to try it. The fact that I'd pointed out that we didn't have enough sunlight left to make it back to the apartments before dark and we had no idea what was waiting to come out at night might also have played into it a little bit. Parking the trailer and the prep work took the better part of a half hour as I made sure everyone remembered their parts and the various fall backs in case of either partial or complete failure of the plan.

Everyone was nervous, I didn't blame them, I was nervous! This was not the smartest of ideas, but I also doubted the thing was content to stay parked in the stadium forever. Something that big would need a lot of food to sustain itself and there was now people within its potential hunting range, and not just us either. The metroplex had held millions of people pre-event, and we'd already seen signs of those who had bolted as soon as they hatched, just based on what I'd seen so far that still left potentially thousands of people in the city, likely still completely unaware of this hidden titan. So despite it not being a smart choice, I knew it was the right choice. I still took a moment to pray that God watch over us in the coming battle.

With maybe a half hour of sun left to the day we approached the invisible line where Omar said the warning prompted. I took a deep breath and as calmly as I could said, "Alright everyone, this will be tough, but if we stick to the script we should make it through without even suffering a point of damage. Everyone ready?" Everyone gave me a nod, fear and worry writ large on their faces. I felt the gnaw of worry too, but I also felt an eager thrill at the thought of not only getting to fight again, but an absolute monster. "Then begin!" Our fastest and strongest members charged across the line, each moving to try and reach the smashed open loading door Rafael and Omar said the beast emerged from. Kyli, Matilda, and myself sprinted up the middle.

–WARNING–

–Entering Area Boss Territory–

–Quest Available: Death's Cauldron–

–Reward: Fusion Token, Unlocks Territory Challenge System–

–Bonus Objective: Claim Boss Trophy–

–Reward: Special Evolution Bloodline–

And there's the start to our timer, we just had to cross the entirety of the parking lot in less than a minute to complete the first part of the plan. I had no idea if the thing was coming, the sound of metal skidding across asphalt filling the evening air as I did absolutely nothing to try and hide the noise my metallic form made. If anything I was trying to play it up. My group skidded into position about a hundred fifty feet in front of the hole in the destroyed loading bay and I proceeded to begin dancing in place, shaking my scale and rubbing them against each other as Matilda landed amongst my coils. My job was to be the big, noisy, distracting tank for the boss to lock onto as soon as it emerged from its hole. Hopefully it wouldn't notice the two groups hiding in wait for it.

Then the boss emerged. I do believe that both Omar and Rafael were wrong about the size of this thing, it was way bigger than they said it was.

Emerging claws first, each massive boat sized claw having to appear independently to fit through even the stadium's massive loading bay, the thing began to squeeze itself out of a hole that seemed far too small for it, spreading its claws wide as it peered out of the hole. I could feel its six front facing eyes the size of basketballs lock onto me as its mandibles seemed to crack together hungrily, further back on the creature's car sized head, still half hidden in the darkness of the loading bay, shined a larger pair of eyes resting atop its head that seemed to gleam with a simple yet cruel intellect. From behind the giant head that seemed to fill the hole emerged the tips of several spindly armored legs, bracing against the outside of the stadium as it braced to push itself out.

I shook myself free of my stunned stupor and shouted, "Eyes down!"

Taking my own advice, I buried my head and Matilda under my own coils. I still felt the silent flash from Kyli and the boss shuddered from the effects.

"Lassos!" I ordered as I raised my head to see the giant scorpion seemingly frozen as if its brain was resetting after the blast of light Kyli had fired off.

Rafael and Nolan both flew forwards carrying a steel rope we'd made from weaving two strands of two-inch steel cabling from the construction site with Matilda's own silk. The ropes had been tied into nooses and our two largest fliers tossed them over the boss' claws and let them fall to the monster's 'wrist' before everyone else pulled them tight and spread the thing's arms wide.

"Matilda! Keep its mouth shut!" I needn't have bothered, the little moth was already spitting globs of her silk as fast as she could, arching them with fantastic accuracy across the scorpion's chelicerae and face. This seemed to shake off the dazzling effects of Kyli's flash, its immobile face still seeming to contort itself into a visage of indignant insult as it shoved itself forwards. This single action seemed to effortlessly succeed in dragging the entirety of the rope teams helplessly across the pitted pavement along with its own fifty some odd foot length entirely free of the stadium with a heavy *Whumph*. Its twin tails rose high into the air ending in long saber-esque barbs oozing a cloudy liquid as it raised its claws skywards as if announcing itself to the world and demanding that we all bask in its terrible majesty.

Of course we couldn't keep it pinned in the tunnel where it couldn't bring its stingers to bare, I grumbled. That would be too easy! "Kyli! Rafael! Help the rope teams keep it in place! Nolan! Bees!"

I watched fearfully as nearly a dozen people struggled to keep their grips on their ropes as the monster of a scorpion thrashed between, trying to fully turn itself to face either of the groups pulling painfully on its arms. Nolan landed next to me barely landing before staggering drunkenly as a sound like an electric chainsaw came from within him and an entire hive's worth of thumb sized bees seemed to burst from his bee-like fluff. They all seemed to recognize the area boss as a threat and immediately shot forwards like bullets. Gathering around or on the creature's eight eyes they apparently began to do horrible things to the organs based on how the monster stopped fighting against the ropes and instead began to thrash its head about. A wet splatter of fluid poured around Matilda's webs and onto the ground where it began to bubble up into a thick vile fog. The bees in the fog quickly began to slow and soon dropped off.

"Nolan! More bees! Matilda! Try and seal that thing's mouth shut!" Dang it, I was really hoping we'd not have to get this many deviations from the main plan, but no helping it now.

Using my Leap ability, I launched myself clumsily off to the side of the beast and carefully eyed its two tails as they periodically flashed forwards in a blur of movement to rise again with dozens of bees impaled on their end. Doing my best to time it right, I launched myself at them with a second leap aiming for a joint near the top of the tail, just behind the long bladed stinger. The lashing limbs twisted out of my flight path, the pair of eyes resting atop the scorpion's head seeming to follow my flight path with derisive contempt as I started to fly past the tails and in front of their poisoned blades. Making a desperate use of my lunge ability, feeling a terrible sensation of whiplash as I forcibly altered my trajectory just enough for my jaws to clamp down on the tail. Momentum kept my heavy body going and nearly ripped me free of my anchor point before it wrapped my body fully around the twin stingers of the beast and smacked me in the face. I could feel the scorpion's armored exoskeleton pressing against me as it tried to bring its stingers to bare, bending as far as they could to try and reach me despite being seated right behind the thing's telsons. I constricted around the two tails, forcing them together with a loud crack and severely limiting their range of motion. The scorpion did not care for this one bit as its tail began to lash and thrash about with such ferocity that it was all I could do to hold on and not puke. If I hadn't lost my hat while jumping around I'm pretty sure it was gone now.

Thankfully I didn't need to shout any more orders for the moment, Damian knew what it meant if I was wrapping myself around the boss' tails. Darting forwards with a surprising amount of speed for such a little guy, he drew my loaned bowie knife and drove it into the joints of one of the scorpion's legs. As far as I was aware, scorpions and other arachnids powered their muscles with hydraulic systems, so hopefully all the cuts Damian would put in those systems would weaken the monster as the fluids leaked out. The little guy seemed to dance through the scorpion's forest of legs, any attempt to kick him away was avoided, stomps side stepped, and even the occasional spasm avoided thanks to the little raptor's omni-directional vision. There was one close call where the boss elected simply to try crushing Damian with its multi-ton body, but even then the little guy managed to dive out of the way and lash at where the legs met the body. He was far more cautious after that though and the many oozing wounds he was leaving seemed to be having minimal effect on the titan.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Turning my attention more fully back to my own job I began to push against the tail gripped in my mouth, forcing my coiled body backwards around its bound tails. I immediately began feeling the bony spines and metallic scales of my body grind against the thick exoskeleton of the area boss in an immensely uncomfortable sensation unlike anything I'd ever felt. The closest I can come to describing it is like rubbing yourself against concrete until just before your skin starts peeling off. The process produced a horrid noise like dragging a sheet of metal across gravel, but I could already see the deep gouges being carved into the monster's armor. The scorpion was really starting to fight me now as I was slammed into the walls of the stadium, shaken like a can of paint in a mixer, and brought frighteningly close to the thing's massive crushing claws that only the continued group effort of people I'd met today spared me from. Despite it all I focused fully on what I was doing and managed three more such pushes and I began to feel myself drawing blood. By the fifth I could feel flesh against my scales, even as my vision was beginning to run together from all the high G maneuvers I was being run through. Two more pushes and I was startled to feel the limb in my mouth suddenly tear free. Strangely enough, everything seemed to go still as I sat there dumbly with the severed limb in my mouth.

Blinking in utter shock as my vision began to steadily improve, I felt my budding victory die as I heard Damian shout, "Nolan's down!"

Casting a drunken look about, I spotted the giant bee/wasp man completely collapsed on the ground as the cloud of bees that had been attacking the boss' eyes continued to rapidly thin from the clinging clouds of toxic fog sweeping through their numbers. Matilda seemed to be trying to cover for him with her silk, but it seemed to be coming out in tiny red stained globs as she sought to cover both the scorpion's eyes and the mist leaking out of the seal around its mouth. This weakness must have caught the boss' attention as it began to steadily drag itself towards the pair despite all of our efforts to hold it in place. Matilda was trying to drag Nolan away, even as she kept spitting her blood-stained silk, but she made little progress with the larger bee. It seemed we'd have to make a desperation play I'd hoped not to need.

"Rumi!" I called, "Do you think you can handle the claw by yourself for a few seconds?" She looked up my way from where the rope had been tied into a harness around her chest and nodded. "Then rope team two! Cripple that claw!"

Everyone assisting Rumi released the rope and I saw the roided up horse skid several feet as the titanic scorpion picked up speed, its eyes shining with malevolent hunger as it closed in on our two weakened bugs. Rumi snarled like a furious wolf slamming her hooves ankle deep into the asphalt forcing the boss to such a sudden stop it seemed to almost topple over. Her massive muscles rippled, her veins bulging from her flesh, an odd shimmer like a heat haze seeming to boil off her body as she emitted a roar that would cow a lion and actually managed to take a step back, dragging the bewildered boss with her.

The rest of those who'd been aiding her got to work on the trapped claw. Surprisingly enough Jerry led the charge, running at the arm joints of the monster where he began to spin himself around once, twice, thrice, and finally slam his thagomizer into the armored limb with a sound comparable to a tnt explosion. The boss reeled in silent agony, struggling to bring its other claw to bear on the mite that had left dozens of deep weeping cracks on its limb. Rafael immediately swooped in, his hooked beak and long claws easily getting into the cracks and ripping man-sized chunks of the thick skeleton away. The scorpion seemed to stagger, half collapsing for a moment in clear silent agony at the wound, its black eyes seeming to stare uncomprehendingly at its own raw exposed flesh.

Springing immediately among the exposed flesh were a hornet and hyena whose names I'd not yet had the time to learn as the pair's jaws tore chunks out of the yard thick limb. Actual panic seemed to enter the monster's eyes as it began to try to stab them with its remaining stinger, yet my weight seemed to throw off its aim, causing the lightning quick attack to miss even as my companions continue to tear at it. It tried to shake them off, bring its other claw to bear, vomit poison at them, only to be stopped by the bindings and effort already put in by the rest of our mob. Then the pair hit an artery or something as fluid burst from the limb like a ruptured pipe as the claw finally fell limp.

The area boss seemed to recoil as its arm was sundered, its empty black eyes seeming to radiate terror as it continued trying to drag itself backwards towards its hole. Rumi, Omar, Will, Kyli, an emu wearing rainbow leg warmers, and a chair sized rabbit with six legs held it in place as its legs skidded across the parking lot unable to muster the same strength or leverage it had used to force itself outside. Then Damian managed to saw off one of the creature's legs and make it once more stagger. Omar took full advantage of the opportunity to rush forwards with a manly roar as he drew the fourteen-pound sledgehammer we'd taken from Lowes Depot and drove it into the boss' elbow with a resounding crack of shattering carapace as it left a small nearly circular hole in the natural armor. Will joined him, lunging forwards and plunging both of his heads, one plunging into the hole Omar had made and ripping out pounds of tendons from the limb, as the second worked to widen the hole.

Again, the boss lashed out with its tail at the pair, doing so noticeably slower this time. Omar dropped the hammer and managed to catch the dripping stinger under his arm. With a twist and a howl, he finished ripping the damaged weapon free in a massive deluge of fluids that soaked him head to toe. He looked down at the five feet of severed oozing tail in his hands uncomprehendingly even as both of Will's heads bit at something inside the monster's claw, tearing it free in a massive burst of fluid. The second claw collapsed.

Seeing an opportunity I shouted, "It's been disarmed! Everyone! Avoid the mist and tear this thing limb from limb!"

Our pack of monsters roared in victory and bloodlust, even as the area boss tried to turn and flee. Rumi and Kyli each latched onto the creature's leg and began to drag it away from the stadium with vicious snarls. Omar and Jerry flanked the beast, driving shattering blows into the creature's sides and crippling limbs with their blunted weapons. Rafael swooped down to the scorpion's head and ripped out one of its upper eyes as the hornet hovered in the air before firing its stinger like a harpoon into the other, leaving the thing completely blind. The emu and rabbit teamed up, each launching kicks that left ever widening cracks in the legs of the scorpion, while the hyena and Will seemed to be happily ripping the damaged plates off. Damian himself seemed to be tearing into the monster's raw flesh with tooth, claw, and knife in a seeming attempt to carve himself a tunnel.

As for me, I still had the thing's severed stingers in my mouth, why not use it? Sliding down its tails, now lashing out as blind bludgeons that rarely even came close to hitting anyone, and onto its torso, I slowly approached the head. Taking the blade of the stinger and shoving it under the carapace of its head plate, I levered it up as much as I could, squeezing my tail and nose under it to make sure I'd be able to deliver as much impact as possible. Using Lunge to propel myself forwards, I slammed into the underside of the plate with a painful crack allowing me to wedge myself almost fully under the thick bone armor. Using a Leap I felt my vision swim as there was another resounding crack and the inches thick bone was split in half and tumbled away revealing a mass of exposed flesh.

A great toothy smile dominated my face as I raised the severed stinger high and cackled, "I know your brain is in there somewhere! Let's see if we can find it!" I slammed the beast's own three-foot stinger to the hilt into the things flesh, digging it around before pulling it out and driving it home again. And again. And again.

–Area Boss Slain!–

–Quest: Death's Cauldron complete!–

–Received: Fusion Token–

–Bonus Objective Complete–

–Received: Sabertail Bloodline–

–SysAutogen_BossLoot–

–Received: Fossorial Mutagen C–

–Gained 900xp–

–Level up! x5–

–You gained 7pts!

–You have reached level 5–

–Rewarded 10pts!–

–Ev...–

I ignored the dozen other notifications that had all pinged during the fight, I barely even noticed the pins and needles of my new mutagens taking hold, because I was simply too tired to bother with them right now. I was absolutely dead tired, I'd not suffered a single direct hit, but I felt like I'd been put through the wringer after sprinting a mile. I'd also be willing to wager a fortune that I'd once again run my stamina down into the low single digits on top of what was doubtlessly suffering some concussions and early onset G-sickness. A glance at everyone else who'd all fallen silent and collapsed at the announcement of the scorpion's death seemed to say that they all felt the same way.

Then a chuckle echoed across the battlefield, I'm not sure who it was, it might have even been me. Then there was another, followed by a laugh, then a cheer and within seconds we were all whooping and hollering as loud as we could manage. Those with arms threw them in the air while those without stomped the ground as we all celebrated the fact that one not only won, but had all survived and claimed ourselves a home.

As the sun fully set and began to give way to the starry indigo of night we all gathered around and embraced each other, rapturously happy to have survived our first day.