The scratching at the door intensified, and I could see the claws of the bav’varst trying to dig their way through. Then the scratching intensified at the other two doors. Before the first bav’varst could burst through from under the door, I sprinted up and stabbed at its face with my arm blade. Its death screech didn’t last long, and as I watched its body continue to move even after its death. Two more bav’varsts were digging beside it and stopped to eat the dead one.
I looked at the other two doors. Igzad opened his up, his other hand engulfed in flames. He then waved the flaming hand across his body, creating the wall of fire, incinerating the creatures caught within. Sol and Yuholla gripped their weapons tightly as the first of three bav’varst burst through the ground.
Yuholla’s whip struck out first, snapping at the creature’s face and knocking it back into the door. Sol rushed towards the two entering, sweeping his staff at the creatures. One of the creatures ducked under the attack while the other took the wood to the jaw, tumbling to the side. As the unharmed creature pounced for Sol, an electrified whip wrapped around its neck and pulled it towards the snake lady. She coiled her serpentine body around its head and crushed it.
The ground below the door closest to me burst open, and the other two bav’varst charged in, their elongated claws outstretched. I fired my gun. The closest creature’s face exploded in a shower of gore, momentarily disorienting it. Shadara followed up with a barrage of arrows, each finding a comfortable place in the other creature’s neck.
More bav’varst charged through our opening, and Shadara, like a machine, fired arrow after arrow at the snarling mass. I fired off two more shots, earning me one more kill, before I had to start slashing with my arm blade while I dodged their attacks. One bit down on my leg and tried to drag me into the hole. I hopped up and grabbed the fur on the top of its head as I then drove my blade into its spine. I didn’t cut as deep as I would’ve liked, but it was deep enough to paralyze it.
With my leg free and my nanites sealing the wound, I barely turned in time to catch another one as it dug its claws into my stomach. The creature took a piece of my intestines with it. As I shrieked in pain and fell to my knees, the creature lined up to bite my face. I grabbed my spilling guts with one hand and uppercut my arm blade through the creature’s jaw and out through the top of its head.
I pushed myself away from another charging bav’varst, one of the larger varieties, with one arm still holding the grievous wound. My nanites were quickly working to repair the damage. The bav’varst’s maw opened wide, but an arrow slammed into its face. The creature flinched away, only to receive another arrow to the side of its face and a third in its eye.
“We’ve lost Rina.” There was a touch of hesitation in Shadara’s voice, but she never stopped shooting her arrows as she almost emptied another quiver, leaving her with two.
I turned over and crawled away a little faster, and felt my intestines being pulled into place and the skin sealing itself, freeing my other hand. My head felt woozy, probably from the blood loss, as I tried to stand up, only to tumble back to my knees. Another scream exited from my lungs as a large bav’varst bit down on my foot.
It also tried to pull me back into the tunnel they dug. I turned over and shot it in the face, earning more stats and shards. But that wasn’t my concern. The creature’s teeth left a mark, and my foot leaked more blood, and my energy levels were dropping from the regenerating they were doing.
My stomach still throbbed, but I could feel the wound was mostly healed. Is Orange getting faster at healing me? The wound on my leg was almost recovered when I rolled over as I heard another charging pair of bav’varsts. I didn’t bother standing up as I aimed and shot them both.
One died immediately as its heart gained a new hole, while the other died shortly after its neck opened up and blood poured out.
As my final shot dropped the last one, I noticed Shadara had killed the largest bav’varsts in the room, two feet from her as she had her back against the reservoir. Heavy burns and deep gouges were all over the creature’s body as its feet were wrapped in vines extending from Sol’s hand. She panted, as did everyone. But there wasn’t any more bav’varst moving.
“Did… did we do it?” I asked as I pushed myself to my feet.
Shadara ran over to me. “You’re alive? That should’ve killed you.” She grabbed me and started looking for where the creature eviscerated me.
I pushed her away. “Yes, I’m alive. A little woozy, but alright. Once the blood regenerates, I’ll be back to normal.”
Igzad’s wall of fire dissipated, leaving a pile of charred corpses, as he walked towards me. “Is this one of your little secrets?”
I raised my arm and waffled my hand. “Kind of. Knowing I can regenerate from practically any injury isn’t the secret; it’s how I do it, that is.”
Sol’s staff dripped with blood as he and Yuholla approached. “Am I right to guess that your heavy consumption of food is related to that?”
I grimaced. “It’s a side effect. After all, nothing’s free.”
Yuholla, bearing several claw marks over her body, pulled a small red potion from a pouch. “So, that’s how you’ve survived this long. Sounds like a pathetic strategy.” She downed the potion and put the bottle back in her pouch. “If you had any skill, you wouldn’t need to rely on such a reckless tactic.”
I saw my energy bar down to half. “It isn’t like I’ve had anyone to really teach me how to fight beyond the basics, as he put them.” I pulled out my remaining meal potions and drank them.
“If you weren’t finished with your training, why did you leave him?” Yuholla crossed her arms and tapped a finger on her elbow.
I had pulled out a mana potion, but paused before drinking it from her question. “I didn’t. He died.” Because my nanites killed him. He died because of me. A tear rolled down my cheek as I put the potion to my lips and drank a third of it.
The room went eerily quiet. The others each looked at each other. Sol walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss. And if you so wish, I would be willing to provide more training for you after this is through, if we make it through.”
I wiped the tears sliding down my face. I gave Sol a smile. “Thanks, but I don’t have the luxury of time to learn.”
Sol turned his head away from me and frowned. He lowered his arm and grabbed his staff as he turned to the door where Igzad’s burnt corpse pile was. “It seems our luxury of time here is also up. We’re not finished.”
Everyone turned to the door, but I didn’t hear or see anything.
“What is it, Sol?” Yuholla whispered. “What’s coming?”
“Something powerful,” he responded in a heavy tone. “Something wrong.”
“What’s that mean?” I scooped my gun through the water, filling it up. I quickly put all my points in quickness.
Igzad turned and backed further up with Shadara as she notched another arrow. “Is it a deviant?” The draconian’s voice shook.
Sol took a step forward. “It seems the most likely.”
Memories of the massive spider in the dungeon flooded back and haunting. But, then I looked around the room. “How can a deviant fit in these halls? Won’t it be too big?”
Igzad shook his head. “Not necessarily. Deviants come in all different sizes. No two deviants are the same. The only thing they usually have in common is they’re intelligent. Or at least, more intelligent than your usual monster.”
I swallowed hard as I took a step back, leaving Sol and Yuholla in front of me, while Igzad and Shadara stood behind me. There was no snarling or scratching to warn me as the smoldering corpses burst apart and a bav’varst about a foot taller than me sprinted through. Until now, I hadn’t seen a bav’varst with a tail. This one had two long whip-like tails curved in short white fur. Its claws were more pronounced, and dug deeper into the ground without any difficulty. Throughout the standard brown fur on its back, ridged pale white spines reminded me of a porcupine, but larger but interspersed within. Its eyes, with dark red pupils, focused on each of us and then on the water reservoir.
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“It’s a deviant. Don’t let it get to the water!” Sol shouted as he charged with his staff straight out.
Yuholla’s whip crackled with electricity and seemed to grow as it reached out for the creature. The creature spun to avoid the attack, but then bit down on the whip. It seemed to flinch from the shock, but it yanked on the whip, pulling the snake lady towards it. Then it spun around again and slashed with its hind claws across her body.
Yuholla spun away, releasing her whip and spraying blood from four deep gouges across her chest. Shadara fired two arrows simultaneously, and both of them dug into the creature, but were lost in the fur of its back. The ground around the creature exploded in a shower of rocks and debris. The deviant tumbled to its side as the ground seemed to roil further. Sol stopped short of entering the moving earth.
I tried to shoot it, but it rolled over onto its back, and my shot only took a chunk out of its shoulder. But as it stood up, it looked at the wound, then at me. The look in its eyes was unmistakable. It decided I was the greatest threat of the four of us.
It leaped out of the shifting earth and over Sol, who attempted to bat it down with his staff, but his attack only bounced off its hide. Shadara fired more arrows at its face, but it turned and let them bury themselves in the back of its head. I could see that the arrows weren’t digging very deep.
“It’s hide is too thick.” Shadara stomped her foot and pulled her bow back even further than before. “If only I had a stronger bow.”
I jumped back from its claws as they reached to disembowel me. The creature was fast, but I could feel I was faster. Everything around me seemed to slow down slightly, but I kept moving at my regular speed, or what felt like my regular speed. The bav’varst kept swiping its claws at me, leaving me with little choice but to keep running away.
Sol charged, his staff more gnarled and thicker. He slammed it against the creature’s back leg, and this time, the creature’s leg buckled. “Use magic. It weakens its hide.”
The deviant wheeled and slashed at Sol, but he ducked under and slammed his staff into the creature’s bottom jaw. As it staggered back, I took the opportunity to get away from it.
Magic? I don’t have magic. All I have are my arm blade and my gun. My gun magically turns anything into a metal bullet. Apparently, that’s magical enough. Is that why it thought I was a threat? Since it severely wounded the snake lady, it felt that I had the most dangerous magical weapon.
Igzad’s mouth spewed out more flames, engulfing the deviant as Sol slid away, avoiding the flames. As the flames cleared, several chunks of fur were burned to the skin, while others smoked. Shadara aimed for its eyes again. It raised its leg and covered its face, letting the arrows poke its foot. I aimed and shot. Like my first shot, it took a piece of its front shoulder, with blood flowing immediately from the wound.
The creature looked at each of us, and this time, it looked scared. Its eyes darted for a door, but a whip wrapped around its hind leg.
Yuholla had stood up, her chest still bleeding. She wrapped her other arm around a large rock stirred up earlier. “You aren’t getting off that easily.”
The snake lady hissed, and a small spray of fluid flew from her mouth. The creature pulled on the tether, but Yuholla didn’t move. But the movement was enough that it dodged her spit, leaving a small sizzling puddle on the ground. Igzad clapped his hands together and a spark shot out from his hands and arced to the creature.
It flinched and rolled onto its back as its body convulsed. Sol ran up with his staff raised over his head. But the deviant wrapped a tail around Sol’s waist and threw him at Shadara. Shadara sidestepped him but didn’t bother catching him either. The plant-guy hit the wall with a crack and slumped to the ground in a limp heap.
I tried to aim for where I thought its heart was, but it rolled towards Yuholla, and my shot missed. It then twisted and jumped on top of the snake lady, driving its claws into her abdomen and stepping on her lower half. It raised its legs, ripping her in half. Shadara let loose another arrow, and this time she hit her target. The creature’s eye popped as the arrow pierced it.
It let out a roar and snarled. It swatted the arrow in its eye, breaking it off, leaving a small line of red sliding down its face as it then took a spinning blade of fire to the ribs. While it flinched from yet another wound and fired. This time I would have hit its head if it hadn’t raised a claw to block it. The shot severed two of its claws, and when it reeled back, I saw that the bullet had passed through and took a chunk from its face too.
The deviant bav’varst’s roar in pain and anger, its injured eye glaring at me with an intensity that nearly stopped my heart, Igzad circled around it and arced another jolt of lightning into its back. Shadara kept her distance, but it all but ignored her. Sol slowly stood up, holding his head and leaning heavily on his staff.
The jolt caused the creature to flinch, but it never took its eye off me. As it took a step towards me, it limped. I rased my gun again, but it spun around on its front legs, and a shower of large spines from its back flew in my direction. I shrieked as I covered my face and dove to the ground. Four of the spike pierced my body. One stuck out from my knee, two on my side, and one pinned my other foot to the ground.
Instinctually, I ripped out the two in my side, but the creature then charged me. Igzad clapped his hands together, and a concussive blast spread from him as he sprinted to the right behind the beast. The creature sailed over me, reaching its claws for me, but coming up short as it twisted its body. As it tried to land on the foot that was bleeding, it slipped and slid its face across the ground.
I tried to roll away, but all that did was snap the one off in my knee, and the other almost tore my foot off. The remnants of the spine in my knee were being forced out, but my HUD flashed a message telling me to remove the obstruction in my foot.
Sol ran up and struck its face as it almost stood up. More arrows from Shadara peppered its fur. She emptied yet another quiver, leaving her with her last one. I reached down, and after a small twist and a lot of pain, I pulled the spine from my foot. Then the almost soothing tingling sensation of the nanites repairing my foot began.
Igzad’s hand flared with another gout of flame as he shot a beam of fire into the creature’s face. It turned and swiped a claw at Sol. He didn’t get out of the way, so he tried to interpose his weapon between the claw and himself, but the claw slashed through the staff effortlessly and took a huge chunk from his arm too. There was barely anything holding his arm together as it hung loosely and swung from the momentum.
As the arm hung, it swung and snapped off, hitting the ground and shriveling up. His staff also exploded into shards of wood that ripped open more than a dozen new wounds all over the creature’s leg, some even embedded in it. I aimed my gun at it again, but it seemed to know that I had, as its head snapped to me again.
I fired. It tried to dodge under the shot, but the projectile still carved a deep gouge along its spine. Unfortunately, its forward momentum carried it towards me. I tried to spin to my feet and get out of the way, but my foot slipped on the puddle of my and some other bav’varst’s blood. The creature barreled into the leg that was still holding me up, causing me to trip and land on its back.
I rolled off, feeling its bristly fur and spines through my jacket, and hit the ground hard. It turned and with its mouth open, chomped at me. I managed to push away enough to evade the first bite, but the second time it lunged for me, my hand got caught in its mouth. Its teeth punctured straight through. When it pulled back, it split my hand, metal and all, from the middle of my palm outwards. On one half of the split, three of my fingers fell limp, while the thumb and pointer on the other half burned in agony.
Instinctively, I fired at its face. The bottom half of its jaw exploded and covered me with teeth, bone, and blood. It flopped to the ground. Blood pouring from countless wounds all over its body. Shadara and Igzad lowered their arms and stared. Sol sat up and pushed himself away from it.
I watched as it took a deep, slow breath. It’s still alive. The bav’varst turned away from me. It slowly pulled itself closer to the water reservoir. I pulled myself next to it, and placed my gun on the side of its head. It froze for just a second before I pulled the trigger. In the corner of my HUD, I saw I gained twenty stats and fifty-six thousand four hundred and eighty-eight shards.
As I rolled onto my back, my mana bar nearly depleted and my mind feeling heavier as my energy levels were also nearly depleted, I saw the fire around Igzad’s hands extinguish, and Shadara eased the taut string of her bow.
“I need food and sleep.” My voice sounded more exhausted than I felt. Keeping my eyes open was a fruitless endeavor, and I fell into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.
Name: Rina Lone Augments: Level: 21 Cellular Regeneration Agility: 200 Synthetic eyes: lvl. 2 Arcane: 150 HUD Power: 65 Epidermal plating (arms) lvl. 1 Quickness: 345 Epidermal plating (hands) lvl. 1 Resilience: 125 Arm blade (right) Toughness: 145 Unassigned Points: 20 Shards: 87257