Huffing it, Tracy ran to a fallen statue. The rubble crunched and slid underneath her old sneakers. As she ran, she felt the shockwaves as the expunger got closer. She looked over the statue in front of her. The white marble sparkled in contrast to the dusty cement around it. The rubble bounced. Tracy admired the details carved into the statue. It was the statue of an elegant and respectful woman with a sword in her hands. However, the guttural screams of the Expunger pulled her from her thoughts and back into reality. She didn’t have much time. Her heart pounded. The words of the Expunger played through her head like an unwelcome ad. Its presence, how it managed to pulverize the stone, or how, like an eldritch monster, it elongated its neck and fingers as simple as putty. It made her shudder. Tracy climbed over the statue, the adrenaline pushing her forward. After jumping behind the statue, Tracy heard more of that disgusting cracking of bones followed by the tremors in the ground. Tracy braced against the fallen statue, making sure nothing fell on her. She had a plan, but doubt was starting to creep in.

She only had a flimsy weapon, no armor, no experience, and she was up against a monster. She grimaced. She really didn’t like those odds. What was she supposed to do? She was only a no-life loser that was sucked into this hellscape. As she thought about this, she felt another set of tremors shake the ground. The fear swam around her stomach like bitter medicine. She shook her head. She couldn’t give up now, not with someone depending on her. Taking a deep breath, she assessed her situation again. While she had a low-tier weapon, it was magical. She didn’t have any armor, so she was more flexible. An idea flashed into her mind. She had seen this situation before.

Future.

The word danced across her lips as they formed into a smile. An MMO Looter-Shooter played as a team. A person came into the game as a super soldier called a sentinel. Wielding melee and ranged weaponry was vital to survival in the game, as no two situations were the same. Blue arcs of electricity crackled from the tip of her spear as she thought about her favorite video game. Her eyes lit up. She had beaten this level before. A genius in level design, this level was known as one of the hardest in the game. It stripped players of their gear and replaced it with just a pistol and a dagger. However, what gave the level its reputation was the boss. A giant of an alien, bullet sponge, big rocket launcher, classic boss stuff. All except that he had ridiculous armor that had to be broken before a player could wail on him.

Yet, for such a simple boss, the community complained about him for months before the developers nerfed him. And for the achievement to get the solo clear, well, people said it was impossible. That badge on her account pre-nerf was one of the only accomplishments of her life. She beat it by dodging past the rockets and using her pistol to prod for weak points. Lo and behold, there was one. She was confident it was a glitch, but right between its torso and right hip was a free zone from the armor. Perfect for her stunning ability. It took several attempts to perfect the movement, but when she had, she beat the boss handily.

Tracy took a deep breath; she just needed to repeat that solo clear, and she would be good. She would kill for her pistol in that game, although she had another way of figuring it out. This creature had to have a weak spot. She just needed to figure out what it was.

“Where are you?!” The expunger screamed. Her cover began to shake. Tracy gulped, without a way to prod the boss for weak points… Tracy shuddered. She hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this, though. Another massive tremor shook the ground, and she sighed. She had no other choice.

Tracy looked at the spear that was in her hand. Giving herself some distance from the statue, she placed one foot in front of the other, holding it in a coiled position. She bit her lip as she watched the statue crumble, revealing the Expunger’s contorted form. It screamed as it burst through. Its reptilian body cracked back into place as it licked its lips.

“Standing there ready to be lunch, I couldn’t ask for anything else.” The expunger said.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Will you shut up!” Tracy said, the words barely croaked out of her throat. “How many lame one-liners do you need to say? You're boring me to death!” The Expunger paused as if trying to process what Tracy had just said. In that awkward moment, Tracy felt glee rise from inside. It felt like scratching at an itch; it was nice, satisfying even, and the best dang way to make things worse. The expunger hissed at Tracy. She held her stance, her eyes locked into the monster’s slitted pupils. The Expunger went into its stance, an answer to Tracy’s provocation. Its claws twitched as both stood against each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

Without warning, the Expunger went first. It lifted its claw, and with the snap of a bone, a finger shot off at Tracy. Prepared, Tracy rolled in the opposite direction. The finger smashed into the rubble. The powder of cement flowed into the air, filling the air with the smell of chalk. Holding her shirt above her mouth, she darted back into the dust. Step one of taking down a challenging boss, check. She needed to provoke aggro if she had nothing to prod at the boss. Or, in layman’s terms, piss it off. As the stringy and grotesque flesh above her showed, she had done it with flying colors. Before she had more time to think, the crack of the Expunger’s ammunition filled the air. Tracy ducked as nine clawed fingers filled the air, scattering around the area. What little beauty was left of the statue was destroyed in an instant.

Tracy bobbed and weaved through the rubble, trying to find anything suitable for cover. All while she avoided more of the monster’s bizarre projectiles. Using what she could, she dashed away. The expunger’s destructive anger didn’t make it any easier. Whenever she managed to find cover, the expunger’s fingers almost instantly blew it away with a volley of strikes. She swore under her breath, change of plans again. Tracy sprinted and took glances at the Expunger. Next step, understand the boss’s move set. Every look she took that wasn’t obscured by dust only sickened her. The lines weaved together to create a web of flesh. Tracy grumbled, area-denial boss, a true pain in the butt to deal with. The combination fascinated Tracy, a boss with no end of rage combined with the strategic role of narrowing her choices. Wait, how much skin did the expunger have? It was bound to run out at some point. Then it hit her.

“So that’s your game,” Tracy muttered. Back to plan A, finding cover. The expunger’s web had almost completely covered the room. Before thinking more, she saw more fingers head her way. She jumped for a pile of rubble. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled down the stack. As she stopped, she saw the head of a statue on top of two boulders. Beneath the head was a small opening, perfect. Just in time, she ducked into the cover as a finger whizzed by. Tracy leaned her back against the stone, catching her breath. There had been too many close calls. She needed to find this weak spot and fast. After she gathered herself together, she crawled over to one of the few peepholes between the boulder and the head, hoping to get a good look at the expunger. No luck. Instead, she saw the web of skin that had encompassed the room. As she had been too preoccupied with not being hit by the Expunger’s projectiles, she hadn’t stopped to consider how grotesque it was. Skin roped its way around the room. Tracy could feel her heart thumping its way into her ears. Although, as she put her hand over her heart, she couldn’t feel her heartbeat that strong. She looked closely at the organic mass in front of her. The gentle humming wasn’t her heartbeat but the heartbeat of the skin and flesh around her. But why? The web hadn’t attacked her… She covered her mouth. It clicked into place almost immediately. The expunger could feel every fiber of the skin, all the way to the softest breath. That explained why it was able to find her so fast.

Although, if the expunger stretched out its skin like that, then… Tracy leaned forward into the peephole, tracing the fleshy web to the center of the mass. In this center was a ball of flesh that squirmed. As the flesh moved around, Tracy managed a glimpse of the center. She held her stomach from jumping out into her mouth. She had to check a few times to confirm, but the answer only grossed her out. In the center was not just the snake-like expunger she had seen but a gnarled combination of chrome and guts. The heart and intestine connect to chrome bones like wires. All skin was joined at the hands, flowing outward from the pulsing heart. Tracy shuddered as she caught a glimpse of the skull, as wires flowed around its eerie smile and laser-red eyes. Although, the prize was next to the heart, a gem that glowed a deathly green. If Tracy were to bet, that is where the expunger’s powers came from. She’d only have one shot at this, she couldn’t screw this up. She looked at her spear, still imbued with Lula’s thunder enhancement. There were too many ways that the Expunger could kill her even before she managed to reach the core. Tracy took a deep breath and looked at what she had to work with. Her spear and rocks littered the area. She doubted that just throwing the rocks would throw off the sense of the expunger. She looked around, seeing a statue leaning precariously on the rubble. She had a plan.