You think luck and superstition is all bunk? Then explain how that monster got unlucky number thirteen! I think it’s fitting, anyone that runs into it is unlucky indeed.

- Seline ‘Four Leaf’ McTavish

—

“Arty what the fuck am I looking at?” I yelled as I dove out of the way of one of the beast’s flailing tentacles.

{Arty: Model Thirteen, a hive protector. It’s much stronger and more dangerous than many of the models you’ve faced so far. They’re grown as an extension of the hive structure itself and remain attached until needed. Once they activate, they’ll only have a couple hours to live. During that time, they’re one of the most ferocious antithesis of their tier.}

“You’re not filling me with confidence,” I growled. As soon as the Thirteen realized that it probably wasn’t going to be able to reach me with its thrashing tentacles, it changed up its tactics. The trilobed terror slowly pushed itself until all three bodies were tentacle side down, then charged in my direction. For something so large and apparently uncoordinated, it moved extremely quickly. I didn’t think I could get close enough to strike at it with my sword, not without being clipped by its magnitude of squirming limbs, so I bolted instead. I made for the nearest clump of trees and immediately started weaving my way through.

I heard the first tree snap, crushed under the Thirteen’s charge, but nothing after that. I sometimes forget that most antithesis were incapable of making noise, and as this behemoth chased me, I found myself wishing that it would yell in rage, pant, or do ANYTHING that would help me tell where it was. I didn’t even bother to glance back until I made it all the way through the trees, and when I did, I couldn’t see the Thirteen.

I probably would have been crushed if I hadn’t noticed that Skyler and her drones were still firing at something above me. I looked up just in time to see the Thirteen hanging from two trees, using two of its bodies like grotesquely oversized hands, while the third hurled towards me like a bell. I managed to duck under the body, but still got caught by one of its myriad tentacles.

My shield flared for a split second before I was sent tumbling into a ditch ten feet away.

“That fucking sucked,” I wheezed.

{Arty: You’re lucky you had that shield, that blow should have pulverized your ribs.}

{Skyler: WHAT?}

{Rei: But I’m fine, bruised but otherwise ok.}

I turned to watch as the Thirteen had used the momentum of its swing to throw itself forward. The two tree-climbing bodies let go and were carried a few feet before landing tentacle side down, then the two of them supported the entire mass while the third body bled off momentum and returned to the ground.

“This thing makes gymnasts look bad,” I snarled under my breath as I took off again.

{Rei: Please tell me you can use your mortars to kill this fucking thing.} I desperately entered into my augs as I ran.

{Sky: They can, but the little guys still need a few seconds to set up horizontal shots. I can’t do that while it’s chasing you around the woods!}

I noticed that I couldn’t hear the Thirteen scrambling around again, so rather than falling for the same trick twice, I took a hard turn and ran through some relatively open ground. Less than a second later, I felt a massive thump as the Thirteen dropped from wherever it was hiding.

{Rei: Then set them up to fire into the middle of the hive. This thing seems obsessed with me, so I’ll lead it right back into your line of fire.}

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

{Sky: Fine, just be careful.}

Even though I was sprinting as fast as I could, I could always hear the Thirteen only a couple feet behind me. If I turned too quickly, the monster would probably get me, so I needed an opening to get this chase going in the right direction. That’s when I noticed the ridge.

A flat wall of stone, only about ten feet tall and twenty feet wide, jutting out of the forest floor. It wasn’t much, but hopefully it was enough. I ran along the bottom of the rock wall until I found a tree growing only about two feet from the base of the cliff face. I darted between the two obstacles, then kicked off the wall and made a B-line back towards the hive. I risked a quick glance behind me to check on the Thirteen.

The monster’s bodies were too wide to follow me through that small gap, so it had tried to quickly sidestep the obstacle but couldn’t bleed off enough momentum. The tree cracked and fell over at the impact, but the Thirteen didn’t seem all that hurt. It had just been slowed down for a few seconds, and that’s all I needed.

By the time I spotted the hive, my breathing had become ragged, and my muscles were screaming. I was in good shape, but I still wasn’t used to doing a full blown sprint for such an extended period. I was close to the end, but I couldn’t let up, not with the Thirteen only a few steps away.

The antithesis had apparently not taken too kindly to my trick and redoubled its pace to catch me. It had stopped trying to be fancy--swinging off trees and catching me off guard--it was now just rampaging forward, smashing through whatever was in its way.

When I burst into the clearing, the first thing I saw was Skyler. She was staring at me, eyes hard, her drones ready. She started to say something, and even though I was too far away to hear it, I could read it on her lips; “Down.”

I threw myself face-first into the mess of vines covering the ground. I hadn’t even finished skidding when I heard the soft ‘Fwump’ noise of the mortars.

When the Thirteen stepped into the clearing, it got six mortar rounds dead center. Since it had been chasing me with one single torso forward, that body took the full brunt of the damage. I was showered with antithesis blood and guts as I desperately crawled out of the line of fire.

The body that had been hit stopped moving, perhaps it had been mortally wounded by the mortar rounds. So as I climbed to my feet, the creature rotated to bring another face to bear. That was a mistake, because the instant that undamaged body appeared, Skyler unloaded another volley into it. This one somehow survived the first volley and started desperately crawling in my direction. It did not survive the second.

The mortars not only killed this second core but blew it completely free of the rest of the creature.

With only a single squid-like body left, the Thirteen scrambled around ineffectively. It seemed that whatever brain was left in the third core could partially control the damaged side’s tentacles, but it was nowhere near as effective as before.

Now that it was so mauled, and not trying to kill me, the Thirteen looked like some sort of wounded animal, rather than some sort of Eldritch horror. At least it did, until Skyler got an angle on the final body. With all three parts dead, it just toppled over, tentacles twitching.

“Are you ok?” Skyler called as she came running over. Even though I wanted to answer her, I was still far too winded to say anything. She immediately touched my injured side, causing me to wince, before yanking up my shirt. “Your entire side is bruised. How did you manage to sprint with an injury like that?” she asked as she inspected the damage.

“Survival instincts,” I managed to get out. “When something like that is chasing you,” I said, pointing at the corpse of the Thirteen, “you don’t let a little pain slow you down.”

“You need medical attention!” Skyler told me as I fell to the ground in front of her.

I nodded, still breathing heavily. “Arty, could I get something for this?”

The tiny plastic box appeared right in my lap, and when I ripped off the top, I found the same sort of nanite inhaler that I’d used before. I simply popped the device into my mouth and breathed deeply.

Within seconds of getting that metallic tang in the back of my throat, my chest started feeling better. Not only that, but I found that I was breathing easier. “See, all better!” I told Skyler, a small smile on my face.

She looked at me suspiciously and still insisted on checking under my shirt when I stood up, but seemed relieved when she saw the bruises had cleared up. “It’s a good thing we have Protector grade healing available. Otherwise you’d spend months in bed after each of our fights,” she huffed.

“I can’t deny that,” I admitted. “Fighting an opponent in close combat carries a lot of risks.” I sighed and looked around the grove. Even though the antithesis were dead, the hive was still functional. It had even started growing new fruit already. “How are we going to deal with this mess?” I asked.

{Arty: You already have the catalog for it; you just need a lot of grenades. Follow our instructions on how to set them up and you’ll be done in no time.}