Wyatt stood, staring at the monster ahead of him, considering his options.

Escaping the way he’d come wasn’t one, as he’d woken up at a dead end. But he didn’t see how he could possibly defeat this monster, given how much stronger the level 2 had been than the level 1s.

The mummy was already coming toward him, a few hundred paces away down a long straight corridor, moving faster than any of the others had.

He used |Torpor| on it, causing it to slow. Slightly.

At least it didn’t resist it.

Using it gave him a much larger jolt of… something, he guessed because of the higher level. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow eating it.

Which should have disgusted him, but just made him hungrier.

The only other thing he had going for him was that his Energy had fully recovered.

If the rate of Energy used per stack is constant, then with full Energy I should be able to put seven stacks of Debuffer.

But the highest he’d gone was three, so he didn’t know if the rate increased differently after that, and he still only had a vague sense of his amount of Energy. It was easy to tell when it was full or empty, but how much each stack used wasn’t as precise.

What permutations should I use? What’s my goal here? If I incapacitate it, I can kill it with my sword-arm.

Maybe.

If it’s anything like the previous monsters, Disgorge won’t make it puke until I reach the number of stacks of its level. Devitalize and Torpor then seem like the best choices, since even one stack of Torpor has already slowed it down.

He used another stack, and it slowed further. It was now moving at a normal walking speed instead of a run.

|Devitalize| caused it to stagger, but it kept its feet and trudged toward him. Bits of skin began to flake off, but at this rate it would take months to dissolve fully.

The level 2 had gotten in a hit on him, and even with his titan skin protecting him, had sent him sprawling. He’d only had a glancing blow from one of the level ones, but he’d hardly even noticed it. Which, along with the difficulty in dispatching the level 2, suggested non-linear scaling.

What would getting hit by a level 7 be like?

He did not intend to find out.

I guess I get to see how long a stack lasts for.

There was no room to run past the mummy, so instead he used another |Devitalize|.

Now it was leaving skin-footprints in its wake.

He walked backward as it grew closer, hoping monsters didn’t respawn. The level 1s he’d fought hadn’t been difficult, but adding them to this fight—let alone the level 2—would get him killed.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

At least it feels like my Energy is still regenerating in battle.

He kept this up until the mummy’s trudge turned to a jog.

He’d been counting in his head, and that had taken a little over twenty seconds for one stack of |Torpor| to fall off.

That doesn’t bode well. They fall off faster than I regenerate Energy.

He hit it with another |Torpor| followed by |Devitalize|, then a second stack of |Devitalize| since the effects seemed multiplicative rather than additive.

Now skin was dropping off in small chunks.

But it was still coming for him

He tried to use another stack, but got that jolt in his spine.

Not enough Energy.

He tried a third stack of |Torpor|. Same result.

So he had enough Energy left for a second stack, but not a third.

At this rate, he was going to run out of Energy before the battle ended.

He kept moving backward as the mummy came for him, trying to come up with a solution.

He looked up at the ceiling. It was higher here, almost double his height. Then he studied the mummy. It wasn’t tall. Significantly shorter than him in fact. And even he couldn’t reach the ceiling without jumping.

He considered the Energy required.

A small trickle was flowing out from him now to keep his titan skin expanded over his body, but he was regenerating it faster than he was losing it.

He let the armor contract so that only the belt and the diamond on his chest remained, thin strands stretching to his hands and feet, forming spikes. The drain felt about the same as keeping it expanded over his whole body.

He was still regaining Energy.

I hope you don’t have spells.

Putting Energy into his mantle to reduce his weight, he jumped, spike-hands first. They embedded in the ceiling and he focused on changing them into many smaller spikes. This used more Energy, but not much more. Then he heaved his legs up, letting the spikes on the tips of his toes lock in place, shrinking and multiplying the spikes there as well.

Then he relaxed, testing the grip. It held.

He let his head drop back, looking at the mummy.

He was ready to drop everything and run if it gave any hint of being capable of anything beyond swiping at him.

Except, the mummy didn’t even try to do that much. It trudged past him, walking right under him without looking up.

Maybe it can’t see? That would make sense since it doesn’t have eyes. Sound then?

That doesn’t seem—

The mummy stopped when it was several steps past him, turned around, moved the other direction, now at a jog as a stack of |Torpor| fell away.

It passed him, then stopped again, turning around.

Oh great. I’m stuck.

🞠

Wyatt waited, the mummy jogging back and forth under him, letting his Energy fully regenerate.

As soon as it did, he dumped as many stacks of |Devitalize| as he could.

He managed six. He still had Energy left, but not enough for a seventh stack apparently.

He didn’t bother with |Torpor| as he didn’t want to waste Energy. Besides, the mummy’s frantic running was making it dissolve faster.

He couldn’t tell if it was regenerating, but it didn’t look like it.

His arms and legs were beginning to ache, his shoulders going numb. The spikes were supporting him, but it was still a strain on his joints and tendons.

He put some Energy into his mantle to lighten himself and had to hold in a sigh of relief as the weight on his joints reduced.

It would make regenerating Energy take longer, but he now felt like he could wait here all day.

Two more repeats of six stacks had one of the mummy’s legs fall off. Now it hopped around awkwardly.

Good of time as any to test what its senses were like.

“Hey,” he called out.

The mummy’s head snapped toward him and it began waving its arms in his direction.

Wyatt chuckled. It was funny watching it try to balance on one leg and hit him with its stubby, inflexible arms.

Then it picked up its fallen leg and threw it at him. Hard.

Wyatt’s humor left him along with a grunt of pain.

Yeah, never get cocky. I need to remember that. Never underestimate your enemy.

One arm had fallen off from the throw, but it just picked it up with its remaining arm and hurled it up at him as well.

Wyatt felt something break and then he was falling.

He immediately forced Energy into his titan skin to make it form over his entire body and head and formed his arm into a blade and took aim as he fell, hoping the mummy was weakened enough by |Devitalize| that he could decapitate it.

It wasn’t. His titan skin lost a percent of cohesion at the attempt, and the mummy’s one remaining arm broke as it slammed against Wyatt’s armored face.

Wyatt grunted, formed a hammer, and, his own head spinning, began beating the mummy about the skull.