The Rover summon charges at me as I dart forward to meet them.

Summon against summon.

Impossibility against impossibility.

Me against it.

We collide with such intense force that we both rebound backwards.

It was a dumb thing for me to have done, especially considering it had literal spikes on its body while I just had tendrils and tentacles but for some reason, it felt like I had to.

It was irrational but I was feeling ever so slightly afraid and what better solution could there be than to face the object of your fears and tear them apart?

Before I can justify my moronic decision further though, it lashes out at me with its elongated arm.

I shield myself with a couple of tentacles but the sheer power behind its blow overwhelms them and its arm smashes down onto my centre of mass.

And somehow I feel pain.

A horrible throbbing feeling envelopes not just the area around my centre of mass it injured but also my tentacles as well.

Oh no.

It… It was using mana!

Logically I should have the upper hand in this fight, my weakness was slashing attacks, not bludgeoning ones.

Unfortunately the addition of mana changed everything, my earlier instinct had been right, I was going to lose.

But if that was the case, then I might as well go all out before dissipating.

With solemnity, I channel my excess mana into myself while enduring its vicious strikes.

The influx of excess mana being injected into my physical form not only helps ease the pain and fix whatever it was doing to me but it also helps temporarily boost my physical prowess.

I can see better, I can move faster, I can hit harder.

I can fight it on somewhat equal footing now, so quickly I charge at it.

It's hardly phased though, it just holds up its shield arm in defence, enduring my hurricane of attacks with utter indifference.

I don’t even really manage to make it less aggressive as it just twirls its arm around and attacks me from bizarre angles instead of drawing back.

I try to grab onto its arm with some of my limbs but fail miserably as it easily twists its arm around and tears off the few of my appendages that got close enough to almost touch it.

Then, lifting its elongated arm up high it dove it into my flesh, ripping huge chunks off of me.

And when I send another few tendrils spiralling up to try and lock it down it just rips them apart as well.

I’m only still alive because all my excess mana has been used up and injected into me.

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This thing, it completely outmatches me.

How can I beat it?

What am I supposed to do to stop it?

I can’t exactly run away and I can’t beat it currently.

The Rovers are staying away for now, content to let the two of us duke it out but if I start to win they will probably join in.

I mean it's not like they’re going to just let me regain dominance over the battlefield, not after watching me kill so many of their friends.

What can I do?

There's nothing I can do, nothing that I can think of at least.

So maybe I should stop thinking and just do.

And then like a switch was flipped I go entirely on the offensive.

Ignoring it’s elongated arm, I surge all my limbs forward and grasp onto its shield arm.

I try pulling it towards myself but it's either far more heavy than me or is in a good position to leverage its mass because I end up pulling myself towards it instead.

Pressed against their shield I drag myself on top of them, just for them to lean their head forwards and bite off half a dozen of my tentacles.

Hurriedly I dip back under its shield, compressing my body further I try to squeeze my way around them instead.

I’m met with success as I manage to essentially hug them.

Their sharp spikes penetrate and tear at my flesh, but so long as I can damage them it is a fair trade.

After wiggling around a fair bit I’ve managed to slither my tendrils in between the leather like flesh stripes and into its vulnerable soft flesh.

Flesh which turns out not to be so vulnerable since the goop coating their body is corrosive.

I can only dig through a few inches of their flesh before the slime overpowers my regeneration and erodes my tendrils.

I would use my tentacles but I’m too busy using them to try and place this thing's mouth as far away from me as possible.

I don’t want those teeth anywhere near me ever again. If only it had a jaw or something I could use to force it’s mouth closed.

I was at an impasse. I couldn’t hurt it, at least not significantly.

And I was running out of energy, I had to hurt it and I had to do it quickly.

But the slimy goop was burning my tendrils and I couldn’t divert any tentacles to take care of the issue.

But if there were no vulnerabilities to be found here, then I would just have to find them elsewhere.

Sliding down its torso I curl myself around its left leg, and start to worm my tendrils into the gaps between its insect like armour.

The goops still present here, though in lower quantities, which allows me to more easily pry into its leg.

It tries to pull me off with its arm but I don’t budge an inch and all they get is just some more of my flesh, as I drill further into its leg.

It doesn’t use its shield arm to bash at me which is a little odd. Maybe it can’t?

So all it can do is stumble around and try to pull me off desperately.

In a flash, it had gone from indifferent to panicked.

Even as my mana finally runs out and I start to fade away, I’m happy.

I won.

I don’t get complicit though, I make sure I keep tearing at its leg.

Tearing off armour plates and hurling them to the side to allow me better access to its soft flesh.

The goops starting to get to me though now that I’ve run out of mana.

Tendrils that should have taken a minute to fade disintegrate in just a few seconds.

But just before I dissipate entirely, I manage to sever its leg.

Whatever its orders were, this should make sure its duty was thoroughly disrupted.