Erin looks expectantly at me.

"You want me to fight that?" I ask incredulously.

The creature in question has a streamlined crab shell, and its legs are several stories tall. It slowly walks along the seafloor, until it's beak snaps down into the ground. Fish and debris explode from the impact, and the creature's limbs stab out to the fish with unnatural speed.

"It's a rare-spawn elite - full of yummy XP and loot. Just think of it as a giant pinata on stilts."

Despite myself, a plan begins to take shape. No reward without risk, after all.

The range of the beak seems limited, so it's the legs I'll need to worry about. Time to test this new upgrade.

I check on Erin again and see her testing out her new powers as well. She grasps a harpoon in one hand, and it lights up with electrical power. Loading it into her harpoon gun, she looks back at me.

"Ready?"

Hesitantly, I nod. "I guess I'm the tank here. Probably best to let me take aggro".

Erin cocks her speargun, the metallic clink sounding tinny underwater. "After you, gillboy."

I approach the creature with some trepidation, as fast as I can swim without burning stamina. I figure I'll need it. The creature ignores me completely as I enter its wide range. Instead, it shambles on in search of more to eat.

I'm able to get right up close to it and feel just how big the thing really is. It's bus-sized, and I see no obvious weak points other than the leg joints.

"Here goes nothing..."

I line myself up with a row of legs on the left and activate my Sonic buff. My arm blade hums with power, and I kick forward hard while slicing.

One massive leg is sheared off, and the whole creature bucks suddenly toward me. A wall of chitin slams me backward, and a high pitched keening fills the water.

The space between me and the beast is instantly a vortex of spindly legs, churning the water into froth.

The harpoon from Erin thuds into the base of the carapace, and the beast briefly, legs twitching uncontrollably. It leans to the side before catching itself.

That gives me an idea.

I swim down and aim up at the crablike body. I shoot, but the beast jukes out of the way at the last minute. Cursing, I line up my off-hand, and this time I stick it. Lucky me.

If the beast was wild before, it's furious now. I'm pulled arm-first as the beast spins around, trying to isolate the source of its pain. That's when one of the flailing legs connects, and I'm blasted back again. My arm-tether arrests my motion with a sharp jerk. Ow.

Action Log: Murdak hits you for 17.

Note to self, don't get hit like that.

"Hit him again!" I cry to Erin, praying that she can hear me over this creature's constant keening.

I see a flash of lightning, and surge forward and to the left, trying to loop the creature as it goes still again, praying that I have enough tendon line for my plan.

Round and round the gargantuan beast I go, wrapping layer upon layer on its feebly twitching appendages. The cord jerks taught just as the leviathan recovers. I pull hard against it to remove slack, snapping the tendon taught, only to be yanked hard by its massive bulk. At this point, I find I can detach the line, and I do.

The ocean floor erupts in sand as the massive body impacts it, legs too tangled to walk.

Action Log: Murdak takes 50 fall damage

I find a timer on my interface for how long until my arm blade regenerates - 2 minutes. Good thing I still have one left.

I dive down blade first and activate Sonic Weaponry once more. I cleave through multiple legs, sawing back and forth as I lose momentum, hacking them away until they are so much seafood.

Action Log: You have dealt a total of 312 damage to Murdak

Murdak receives debuff - Crippled

The beak comes out of nowhere with blinding speed, only to be hit by one of Erin's harpoons. The projectile itself clangs uselessly off the chitinous armor, but the spell is delivered nonetheless. The timing is too close for comfort, and I have to dodge the flailing appendage as the creature spams.

My stamina is low, but I have just enough for one more cut. I consider the beak, but it's too huge- I'd only make it halfway. Time to end this then. I circle around the creature till I'm lined up with its recessed eyes, then charge. With split-second timing, I fire my arm blade and wrap it in sonic energy, and blast through its armor. I can feel the line jerk as the projectile bounces around the cavity before I rip the cord out in an explosion of innards.

Post-Combat Report: You have gained 4,000 experience points.

You have reached level 4!

You have 1 undistributed talent point

Unconsciously, I take a sip of the bloody water. It tastes sweetly of victory. I feel my fangs against my lips as they turn into a smile. Not a bad day so far. Beat the hell out of squashing bugs at work, that was for sure.

I turn to Erin, who is swimming over.

"So, how do we cook these crab legs? I'm famished."