My heart thundered in my chest as I realized that Linnea was alone in the larger tunnel. I shouted for her to be careful before lunging forward to push myself through the narrow crevice.
I dragged myself as fast as possible, panicking at every screech that echoed around me. It was almost impossible to tell how close the Beast was, and I could only hope that I would make it in time.
The surrounding moss was withering as I moved, making it harder to force myself forward. Then my hand reached forward and felt open air, I was free at last.
I dragged my head out to the crack of plasma fire and the sight of Linnea kneeling near the exit to the crevice. She looked scared but determined as she fired shot after shot down the tunnel.
I was split between relief at seeing she was OK, and worry about what she was firing at. Moments later, my worry turned to terror as I pulled myself out enough to see her target.
A massive, writhing shape was advancing through the shadows, the moss withering to almost nothing around it. It was hard to see through the darkness this caused, but I thought I could just make out an immense mass of tentacles dragging itself forward.
I’d seen something like that before, and it had been the hardest fight Linnea or I had ever had. I still had nightmares about that lake beast and this creature had to be at least three times its size.
It barely fit through the side passage it was moving down, having to pull itself through with a litany of disturbing, squelching sounds. It was fast, despite this, growing closer at an alarming rate.
“Jared,” Linnea shouted, her face barely distinguishable in the rapidly fading light. “We have to get out of here or we’re doomed.”
I nodded in response, turning to face the beast as I continued to pull myself out. With the speed it was advancing, we might not even have time for me to get up, let alone for us to find the light we would need.
Focusing, I urged my upgraded Ethereal Roots skill into action. Glowing roots burst from not just the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well to wrap around the disturbing beast. I could feel that their power greatly exceeded any time I'd used them before, and yet several of the roots burst immediately as it pushed forward.
“That won’t hold it long,” I shouted back as I winced at the drain on my reserves. “Try to get a light out while I find my feet.” I continued wriggling out as I spoke until I finally got my feet free.
Pulling myself up, I found Linnea holding a torch while the Beast had broken more than half the roots. “Time to go,” she shouted while firing another burst into it. “We’re not taking this thing down here at least.”
Nodding, I began jogging away from the Beast with her while scrambling to get my torch out. We should have had these ready, I thought ruefully, the light from the moss made me too complacent.
The moss was now entirely gone in the Beast's direction, while some of it remained in the direction we were running. It was fading too, however, as if some kind of disease was spreading through it.
Or as if all its power was being drained, I mused as I finally got my torch out. Was this creature using the moss to siphon off the rift’s power? It had to have been a slow process, given how strong the rift had become.
Shaking those errant thoughts away, I strapped the torch to my pack and readied my rifle. From the sounds echoing from behind us, the creature was already free, and I dismissed the remnants of my ability to save power.
That single-use alone had been expensive, and I figured I could afford to do it once, maybe twice, more and still have the energy to power my gun.
“Do we run or fight?” Linnea asked from beside me. “I figure we can out-pace it if we sprint for a bit.”
I wanted to say yes, to avoid fighting this monstrous beast, but I held myself back. While the upgrade from the rift had been nice, the main purpose of coming down here had been to secure the area.
We couldn’t do that while this Beast rampaged through it, and worse, it was possible that it might follow us out. Many of the larger Beasts we had encountered had been at least somewhat intelligent, and I didn’t want to risk assuming that this one was stupid.
“We fight,” I said with a sigh. “At least until it proves to be too strong for us. If that happens, I should be able to hold it long enough for us to leg it.”
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“Right,” responded, grim-faced. “A fighting retreat is probably best, though we could try going into a tunnel too small for it.”
“And have it tear the whole place down on our heads?” I asked with a shake of my head. “No, I think your first idea was better.”
She nodded, and we both turned to face the direction the Beast was coming from. We opened fire as soon as it entered the light of our torches and shot for a few seconds, scouring tiny wounds across its body. Then we ran before it could get any closer.
It shrieked in rage as we fled, yet seemed unable to speed up to follow us. “It's working!” I shouted in excitement as we gained more distance, before repeating our maneuver. We managed it a third, and then a fourth time before things changed.
We had just turned to fire for the fifth time when the creature shrieked again, this time accompanied by a wave of black energy. I shuddered as the corrupted energy swept over us, then all hell broke loose.
Black tentacles burst from the surrounding walls, eerily reminiscent of my Ethereal Roots ability. In contrast, however, these tentacles were covered in dangerous spines which they dragged across our bodies as they coiled around us.
Only my upgraded armor saved me and they still cut deep gouges into it. Fuck, I thought, on the verge of panicking, before I pulled myself together. With a thought, I swapped my rifle for my Psi Sword and empowered it before the tentacles could fully enclose me.
With a sweep of my arm, I cut through the mass wrapping around my middle, causing them to dissipate into black mist. A second cut took care of the rest, allowing me to rush over to Linnea.
She had fared worse than me as a mass of black flesh had enveloped her. I hesitated for a moment, before swinging my sword in an arc that I hoped would be shallow enough.
My blade swept through the tentacles along her front, leaving nothing but mist behind it. She collapsed on the hard stone in front of me as I swung twice more to finish the rest of the tentacles.
I could see blood dripping through rents in her armor, but she still pulled herself up a moment later.
“Come on,” I shouted, wincing as I pulled her along. I knew it had to hurt, but the Beast was nearly upon us. “Are you OK? Do we need to run for real?”
“Just… got… the breath knocked out of me,” she gasped as we jogged forward. “I’ll be alright in a moment.”
I was worried about the amount of blood she was losing but decided to trust her. I continued to drag her forward at a run until she straightened back up and continued under her own power.
“We need to watch out for that,” she shouted, sounding a lot better. “If it catches us again, we’re going to be in trouble.”
I nodded at that as an idea struck me. “I need you to go on ahead and get as far forward as you can shoot from with the night vision on your scope. I’ll stay closer, so it focuses any attacks on me.”
She swore under her breath and I expected her to argue, but she simply nodded her head. “Understood,” she said tersely, before putting on more speed as she sprinted forward.
Judging that I had enough of a lead on the beast, I spun and began charging a blast with my rifle. So far, we’d been running scared and just firing wildly back at the creature. It was time to change that.
I charged the shot to the maximum the rifle could handle, then let loose as soon as the beast entered my light. The blast shot forward and exploded against the mass of tentacles writhing around its head.
The resulting explosion threw it back, and I followed up with a burst of normal shots. A crack sounded from somewhere behind me before one of Linnea’s larger sniper shots flew past as well.
The creature rightened itself in front of me, the tentacles across its face sloughing off to reveal black eyes and a gaping maw. Burns littered the now-revealed face as it sped up again.
Any moment now, I thought as charged another blast. Hold until the last possible moment.
The seconds ticked down as it advanced, occasionally shaking in response to a well-placed shot from Linnea. My resolve almost broke before it finally opened its mouth to screech only a dozen feet away.
Tentacles launched from its own body as it did so, but I had the target I’d been waiting for. I fired my empowered shot the second I saw its mouth opening, and it flew forward to land perfectly down its throat.
The blast exploded in a shower of black blood, interrupting the creature’s ability and letting me dart backward. Several of its tentacles still almost caught me, but a quick swap to my Psi sword allowed me to cut through them.
The creature was flailing around by this point, its tentacles drilling into the tunnel and threatening to collapse it. Shuddering, I turned and ran, having no desire to be buried under a mountain of rubble.
Plasma bolts shot past as I ran, with Linnea still focusing on firing at the Beast. Then everything went quiet with a final crash as the Beast slumped to the ground behind me.
“Nice work,” Linnea groaned as she limped out of the darkness in front of me. “You blew half its face off with that last shot and gave me the opening I needed.” She swayed as she finished, and I darted forward to catch her before she hit the ground.
“Thanks,” she said with a shaky laugh. “Looks like we swapped roles for this fight. Somehow I’m the critically injured one and you’re fine.”
“That’s not funny,” I said with a shake of my head. “I hate seeing you injured like this.” I lowered her down as I spoke, before beginning to pull her armor off.
Linnea helped as much as she could, but her movements were slowing by the time we finally revealed her wounds. I winced at the jagged puncture marks across her body, amazed that she was even still conscious.
“You’re not the only one with Toughness,” she croaked as I began pulling medical supplies out. “I started investing more in it after seeing what you were capable of.”
“And it’s a good thing too,” I sighed as I began spraying sealant on her wounds. “You barely made it.”
She nodded wearily at that, before gulping down the pills I prepared for her. Moments later, she’d drifted off, and I settled down to hold her.
I would still need to go back and try to cut the core out of the tentacle beast at some point, not to mention getting back out of the caves. For now, though, we could afford to rest for a while.