Kryos widened his stance, shifting his left leg a bit behind him as he activated both Pressure Field and Singularity Stance. The world around him felt heavier as mass increased, and the dust that he had kicked up in his movement settled instantly to the floor of the mine.
Only one of the four creatures actually moved toward him: the other three continued to try and get their tentacle tendrils covered with those razor-sharp suckers onto the miners who were on the brink of exhaustion and at their wits end with terror. The scent of iron and blood hit Kryos’ nostrils, and he knew one of them had suffered injury.
The quadrupedal creature dashed toward him. Its torso-like central trunk came up to his mid-chest, and the tentacles whipped around as they encountered Kryos’ area of distorted gravitic pressure. Still, the spiked suction cups sought purchase on his body as the tendrils whipped forward in a concerted effort to try and cling to him.
Instinctively, Kryos hopped backward, only slightly slowed by his Singularity Stance. The suckers found purchase on his scales, and he winced as the teeth bit down through them and into the meat of his arm below. The thing was attached to him, but the flesh looked spongy and weak. Bringing his fingers of his right hand-claw into a point, he used them to slice through the tendril. The sucker remained attached to his left forearm, still biting down and wriggling, but the burst of bluish blood that squirted from the now-lopped-off appendage, and the recoiling of the monster, let Kryos know he had done some damage.
Yet there were still more tentacles. They all lashed forward, and even the damaged tentacle whipped out, as the entire underside was covered with more, smaller suckers. Kryos wasn’t able to react quickly enough to slice through more than two with his sharp claws, and they found purchase. Then, he realized the true horror of the creatures, and felt a wave of revulsion wash over him and trickle down his spine as the central torso opened up, revealing a toothy maw.
The thing tried to lift Kryos up to bring into its mouth, but couldn’t given his weight and amplified mass. Kryos let out a curse as he felt the suckers digging in all over his body, but also saw an opening—he could see what was maybe some type of jawbone inside the maw. Using both claws, he shoved them down alongside the exterior of the torso piece, ripping through the soft flesh and down to the sides of the jaws, where he was able to find purchase on the inside of the bone.
The thing widened its jaws further, and the tendrils let go of his chest to find purchase on his arms, seemingly trying to rip them away from the center body, realizing what he was trying to do. They dug into his scales, the teeth gnawing through his natural protection. If he didn’t have that, he was sure that it would eat down to the bone and the pain would be utterly debilitating. As it stood, this was like being bitten—hard—by a newly hatched dragon which had happened to him on a handful of occasions.
The pain infuriated him, awakening something primal in his psyche. This thing dared harm a superior creature. He let out a roar that seemed to pause the combat further away as he ripped the thing in half, the wet, spongy flesh giving way to his superior strength. The suckers of the creatures continued to wriggle and writhe, biting deeper into his flesh, but he was alive.
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HP: 79 / 140
MP: 58 / 100
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Kryos moved over the split-in-twain corpse of the monster and moved as quickly as he could under the augmented, reduced speed of his Singularity Stance towards the miners. One of their number was latched onto by a creature, and his fellows were desperately trying to find purchase with their picks on the spongy flesh to free them.
“Hey!” Kryos shouted. “Over here! Come and get me!”
The monsters didn’t respond, perhaps finding easier prey before them.
No matter, Kryos thought. I just need to get between them and the miners.
He could see the pinpricks of light through the collapsed rocks getting larger as more pieces were removed. It would be a matter of time. He knew he was injured, and the suckers still attached to him continued to sap his strength. He ripped one off, but winced and let out a growl of pain as his health dropped from the action from a chunk of flesh coming out with it.
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HP: 75 / 140
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Better to leave them attached for now and figure out how to get rid of them later.
He got up behind the creatures and grabbed one by the tentacle. It seemed to sense him coming, because the other tentacles all thwipped around to latch onto him. But, he saw the move coming, and dropped Singularity Stance to increase his Agility a bit more—enough to allow for a faster dodge. Only one tendril found purchase on him, he was able to slice through two which fell harmlessly to the floor where they flopped around, and he got to its left side.
That placed him alongside another one of the creatures, and he grabbed one of its tentacles as well. That caused it to spin toward him, and he jumped back to dodge its hail of tendril strikes. Then, he backed off further down the tunnel as the two monsters chased him. “Hope you can handle that one!” he shouted.
Someone shouted a response, but Kryos couldn’t hear them—his heart was racing, sending beating pulses up to his temples that thudded louder than their words. The two monsters were approaching him at speed, spreading out on either side, and although they were slowed thanks to Pressure Field, they still moved quickly. He moved to his left, toward one of the smaller offshoot mine shafts, hoping to use the choke point to narrow their approach.
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One of the creatures must have had some level of intellect, as it circled around him to cut off that option. Now he was surrounded—one behind him, and one in front. He didn’t have a choice: he would have to choose one to focus on. He chose to rush the one in front of him. He knew their weakness—well, a weakness he could exploit. The moment he rushed forward, it sprang to meet him. Tendrils latched onto him, and the wyrmling scale armor that still hung onto him took some of the hits instead.
He winced in pain, gritted his teeth, and drove both of his clawed fists, fingers pointed, right into the central mass along the sides of the torso-piece. He felt the bone structure, and ripped once more. This one didn’t split in half—perhaps because its mouth wasn’t open. Kryos wasn’t sure, but it didn’t die. The tendrils that had not found purchase on flesh and instead hit armor whipped around once more and did find flesh: one got him right on the cheek, another on the neck, and a third got onto his left shoulder.
Then he went careening forward as the second one slammed into him from behind. He let out a cry of pain as he went tumbling onto the one he had his claws embedded into, and in a fit of rage mixed with urgent fear, he ripped his claws out sideways through the creature he fell on top of. That seemed to do the trick, as blue blood splashed out both sides and it fell to the ground. However, the tendrils continued to suck on his face, neck, and shoulder.
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HP: 32 / 140
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Kryos dropped the Pressure Field and reactivated Singularity Stance, wanting the extra damage reduction to give him a bit more durability. His adrenaline was skyrocketing, his heart was hammering in his chest, blood roared in his ears, and he was terrified. Yet, there was also an exhilaration. These monsters sought to conquer him, and yet he was able to hold his ground.
The only reason they were even able to upset the scales in their favor was because he was fighting to save other people, and they outnumbered him. If he had taken them one at a time, he could have kept himself safer: but he knew this was a chance to do just what his dad had told him.
Make a good first impression.
He managed to push himself to his feet, and turned around, but the thing stayed latched to him and moved with him, staying right behind him. Kryos tried to swing his clawed fingers back at it, but it just moved its central mass out of the way. He couldn’t get at the tendrils, because they were all along that central line of his back out of reach.
Think, Kryos!
Then, an idea hit him. He could use his bulk to his advantage. He ran toward the wall, dropping Singularity Stance again. At his maximum speed he could muster in the small space, he jumped and twisted in the air.
Squish!
The creature was flattened against the wall. But, the thing wasn’t dead. It might have been shocked a bit, as Kryos felt the tendrils loosen—just enough that Kryos got his footing under him, and was able to spin and get an arm in-between him and its central body. It bought him enough space that he could shove his claw into its underside. He punched into its inside, ripping and tearing as much as he could.
The thing writhed back and forth, the suckers digging in deeper and deeper, and Kryos kept his grip inside the thing as he slammed it over and over again into the wall, trying to find purchase on the bit of bone he had found on the first and second one—but from the underside, he was having a tougher time locating it.
Finally, he found it, and grabbing the inner jaw bone, he managed to yank the thing to the side enough that he got his other arm into the hole he had carved with his claw, gripped the other side of the bone, and ripped the thing in half.
Kryos saw blood spurt out to either side, the blue staining the walls, and he slid down to the floor. He was panting with exertion, all of the tendrils still wriggling along his body kept digging and stayed firmly affixed, and he hurt all over. He crawled over to a clean section of wall and pushed himself up against it.
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HP: 12 / 140
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Thankfully, the padded pockets of his Trader’s Pouch were still protecting their precious cargo. He grabbed one of the Healing Potions and slurped it down.
Only one left, he thought.
For a moment, he thought of using it, but glancing to his left at the rock wall, saw that it was now clear enough that more miners had come through, and with sharp shovels had dispatched the other creature and saved their fellows.
I think I’ll be okay.
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HP: 42 / 140
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That heat on his torso was facing that left direction, but it was hidden under all the pain. He stayed put, knowing that someone would be coming over soon enough to ask who he was and why he was there. Thinking through what his dad had taught him, he tried to come up with what he was going to say.
Do I just say my name? He thought. They won’t know how the Drakemount works. Should I just tell them I’m from far away? That magic transported me from my home? That wouldn’t be a lie, since that happened. Okay, I can go with that. I tell the truth without saying specifics. I’m sure dad would approve of that.
As he thought that, he also considered what his mom would advise.
She would just tell me to act intimidating, use my injured state yet obvious victory to show them I’m not to be trifled with, and demand compensation for my actions. Leverage my position. I did a mighty deed on their behalf, they should worship me—the miners I saved, at least. I could demand recompense for saving their lives. That would be a nice way to add to my hoard. That’s properly draconic.
He quelled his thoughts and tuned his voice into the miners' conversation. “How’d you survive Tremorleeches?” one of the miners said. They looked human, like Kryos’ father, but had charcoal-black skin and deep, red eyes. They had no hair, either. But, they looked important, as they had a covered, hooded lantern, and their clothes, while covered in dust and containing many patched and sewn-over holes, were a bit nicer and more pressed than everyone else’s.
“Something in the cave yelled at them,” the one who had been the most injured replied. That one was squat, with a big, puffy beard, equally puffy hair, and a chiseled chest that might have once been covered with clothes but was now bare as other miners were tending to the suction wound.
Lantern-light panned across Kryos, and he winced as it met his eyes. “Star-seal above,” the red-eyed one whispered. Kryos saw those eyes approaching, and then the lantern was thankfully moved away from his line of sight. The man knelt a few feet away, well out of reach. “Stranger . . . thank you for helping. Who are you?”