Determined, Jose moved forward and plunged his hand into the liquid-like substance. It clung to his skin—cool, slimy—and blurred his vision like he'd dived into a pool.
He emerged dry, but barely noticed before a message appeared:
[Warning! You have entered an Aberrant Domain.
Quest: Defeat the Domains sentinel]
He swiped it away—then froze.
Before him stood the most terrifying creature he'd ever seen.
It was a walking cactus nightmare. Its torso was a thick barrel cactus; its head, a bulbous globe atop which squirmed a mass of cacti shaped like a brain. Night blooms served as eyes, each topped with tiny cacti. Its arms and legs were spiraled stalks. One arm ended in a hollowed-out cannon, the other held a rapier-like spine. Its back and shoulders bristled with thick, deadly spines.
The creature opened its mouth—inside was a coral-like structure tapering into teeth made of cactus coral—and screamed a horrible, grinding wail.
The monstrosity was at least eight feet tall and took slow, lumbering steps as if unworried of any harm befalling it. Indeed, it should be unworried, no one in their right mind would try to stand toe to toe with such a creature. Even if none of its spines were poisonous, they were sturdy enough to cut into the flesh like sharpened daggers.
Jose turned to find the entrance gone. "Shit!" He yelled in frustration. A cold sweat ran down his back as he realized he was stuck with the monster before him; it was kill or be killed, and he wasn't ready to die.
The monster dashed forward as he turned back to it, reaching him in an instant, its rapier leading the way.
Jose crossed his knives out in front of him just in time to block the attack. But the creature was powerful and sent him tumbling backward for several feet.
He felt the cold hand of death reaching for him as he came to a stop on his heels, and the monster raised its hollowed-out arm. A thick, heavy spine shot forward from the opening like a metal spike from a cannon and barely missed him as he ducked low to the ground.
He shuddered as he heard the spine carve a path through the dunes behind him. It was at least several inches thick and solid enough to have run him through like a slug from a railgun. He doubted his knives would have been sturdy enough to stop it had he even tried.
Jose took a deep breath to reign in his shaking nerves and prepared for the daunting battle before him. The monster began slowly walking toward him again, and he tensed, carefully watching its every move.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do against this shit?" Jose questioned as he thought of a way to stop the monster in its tracks.
'Maybe Thunder Wave will at least slow it down?' He thought as he stomped and used the skill when the monster dashed for him again.
A wave of red and black lightning sped forward, tripping up the monster and stopping it in its tracks.
It fired another spine. Too close. Jose tried to block—it shattered both knives. The spine clipped his ribs and sent him flying and skittering along the hard, stony desert floor.
Agony bloomed in his side. At least one rib cracked. Scrapes and bruises already layered his body.
The fight wasn't going well for him, he knew; it'd barely started, and already he had sore ribs and tons of minor scrapes and scratches.
This wasn't a monster he wanted to fight up close and personal, given its natural armor.
'Let's see how much ether I can burn in one fight.'
The monster advanced. Jose growled, "A game of chicken then?" and fired several Bolts. The shots scorched its chest and arms, but it barely reacted.
Jose clicked his tongue, overcharged the next two, and fired at its cannon arm. Lightning tore into the limb, blowing a hole near the wrist.
It shrieked in pain and charged, rapier lashing out. Jose dodged, but the monster broke pattern—rage-fueled, it slashed wildly. One blow cut through his bracers and gashed both arms. He retreated, bleeding.
Gritting his teeth against the pain of his broken ribs and bleeding arms, Jose fired an overcharged Bolt at the monster's chest. It deftly brought up its rapier and caught the lightning on its blade, parrying, sending it out wide.
It tilted forward on its knees and fired a handful of spines from its back at Jose.
Jose evaded—barely. One caught his leg, nailing it to the ground. He screamed as pain shot up his thigh.
He had one move left.
Null-Bind.
Black lightning surged out. Barbed arrows struck the monster's shoulders and rooted to the ground, pinning it in place.
The beast howled and thrashed, but the binds held.
"Fuck! Fuck!" Pain and frustration bubbled over as he fought and pulled on the stubborn spine that held him fast.
He thought of pulsing Volt-Gen but dismissed it just as fast. Even if he were able to heal, he would still be stuck and would only hurt himself again trying to pull free of the damned thing.
Before him, the monster struggled against his skill; it was clearly having an effect as the skin surrounding the entry wounds had begun losing its color, and the monster seemed to have less and less fight in it.
The monster seemed to realize its own predicament and came to its knees.
It trembled and squirmed, keeping its balance as new spines grew from its back.
"Oh shit! Fuck! Fucking come on you stupid spine move!" Jose yelled, realizing that he was about to be run through with another volley of spines.
He pulled and struggled against the spine holding him in place, but to no avail. The monster loosed its projectiles, and Jose reacted on impulse. He fired several Bolts at the coming projectiles, blasting several from the air and turning others aside. One got through, however, and it ran him through the gut.
The spike burst out his back. Blood gushed front and back like twin waterfalls.
No pain. Just shock.
NO.
Not here. Not now. Not after everything. Not before he lived.
He pulsed Volt-Gen. The wound began to close—organs knitting, flesh fusing—but the pain...
Pain like he'd never known.
Lava-wasp stings in every nerve. Fire ants in every vein. Bones snapped back into place like hammer strikes. He shook, swayed, half-kneeling and barely conscious.
The monster watched, still bound, but readying another volley.
On its hands and knees as it was, it was unable to fire its cannon arm. And he was too far from it for the rapier to reach him, even if the monster could bring it to bear. Its face scrunched up in anger and pain as the new spines slowly rose from its back.
Incredulous and indignant at what he was witnessing, Jose grabbed the spine on his leg and began pulling at it again. He screamed in pain as he healed and heaved, but every touch of the spine grated against bones.
'It's futile,' he thought, the damned spine simply wouldn't budge, even with his enhanced strength from his levels, it was lodged in the ground too tightly.
The monster fired its next volley, and Jose desperately attempted to scorch every projectile from the air before they reached him. But reach him, they did. Another spine went through his left shoulder, and one struck higher up on the same leg, further sticking him in place.
Jose screamed in frustration and agony. What else could he do in such a scenario?
His left arm dangled at his side now, completely useless. His breaths came in ragged spurts as blood leaked out of the wounds and the spines grated against his bones upon the slightest of movements.
He pulsed Vol-Gen again and again, desperately trying to heal as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. The skill responded, draining most of his remaining ether in an instant.
The monster emitted a low growl as it prepared yet another volley. It was clear to Jose that each volley was taking a lot out of the monster, so the question was. Would he outlast the monster, or would it take him down before using up all of its energy?
He refused to die. Did the world believe that after all of his struggles in life, after all of his pain and anguish, after all of the loneliness and isolation, after surviving an apocalypse, after surviving a tower full of Tainted, after nearly dying over and over…
That, after all of that. He would what? Lay down and die? Let a stupid cactus monster, of all things, kill him? No! He refused.
He grabbed one of the spines on his leg, and with a monumental effort of will and stubbornness, he pooled his last bits of strength and pulled. But this time, he delved into himself and attempted to flood his body with what little ether remained.
He reached deep—slammed every vortex open. His dynamo spun wildly, ether building in his core. Red lightning exploded from within, searing through him with rage.
White lightning followed, healing and energizing.
Then black lightning—death, corrosion, oblivion aimed at the monster.
Jose let out a thundering scream as he wrenched the first spine from the ground and his leg.
Mindlessly, he used his left arm to pull the next spine, tearing what muscles had been stitched back together. White lightning flooded forward, healing his wounds and providing him with energy.
He stood, black lightning forming claws on his fingers. Evenly, he stalked toward the monster.
The monster fired another volley—Jose dodged every one, closing the distance in a blink.
He slashed down. His claws shredded the monster's shoulder, snapping a bind and flaying skin.
The remaining bind vanished. The monster lunged. Spines tore into Jose's arms and chest, but he didn't stop.
He kneed it in the gut, lifting it off the ground.
Another strike. Another.
He threw it aside like trash and descended.
Claws tore across its shoulder. Flesh atomized. Its arm flew through the air.
It struck back—caught him in the face. Skin peeled. Bone cracked.
Jose staggered. Then screamed in its face.
A thunderous bellow erupted, lightning-infused and primal.
It struck the creature point-blank. Its face caved in. Skin peeled. Skull split.
It fell, twitching.
Dead.
Jose stood over the corpse, panting, blood mixing with sweat, with lightning still crackling in his hands.
The red lightning had brought fury—but the white and black had balanced it. Kept him human. Given him the strength to fight without losing himself.
He was alive. Broken, bleeding, furious.
But alive.