Milo looked out into the sea, that roar was directed at him wasn't it? Milo saw the surface of the water ripple with waves. What was causing this? He looked at the fire and the meat cooking over it. With much regret, he hurriedly threw the meat and stomped out the fire.
It was too late, out of the sea emerged something with a pair of golden slit eyes. It stared him down for a couple seconds, which was great for Milo as he summoned the Prototype.
Milo knew for a fact he couldn't kill this thing. that was just undisputable, his best bet was to get away from it somehow, diving into the water was a death sentence, and the coral hill had very little spots to hide on.
'Shit!'
Milo scoffed at his own stupidity, of course there was a catch to this stupid place. He couldn't have possibly believed he would be allowed some peace. What could he do?
Milo looked up, the serpent opened its jaw and dived downwards to engulf him whole, Milo jumped to the ground. The serpent's jaws hinged around one half of the coral hill, its fangs excluding some purple liquid Milo could only assume to be venom.
Milo took the opportunity, he poised the Prototype and thrust at the serpent's eye. The Prototype struck true and blood seeped onto its blade. The serpent roared in pain, and Milo quickly retrieved the Prototype. He also reached into a satchel and crushed the only soul shard he owned.
[Your network grows stronger]
'Now or never!'
He looked down at the dark sea... since when was he so suicidal?
Milo jumped from the coral hill. He landed in the water, hard.
Milo tried his best to regain his bearings, but he was soon thrashed around by some unknown force. He hit rocks, scales, bones, everything was hitting his body. Roars sounded from below, from above, from every direction possible.
Milo felt his bones rattle as he hit a large boulder, bubbles escaped from his mouth, his eyes burned slightly.
'It... hurts.'
Milo tried his best to grab onto the boulder, his lungs were burning without the oxygen. He pushed himself off the boulder, going higher and higher to the surface as he lost more and more air.
'Come on!'
There was another thrash on his back, he flew away from the boulder's safety. His hands and feet reached out for any sort of solidness only to be met with more water. He felt his consciousness slipping.
'Triscarion!'
Milo fell unconscious, his body being lightly dragged through the water...
Milo awoke only moments later, something was pressing onto his chest. Milo coughed up water as he opened his eyes. Above him was Triscarion, two paws on his chest.
"Just" Milo coughed up more water "How smart are you girl?"
Triscarion barked, then turned towards the water. She bared her teeth and barked loudly. She wouldn't have barked if the thing within it wasn't aware of them.
That same fucking serpent emerged again. It's aqua scales had been heavily damaged and torn off in some places. In it's mouth was the head of what looked like a green lobster. The snake made a show of swallowing the lobster's head and letting out a roar at Milo.
'Be so fucking for real.'
Did this thing just flex on him? The fucking audacity... this wasn't the Dreamscape.
Milo summoned the Prototype once again, he looked at the serpent as it made its way towards him.
'Expand your horizons, this is the time to adapt, or you die.'
Milo threw the Prototype into his left hand, and Milo stared at his prosthetic.
'I'm the Omnissiah, I'm the god of machines, they listen to me. They bow down to my will.'
The prosthetic began to change, the fingers connected together, forming a single straightened sharp end. The vambrace flared open, small flames erupted from within. The shoulder became bigger, his elbow gained a thruster.
'Okay, you got this, you got this...'
Milo dodged as the serpent bit down, it did not make the same mistake as to bite into the mound. Milo jumped forward, twisting his body as far right as he could. As he reached the mid section of the serpent, he stabbed his prosthetic into one of the many open wounds.
Milo used the thruster to burrow it in elbow deep. The fingers disconnected, wreaking as much havoc as they could within the inside of the serpent as possible. Milo tried his best to hang on as the serpent thrashed and whipped its body in an attempt to throw him off.
'If I fall, I die!'
Milo looked up, another gaping wound was nearby. Milo stabbed the Prototype into it, wrenching the handle and twisting it further in. Milo knew it wouldn't do much besides put the serpent through immense pain. Which was perfect, actually.
Apparently the serpent had enough, it thrashed against a nearby stone hill. Milo heard something in his body break, and he spit out blood from his mouth. It was over, this was the end of the road.
He was imprinted into the mountain, the serpent would swallow him whole.
However, a stroke of dumb luck, luck so dumb it could only be called Fate itself, had occurred.
A bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, striking the Prototype, lighting the serpent aflame. It screeched and roared and hissed as it attempted to retreat into the sea, only for its death to be inevitable.
A large tentacle erupted from the sea, tightly seizing the thrashing serpent, its lit form being dragged deeper and deeper into the sea.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Sea Serpent]
[You have received a Memory: Serpent's Scales]
Milo let out a sigh of relief, he carefully exited the imprint he had made. He only saw that happen in cartoons and webtoons but it actually was possible.
He climbed to the top of the mound, it felt like half his vision was blurred. It hurt to breathe, something was poking at his lungs each time he did. He didn't make more than four steps before he collapsed to his knees, and then his back hit the ground.
He looked up at the pale sky, dawn was arriving soon, and so were footsteps.
'Wait, footsteps!'
It was too late, Milo didn't have the strength to stay awake any longer. His left hand collapsed from where it was raised. The las thing he remembered was a smooth surface touching his wrist before his vision turned black.