Chapter 49: Kill the boss?

The throbbing in Rain’s left shoulder had settled into a heavy, dull burn that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. Every four or five steps, a sharp, cold jab shot straight down into his ribcage, reminding him that a six-hundred-pound creature had slammed him into a steel plate less than ten minutes ago. He dragged his right leg slightly, the torn trouser fabric sticking to the dried blood lining his calf.

He walked slowly down a low, dripping access conduit, his right hand tracing the rough concrete wall for support.

’Seven hundred and fifty synthesis credits,’ Rain thought, staring down at the wet concrete beneath his boots. ’Seven hundred and fifty. What does that actually buy?’

He tilted his head back, resting his neck for a second against a cool overhang.

’The Vambrace in the store was two hundred and twenty. If I had that on right now, my left forearm probably wouldn’t look like this. The Bonewretch-Bone blade was two hundred and sixty. I could buy both and still have money left over. I could walk into a real fight next time with an actual weapon in my hand instead of whatever’s lying on the ground.’

He let out a short, breathy exhale that fogged slightly in the cold air.

’Four hundred and eighty for both. That leaves two hundred and seventy over. What happens to the rest? Do I hold it? Save toward the next thing the store rotates in?’

He paused, stepping carefully over a rusted iron pipe that stuck out six inches from the floorboards. He didn’t just step over it; he stopped, tapped the metal with the toe of his boot to test its weight, and checked the dark corner above it for hanging roots before moving his rear foot across.

’And the hidden mission reward,’ he continued in his head, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the dark tunnel ahead. ’What actually counts as a special reward for something like this? I don’t even know if the system hands over something physical or just changes something on my panel I can’t see yet.’

He shook his head, a wry, grim smile touching the corner of his lip.

’No way to know until I get there. So why am I standing here spending money I haven’t earned yet?’

He stepped forward, his eyes tracking a faint flicker of water dripping from a high crack in the ceiling. Before placing his right foot down on a patch of slick, dark mud, he pulled back, shifting his weight to his left heel, and nudged a broken piece of brick into the mud first. The brick sank two inches with a dull, wet suction sound.

Rain walked around it, hugging the dry stone footing along the wall.

He moved with a quiet, measured patience now. He didn’t rush around corners. When he reached a junction where three narrow pipes converged, he stopped two paces back, pressed his back against the stone, and waited five full seconds, listening to the ambient hum of the facility before peeking his head around the edge.

The tunnel led into a broad, low-ceilinged storage bay filled with collapsed wooden crates, rusted metal shelving, and deep piles of shattered brick. Rain paused at the entrance, his hand resting on the frame of a bent iron doorway.

A light, rapid, dry sound, like leaves being blown across gravel by a sudden gust of wind.

Rain dropped his hips instantly, crouching low behind an overturned wooden crate near the door. He peered over the top edge, his eyes sweeping the rubble-strewn room.

Thirty feet away, moving across a clear patch of dry concrete between two collapsed shelves, were four creatures.

They were low to the ground, roughly the size of large stray cats, but their bodies were wide, flat, and covered in overlapping, charcoal-grey insectile plates. Dozens of thin, jointed legs whipped back and forth beneath their shells in a frantic, uncoordinated scramble. But what caught Rain’s attention immediately was their backs.

Planted densely along the upper curvature of their shells were hundreds of long, bone-white quills, each five or six inches long, vibrating with a high, buzzing frequency that sounded like a nest of disturbed hornets.

[Target Identified: Quillback Skitterer]

[Rank: F-Rank]

[Type: Beast / Ranged Harassment]

[Attributes: Barbed Quill Launch, Low Mass, Erratic Movement]

[Threat Level: Low]

’Four of them,’ Rain thought, his eyes darting from the lead creature to the three trailing behind it. ’Small. F-rank. Lower mass than the crawlers.’

His first instinct, honed by the last three kills, was to burst out from behind the crate, close the thirty-foot gap before they could react, and crush the nearest one under his heel. He tightened his thighs, preparing to drive himself forward off his good leg.

’They’re tiny. If I hit the lead one hard enough, the shockwave alone will—’

Rain exploded out from behind the wooden crate, his feet pounding against the dry stone floor as he surged toward the pack.

The lead Quillback Skitterer didn’t run. It didn’t even turn around.

The moment Rain’s heavy footstep vibrated through the floorboards, the creature’s back plates flared open like a pair of mechanical shutters. With a sharp, concussive snap, a cloud of fifty bone-white quills launched off its shell, fanning out into a ten-foot wide wall of flying barbs.

’Ah—’

Rain tried to plant his boots and throw his weight sideways, but his momentum was too great.

Three quills slammed directly into his exposed chest and left forearm. They didn’t just prick the skin; the barbed ends bit deep into the muscle, the impact knocking Rain backward off his feet. He hit the floor hard, rolling onto his right shoulder as a dozen more quills whistled over his head and embedded themselves into the wooden crate behind him with sharp, hollow thuds.

[Damage Taken]

[HP: 58 -> 49]

Rain scrambled behind a fallen iron beam, his chest heaving, his left arm shaking violently as white-hot fire radiated from the three puncture points.

’Damn it,’ Rain swore in his head, clutching his left forearm. The quill was buried two inches into his muscle, blood pooling around the bone-white shaft. ’Stupid. You saw the quills. Why did you charge straight into an open room against a ranged threat?’

He grabbed the end of the quill stuck in his arm, bit his lower lip until he tasted iron, and ripped it free with a single, brutal jerk. A sharp gasp escaped his teeth. He pulled the two quills out of his chest next, throwing the bloody bone needles onto the dust.

[HP: 49 -> 46]

The four creatures were circling his position, using the collapsed shelves to flank the iron beam.

’Think,’ Rain demanded of himself, his eyes searching the floor around his boots. ’I can’t grapple them from the front. If I get within six feet, they flare their shells and dump twenty barbs into my face. But they’re light. They don’t have heavy shells like the crawlers.’

He looked at the fallen iron beam he was crouching behind. It was six feet long, four inches wide, and rusted through at the center.

Rain reached out, wrapped both hands around the rusted end of the iron beam, and hauled it up into his lap. The seventy-pound slab of metal felt like a heavy wooden plank in his hands.

He listened carefully to the light, tapping footsteps on the other side of the beam.

’One on the left. Two in the middle. One creeping high on the shelf.’

Rain didn’t stand up. He didn’t expose his face over the metal edge.

He swung the iron beam horizontally like a heavy broom, sweeping it two inches above the floor directly around the corner of his cover.

The iron beam slammed straight into the side of the lead Skitterer as it rounded the corner. The creature’s thin, jointed legs snapped like dry twigs under the concussive force of the metal plate, its charcoal shell crushing inward as it was launched twenty feet across the room, slamming into a concrete pillar and going completely motionless.

[Target Eliminated: Quillback Skitterer (F-Rank)]

[Experience Gained: +12]

[Experience: 170 / 900]

"One," Rain muttered, shifting his grip on the iron beam.