Inside the Writhing Nautilus - 12:54 PM


    By the time we made it to the core’s antechamber, we were sopping wet, injured, and had gone through several more tunnels. We took a moment to drink some potions. I pulled the last of my Arcane Breakfast Tea and drank it down to restore my Mental Points, but let the Staff of Raphael’s passive healing take care of my hit points.


    “That tunnel you made was supposed to cut our time down?” Jamie asked, going through vials of tea in quick succession.


    “By about half,” I said, checking my status screen again. “But, hey, we made it!”


    “Yay,” she replied unenthusiastically, wrinkling her nose.


    Just like Sara warned, my hit points were starting to drop from the poison I was breathing. So far it hadn’t been enough to override my natural healing, but it still put a time limit on our excursion. Jamie had a few more minutes on her Tankless Breather and I was hoping to be done before she had to be subjected to the horrible stench of the Writhing Nautilus’ innards.


    I started thinking about the smell and the bile rose in my throat. Shaking my head, I tried to take my mind off of it again.


    Peering into the room, I couldn’t see any monsters. It was the largest room we had seen inside the boss by far. Most of it was the same ugly brown and green as the rest of the body, but the core was an angry red color and took up the entire ceiling. While the Writhing Zeppelin’s central nervous system had been sent away with a single Relocation Grenade, that tactic obviously wouldn’t work here; it was simply too large. The entire core pulsed with the staccato rhythm of an overworked heart about to burst.


    I looked Jamie over after she went through her third potion. “Ready?”


    She glanced into the room, vigilant for any threats. “Yeah, think there’s something waiting in there for us?”


    “Of course,” I answered. “But it’s not going to show until we do.”


    Jamie considered that for a moment before nodding. “Then we might as well get this over with. Williamsburg is still in danger, right?”


    <<<>>>


    [[Patron Message]]


    Yes, it’s very close to shore now. It will be reaching the town in roughly five minutes.


    The evacuation is going well, so take care of yourselves first.


    <<<>>>


    Snapping away the message, I nodded. “Yeah, they’re still evacuating according to Sara. We have a few minutes. If your Tankless Breather stops working, then we’re probably too late.”


    Her eyes flicked to the counter in the corner of the mask. I couldn’t see it, but I could see the grimace on her face. Placing her spear on her back, she pulled out the saw blade crossbow she had used on me back in Chicago. “Then we better go in fast and hard,” she said.


    Nodding, I retrieved the Harpoon of Atlantean Might from my inventory, though I wasn’t willing to return the Staff of Raphael. We walked in together, keeping an eye out for anything strange. I could feel her anxiety spiking with every uneventful step. It was coming in quick bursts, and I realized she must have put on one of her new toys.


    Hypervigilance was one of the synthesized skills that she would have made, and it drastically decreased her reaction time and increased thinking speed. Based on how she felt, I assumed it wasn’t doing any wonders for her mental health. I sent calmness through our Mental Link. It seemed to help, even if just a little.


    We traversed the spongy floor to the middle of the room with nothing happening. I frowned at her, and she returned it with a shrug. The core sagged here, hanging low enough that we could reach up and touch it. I prodded it with the harpoon, but it didn’t even scratch the surface. It was much tougher than the rest of the body.


    But that didn’t matter; I didn’t have to plunge the beacon directly into the core, just under it. I looked down and mentally marked the spot where I was going to plant it. In that moment, two tentacles shot out from the core, one heading towards each of us.


    I managed to put Shield up just in the nick of time, but the blow to my head still sent me flying. Jamie blocked with her forearm. She had moved faster than I had thanks to Hypervigilance, and she stumbled backwards.


    Spinning midair so I could land safely on the spongy floor, I prepared to attack as a mass of tentacles fell out of the core. It was the same red color as the ceiling, and it quickly stood up even as it wrapped around itself several times. The end result was some kind of headless, four-armed humanoid.


    Jamie pulled the trigger on her saw blade crossbow, and it hit the thing dead center. It was pushed backwards as the fleshy ground around it was torn in a spiral pattern. Blood flew everywhere, and the circular blade continued to spin against the mass. The Weapon Master had pumped her fist in the air triumphantly, but I could see what was actually happening.


    The monster was taking damage, but it was healing almost as quickly.


    It had been sliced open, but only barely. It was made out of the same material as the core, which didn’t bode well for our chances without the beacon.


    “Seraphim fucking sucks,” I muttered to myself as the sawblade finally stopped spinning. Jamie’s triumph disappeared as she saw it.


    The monster stood in a pool of blood, but it had already healed the damage it had taken to its midsection. It tossed the sawblade aside and vibrated in a way that mimicked a creature’s screech. There was no intent behind it, so I couldn’t understand if it was trying to say something. Beneath us, the Writhing Nautilus lurched forward, causing Jamie and me to stumble.


    “What was that?” she asked, throwing her crossbow into her inventory and grabbing her twin scimitars.


    “It’s accelerating,” I replied, grimacing. “Our timeline’s getting shorter, attack!”


    Jamie didn’t hesitate, and we ran towards the mass of tentacles. It stood there, shifting back and forth as if it were watching us. With Mental Link telling me exactly where my partner was, it made tandem strikes a breeze.


    She went high, swinging with both of her blades, and I went low. My hit points were high enough that I didn’t need the Staff of Raphael, so I returned it to my inventory and put both hands on my harpoon. I aimed to pierce the monster in the middle where she had shot it before.


    Firefly and Silhouette slashed against the top of the mass, glowing brightly as they delivered extra damage due to the tandem attack. The blades scraped against our enemy, causing it to lean back at an unnatural angle and causing Jamie to misstep. She had been expecting more resistance when her strikes hit. I Pushed her back onto her feet before she could fall on top of me.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    My own strike wasn’t as effective. I managed to lift the mass off of the ground, but only a pinprick of blood appeared at the site where it pierced. The monster was pushed into the air slightly, but that was all.


    Its tentacle arms flailed towards us, and we both backed away. They missed by a country mile, and we lunged forward. Jamie spun, bringing her scimitars high to low, while I replaced my harpoon with the Vague Stick, commanding it into a long sword.


    The monster tried to back up, but its movements were clumsy. Our attacks hit between the arms, and having an actual blade made it easier for me to deal damage to it. Piercing wasn’t as effective as slashing. That was handy information.


    Until it healed again, and then it was just annoying.


    It backed up further and tried to strike at us. We sidestepped, and it followed after me. I leaned back to avoid the blow and counterattacked with my sword. The cutting edge sliced across its tentacles as though I were cutting the skin off of a potato, and I left a lot of hanging flesh when I pulled my sword back.


    Behind it, Jamie jumped in, slashing a cross shape against the monster. It cut deeper this time, and the tentacles lashed out. She transitioned from strike to parry skillfully, but was pushed away by the creature’s strength.


    The monster took another step towards me, pushing me back, and its tentacle arms moved to the front and back of its chest. They struck at me in a cross shape eerily similar to the technique Jamie just used. I blocked one with my Vague Sword, which splintered, and the other with my Vambrace of Wires. My arm went numb, and I had the feeling that the bone would have broken if I didn’t have my passive.


    It backed away from me as Jamie continued her attack. Two of its tentacles moved in tandem, parrying the blows with a circular motion. It almost looked like it was trying to disarm her even as the blades cut into its flesh. If it weren’t for her skill, it might have succeeded. The Weapon Master raised her swords, grip tight, and lashed out with her foot.


    The kick connected, and I Pushed her gun out of her holster and aimed it at the monster before pulling the trigger three times. The bullets pierced through its leg, causing the enemy to stagger backwards, and we capitalized on it. Three swords, all aided by Orbit, cut into its chest. We managed to get halfway through before the creature struck at us.


    I put up Shield, but it wasn’t fully charged from the blow earlier, and it shattered as I went skidding back on the bloody flesh floor. Jamie wasn’t so lucky; she was thrown away, Silhouette still stuck in the body. I Pulled it away before the monster could do something about it.


    Then I jumped backwards, landing next to her. “Not only is it wasting our time, but it’s also learning,” I said, Pulling her gun so that it landed at her feet.


    “No shit, Sherlock,” Jamie groaned as she picked up her weapons and stood up.


    I frowned, then pulled the beacon out of my inventory to look at its description. In order to get the size right, you had to plant it at exactly the right time. I thumbed the flashing green light at the top, and a transparent cylinder of red surrounded me before becoming wider.


    “Jamie, I need you to keep it busy. Thirty seconds at most. Once I have this planted, we’ll switch and you guard it. I’ll open the Celestial Wormhole seconds before it fires,” I ordered.


    “Sounds good to me,” she replied, spinning her swords before running towards the patient monster.


    “Sara, will the maximum range of the beacon encompass the entire core?” I asked, looking upwards as the red illusion returned and bounced away again. I kept a mental countdown for when it would be at its largest.


    <<<>>>


    [[Patron Message]]


    With a few feet to spare, yes. The core is bigger than you think it is.


    <<<>>


    “Yeah, wish I could say that was surprising,” I muttered, running towards the center of the room.


    The red illusion returned and bounced again, and I confirmed that it only took three seconds to go out and three seconds to come back. Six total. That was fairly fast.


    Jamie was as aggressive as usual, but found herself in a stalemate after only a few exchanges. The speed at which the monster was learning was astounding, and I found that I was very concerned about this thing escaping. It wouldn’t be the first time a creature’s final evolutionary form was small and humanoid, and I hoped this was just some kind of site-bound guardian rather than something that could survive without the Writhing Nautilus.


    Putting those thoughts aside, I slid onto the bloody ground, spike raised, and waited. The red illusion came back to me and bounced away.


    “3, 2, 1,” I counted out loud, careful to keep a full second between them, and plunged it into the ground at zero.


    The flashing green light turned red, flashing every second. I Dropped it, pushing the spike down into the flesh even as the Writhing Nautilus tried to heal around it.


    “Switch!” I yelled.


    Jamie attempted to disengage, but the monster was no longer willing to give her any space. It followed along, four tentacles slashing with precision strikes that she was having a hard time blocking with her scimitars. She managed to toss one into her inventory and retrieve her shield, but not without taking a few lashes to her arm.


    I replaced the Vague Sword with the Staff of Raphael and stepped between them. “Make sure the beacon doesn’t come free,” I ordered. Jamie nodded and backed off.


    The monster vibrated like it had before, screeching again, and this time I understood.


    “Antagonist,” it greeted, and I felt a measure of satisfaction in its word.


    “Fuck that,” I replied as I activated one of my newer skills, Overclocked Body.


    Power surged through my veins similar to when I used Break Free. I felt less sturdy as it halved my Constitution and made me feel like I was burning up, but my Strength and Dexterity doubled. I swung the Staff of Raphael like a baseball bat, using the least amount of skill I could. The monster raised its tentacles on that side to block, and they nearly ruptured as the impact spread through its body.


    It fell to the ground but it slithered upright a second later, shifting its tentacles so that its arms before were its legs and vice versa. I raised the staff again and continued to beat down on the creature. One blow, then two, before my weapon was parried and slid to the ground.


    Spinning, I kept the momentum up as I came around the side, placing one hand in the middle of the staff. It caught me against the shoulder with two tentacles, heavily bruising me, but I lifted it off of the ground with my next strike. It seemed to float in the air for a moment as I Constructed a blade in front of my eyes. The weapon shot forward, attempting to slice through the monster’s legs.


    The blade missed as it shifted, bringing its tentacles up to join its arms. In one fluid motion it spun, landing on all six of its limbs before spinning onto one. The other five raised up to slam into me, and I blocked with my staff, though I was pushed away.


    I grunted from the effort, but stayed on my feet. “Sara, will this thing persist without the core?” I asked quickly and quietly.


    The monster flipped from tentacle to tentacle in my direction, and I put up a Force Field. It slammed into it, not doing much damage, but backed off, seemingly confused. The act bought me a few seconds.


    <<<>>>


    [[Patron Message]]


    The system is calling it the Writhing Guardian, and yes, it could survive without the Nautilus. It would have to survive the laser, though.


    Anthony, what are you thinking?


    <<<>>>


    “Nothing you’ll like,” I replied.


    The Guardian launched itself at me, its tentacles a whirlwind that I was starting to have a hard time blocking even with my enhanced speed. Each strike probed my defenses as I spun the staff in my hand, and I found that it was getting hard to parry and deal damage back. Not that dealing damage mattered; its regeneration was still bullshit.


    All the while, I was counting down. It was nearly time for the light show. Constructing two sets of shackles, I trapped four of the Writhing Guardian’s tentacles before turning to Jamie. I summoned a door frame and activated Celestial Wormhole for the safe zone. She should be able to help there.


    It didn’t work; the door that it was connected to must have been destroyed.


    Mentally swearing, I switched to my permanent target back on the Angel Express. This time, it activated, though I had the feeling that the Angel Express was already on its way out of Williamsburg. “Jamie, go!”


    The Weapon Master dove through the portal as soon as I opened the door, not giving it a second thought.


    Instead of stepping through, I closed the door and pulled it back into my inventory. The Writhing Guardian broke through the shackles I had placed on it, and I felt pain in my mind as the Constructs disappeared. I turned to face it again.


    This monster absolutely couldn’t be allowed to run free. Even if there was a small chance that it would survive, I needed to make it zero.


    The Writhing Nautilus screamed as it stopped in its tracks. All around us, the air started heating up at a noticeable speed, and the Guardian in front of me froze.


    It vibrated again. “What have you done?” it asked.


    “What I had to do,” I answered. “B?r?e?a?k? ?Fr?e?e? F?r?o?m? ?T?h?e? ?S?h?a?c?k?l?e?s? ?O?f? ?M?a?n?.”