Chapter 115: Delve
Fog of War created a pocket of mist that bulged over the surface of a single coral platform, isolating it from the rest of the abyssal forest. The deep purple color of the coral was completely washed out by the gray mist, but small figments of bioluminescence managed to illuminate the edges of the fog bank. The reflections expanded into light pillar optical illusions that cast long shadows through the fog. From the outside, it would seem like a bizarre gray smoke bubble was caught in the slightly upturned rim of the massive coral, but inside, Coop was facing off with One That Hunts.
Coop slowly rotated around the edge of the platform, hunched forward with his ethereal equipment at the ready, as he tested the creature’s ability to track his position with its persistent clicking. The creature continued to face him, even as he attempted a sneaky flank, but it remained stationary aside from some small shuffling rotations with its larger legs. The carapace didn’t have the best lateral articulation, but it never shifted in place to prevent its sides from becoming exposed, turning its entire body to keep Coop directly in front. Its perception was obviously unhindered, despite Coop’s disorienting fog.
He went through the motions, trying the different variations of spear throws he had developed over the months, throwing different trajectories, then throwing his shield, then lobbing his shield and timing his spear so the attacks coincided. The four claws represented an impenetrable defense to Coop’s ranged attacks, at least as long as he had less than four projectiles. Each claw was fast enough to catch a bullet in a pocket of void space, but had to take some time to reset before they could be reused.
The shrimp hadn’t made any move to counter attack, or close the distance in any way. Coop suspected that it had a different definition of hunting than Coop’s initial guess. It didn’t seem to be a pursuit hunter, rather, he thought it was territorial. That was why Coop was hesitating to mistjump into melee range. It was fast enough that it wouldn’t be caught by surprise, and comfortable enough to bait him into getting closer while letting him take ineffective potshots. Coop was wary of its confidence.
Coop was already running out of ranged tactics and the rest of his techniques would require him to get closer. There was really only one more strategy he hadn’t tried, but he had little hope in it working. Still, he resummoned his shield, making it into the ethereal grenade he tested during the siege with disappointing results at the time.
The brittle shield was pitched directly at the shrimp, with Coop’s switch-pitch, and Coop threw his spear a split second after with his dominant arm, letting the two land one immediately after the other. The shrimp repeated its defense, with one claw twitching and the shield exploding into fragments when it collided with the disturbed empty space while the spear chased close behind.
The ethereal fragments peppered the creature, and to Coop’s surprise, the other three claws also twitched as if they were deflecting individual bits of broken shield. Then, the spear slammed into its chest with a dull slapping sound, like a hammer slamming into wet wood. Coop couldn’t believe his previously failed idea worked at all. He quickly resummoned a brittle shield and recalled his spear with a desire to press his advantage. The flak had been enough to overwhelm the creature’s powerful defense even though it was almost entirely harmless.
The shrimp took a direct spear shot to its chest, but it had barely flinched. In fact, if one its grasping forelimbs wasn’t bent awkwardly, Coop wouldn’t have believed it took any damage at all, and Coop had put enough zest in his attack to punch a hole through an Intelligence based Siege Boss. The high level shrimp had some seriously strong physical defenses, even without its protective counter strikes.
Coop aimed another shield throw, but as he stepped into the pitch, the shrimp slammed the base of its broad tail against the coral, sending his fog billowing away as it shot forward, directly at Coop. In the split second that the dynamic of the fight had transitioned when his opponent went from a passive target to taking an aggressive charge, Coop had a belated epiphany that he should have realized when he inspected the creature. This shrimp wasn’t just a manifestation of mana, nor was it a simple minion.
Coop’s previous opponents had mostly been basic monsters with minimal to no evidence of actual thought, following simple attack patterns that were easy to suss out. However, this creature was different, and now he believed it was more advanced. The creature hadn’t been absently stationed in the center of its platform, content to let Coop test its capability with prodding ranged attacks like a minion of the Primal Constructs. The shrimp was actually doing the same to Coop, gauging the threat that he presented and sampling his attacks. They were like two wild animals deciding if a fight was worth it, poking at each other before committing to real combat while they still had a chance to retreat or force the other to abandon the challenge.
Receiving some damage from Coop’s spear attack had been enough to provoke the shrimp into fully engaging with the human trespasser.
With all four claws raised in the air, two straight up, and two fanned out at 45 degree angles, the shrimp cut through the fog with even more speed than Felrog the Soul Snatcher. Coop could thank the Field Boss for the exposure of facing down a rapid charge, because Coop was able to instinctually fall back to his prior experience and avoid a panicked scramble. His shield was brittle, and wouldn’t offer any protection, the attack was too fast for him to avoid, so like with Felrog, he only saw a single avenue: attack. Coop had made up his mind before he even realized he was making a decision.