Chapter 119 ‒ Colossus and Chitin
Chapter 119 ‒ Colossus and Chitin
Tyler’s gaze lingered on it, his breath ragged inside the helmet. Gigantify.
He hesitated with this one — its aftereffects left his muscles screaming and his body feeling like a borrowed shell. But here, under the wide, indifferent sky, there were no walls to collapse, no allies to accidentally crush.
“Damn it… if there was ever a place to go big, it’s this wasteland.”
He clenched his jaw. “Fine… let’s end this.”
His visor reflected the scorpions’ glowing eyes as he shifted into his stance, muscles coiled like spring steel.
“One more fight… Let’s see what you’ve got.”
[Activated Skill: Gigantify]
In a heartbeat, Tyler’s frame expanded, plates of armour grinding and reforming as he shot upward. The scorpions scuttled backward, their tails thrashing frantically.
Tyler’s shadow swallowed them whole as he looked down, eyes glowing with fiery red energy.
“GIANT’S STOMP!”
He raised a colossal foot and brought it down on the first scorpion. The impact boomed across the desert, sending a shockwave that scattered sand in every direction.
A green explosion splattered out beneath his foot, the scorpion’s body reduced to an unrecognizable pulp.
Another tried to burrow, but Tyler slammed his other foot down, crushing it before it could escape.
Two more scorpions clawed at his legs in desperation. Tyler swept his massive boot sideways, smashing them into the side of the sinkhole like insects against glass.
The last scorpion managed a few steps before Tyler dropped both feet onto it, pinning it flat with a deafening crack.
[+50 XP]
[Level Up! Tyler Level 150 → 151]
[Attribute Points: +1]
He stood still, his enormous body trembling from the effort. Sweat dripped off his chin and sizzled as it hit the hot sand below.
Done…
But before relief could wash over him, a loud crack split the air.
Tyler looked down. Fine fractures spiderwebbed across the ground beneath his enormous feet.
“…Shit.”
The cracks spread rapidly, pieces of rock and sand breaking away like sheets of thin ice. Then, without warning, the entire surface collapsed, forming a gaping maw beneath him.
Tyler plummeted, his body shrinking back to normal size as he fell. Wind roared past his ears, the walls of the sinkhole a dizzying blur of sand and rock.
WHAM!
He hit the cavern floor with a deafening crash. Pain burst through his body like a wave of molten iron, a sharp, numbing shock that twisted up his spine and left him gasping.
Tyler lay there for a moment, vision swimming, the breath knocked clean out of him. His fingers twitched against the rough stone, feeling the grit dig beneath his gloves.
Slowly, he turned his head and looked up through the ragged hole in the ceiling above. A distant sun burned like a molten coin in the sky, pouring its light through a haze of drifting sand.
He squinted, roughly gauging the drop — easily over twenty feet.
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A bitter laugh rasped in his throat. I remember… when I fell out of that first-floor window as a kid… I cried for hours, thinking my arm would never work again.
His lips trembled faintly under the visor. Now… look at me. This body… it sometimes feels like it doesn’t even belong to me. Like I borrowed someone else’s skin, someone else’s bones.
He let the thought linger, heavy and foreign, as he slowly pushed himself onto his knees. Each motion sent aftershocks of pain flickering through his nerves, but he forced his breath to steady.
Above him, sand continued to cascade into the cavern, forming miniature dunes around where he knelt.
“At least… I’m still alive…”
A soft hiss sliced through the thick silence.
Tyler’s head snapped around, eyes narrowing beneath the cracked visor.
From a shadowy alcove, a massive creature emerged. Its armoured plates gleamed like molten bronze, each segment flexing and rippling as it moved. Claws longer than Tyler was tall scraped against the stone, leaving deep gouges. The tail rose high, stinger pulsating with a sickly glow that lit the chamber in eerie flashes.
Its many emerald eyes fixed on him, cold and ancient, calculating.
[Enemy Identified: Sandscourge Scorpion] [Level 120]
Tyler’s fingers wrapped around his sword hilts. He drew in a long, shuddering breath, forcing strength back into his legs as he stood fully.
“So… you’re the real king of this pit,” he whispered, voice low and sharp as a drawn blade.
Tyler lunged first, his swords slicing twin arcs of silver through the cavern air. The Sandscourge Scorpion responded immediately — its tail snapped forward with a vicious hiss, faster than a whip.
Tyler twisted his torso at the last possible second, feeling the rush of air as the stinger scraped along the edge of his helmet, nearly tearing it off. Sparks flew where carapace glanced off steel, illuminating the cave walls for a fleeting instant.
Too close.
Before he could reposition, one of the scorpion’s massive claws shot out. It slammed into his left side like a battering ram, throwing him across the cavern floor. He skidded and crashed into a jagged rock, the impact knocking the wind from his lungs.
Tyler gasped, his ribs searing in protest. He forced himself upright, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his gauntlet.
The scorpion advanced, claws clacking rhythmically, each step making the ground quake beneath him. Its emerald eyes glinted in the darkness, studying him with eerie intelligence.
Tyler steadied his breath, eyes narrowing. He could feel the slow crawl of adrenaline turning every heartbeat into a war drum.
The stinger lunged again. Tyler dove sideways, narrowly avoiding the venomous tip as it punctured the floor, sending up a burst of shattered stone shards. He rolled forward, coming up beneath the scorpion’s belly — but the creature anticipated it, twisting to face him and sweeping a claw downward.
CRASH!
The claw smashed a crater where Tyler had stood a breath before. He felt the hot wind and flecks of rock scrape across his cheek.
It’s reading me… it’s not just some dumb mob.
Tyler gritted his teeth. He needed an opening.
A claw lashed forward again, this time aiming straight for his chest. Tyler thrust his hand out instinctively.
[Activated Skill: Forcepush]
A pulse of concussive energy burst forth, knocking the claw back just enough to break its momentum. He dashed inside, eyes locked on the narrow joint where the claw connected to the main body.
[Activated Skill: Berserk]
Red lightning exploded across his armour as he swung down with all his might. Sparks showered around him as the blade bit into the joint, a geyser of sickly green ichor spraying across his visor.
The scorpion screeched, a horrifying, echoing cry that reverberated through Tyler’s bones.
The momentary victory evaporated as the tail lashed forward from above. Tyler reacted too late — the stinger stabbed into his shoulder, the sharp point slipping beneath a weakened armour plate.
Pain flared, white-hot and blinding. His vision blurred, red warning glyphs blinking across his eyes.
[Status: Affected by [Poison Sting], target loses 100 HP every second for 10 seconds. Duration: 00:00:10]
His breath caught in a strangled gasp. The poison surged down his arm, numbing his fingers.
Tyler slammed his free hand to the wound, activating [Undying Tenacity]. Warmth bloomed outward, pushing back the venom, but his arm still trembled from the aftershock.
Before he could fully recover, the scorpion pivoted, swinging its other claw sideways in a brutal sweep. Tyler threw himself backward, but the edge of the claw caught his leg, sending him tumbling head over heels across the cavern floor.
He coughed, rolling to a stop against another stone outcrop.
Get up… move…
Tyler’s mind roared at him, every nerve firing. He forced himself upright again, legs shaking beneath him.
The scorpion bore down on him, shadow eclipsing the rocky ground.
Tyler raised both blades. He needed to shift the momentum — one clean, decisive gambit.
[Activated Skill: Ink Cloud]
A thick, swirling darkness exploded from his palms, enveloping the scorpion’s face in inky shadows. Its eyes vanished in the dark fog, its shrieking growing erratic and higher pitched.
[Activated Skill: Screech]
A sonic shockwave pulsed outward, rattling stalactites loose from the cavern ceiling. The scorpion recoiled violently, thrashing in disoriented agony.
Tyler didn’t wait. He dove beneath its churning legs, sliding across the sand and rocks, sparks and sand swirling around him like a storm.
He emerged under its abdomen.
[Activated Skill: Berserk]
His swords flashed crimson in the gloom as he stabbed upward into the vulnerable soft plates, slicing through the sinew and inner carapace.
Tyler’s breath rattled in his throat, vision narrowed to a single, burning point beneath him. One last breath. One final strike. If he failed now, the endless dunes would bury him — and with them, every promise he had yet to keep.