I tried to pull my hand back, to no avail. An extreme pull was being applied to my arm, and while I couldn't immediately feel any teeth biting into me, I could absolutely (unfortunately) feel the slimy, powerful muscles trying to acquire my right arm. A limb inside the damn thing was wrapping around me, and while I dimly noted that it must be a tongue or something similarly gross, I was busy grabbing at my club with my other arm and slamming it down on top of the chest.
"Ew fuck agh get off get off!" I tried to pull away, but the thing was damn heavy. Was it in the fucking floor? I could feel my arm going all the way in, slowly, much further than the chest should be able to take. Yeah, definitely partly in the goddamn floor. The club banging on the top of it was doing absolutely nothing. I yanked the lid back open with my other hand and saw the thick, pink tongue squeezing at my arm, increasing its power while I struggled. I leveraged my strength against it, but the odd angle was not in my favor. I couldn't get a grip, and I was getting pulled further and further in.
Not like this.Not a goddamn mimic. In a panic, I shoved my club down its throat, which did nothing but deprive me of my useless club. "Damnit!" I brought my left hand forward again and shot a Mana Bolt down into its body, a yawning chasm of red and pink and purple and absolutely fucking disgusting innards. The attack hit it, and while it might have reacted, I couldn't tell at all as it pulled at me. The whole thing was writhing anyway.
I screamed as a second fucking tongue sprang out of the mouth and wrapped around my other arm, and now it was only my legs holding me from getting pulled in. I slammed my hands around for a moment before I remembered how stupid I was and went all in on my most recent acquisition. "Spark!" for a moment, my hand buzzed and the mimic seized. It was then that I realized my hand was numb as hell, and my left hand had been pierced by something. But it'd worked. I yanked my hands back as it suddenly stopped with the muscles holding me and slammed my back against the wall. It wasn't stunned for long, though, as more and more of the unpleasant creature's body started to 'schlorp' itself out of the chest.
I suspected the mimic might actually be some much larger creature with the chest as like a 'shell', and with that in mind I stood and backed away quickly. My right arm was mostly without feeling already, but it was responding to my movements, so I paid it no mind other than to make note of the trio of large red welts growing on it. My left hand pushed forward again as I fired a Mana Bolt wastefully as accurately as I could and scrambled out of the room. Breaking into the hallway, I slammed the door behind me, and looked around. I ran to the front door and and my eyes widened, realizing that it was somehow locked from the outside. "No, no, NO!" I kicked at the door and heard an enormous 'thump' from the door I'd shut. "FUCK!" I turned around and sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time to get up.
If there had been any possibility of stealth in my approach, it was long gone now. Any enemies in the building, or nearby probably, would be well aware that something was going on in here. The creaking steps let their ire be known as I pounded up them, and as I reached the landing at the top of the stairs, a loud crunch sounded off behind me. Looking back, a tentacle, a fleshy pink limb splattering some sort of viscous liquid everywhere, had broken straight through the door blocking it. A moment later, a mass of appendages of the same type poured through the gap made in the door, and a rhythmic thumping started to sound from the room. I looked around and saw an open door on the second floor hallway, so I turned and ran towards it, hoping to get to a window or something.
The door was on the opposite side of the mimic, and I was relieved when it was made clear that this room had a window to the outside. However, that relief quickly turned to panic as two of the creatures were standing up, clearly having been resting in the corner of the room in some rags. The room was half-filled with detritus, clearly the creatures were eating and defecating in the same place they slept. An overturned table seemed to shield them from having to actually look at the shit, but the smell permeated the place with such a violent stench that I almost tripped when it hit my nose. I had no time to be disgusted, though, as I spotted something that might be helpful: on the wall, near the window leading to the front of the building, there were a pair of weapons.
One was a club, slightly smaller than the one I'd 'fed' to the mimic below and twice as gnarled, but the other was a decent sized spear. Probably more accurately called a short spear (for someone of my size), the thing was maybe a meter and a half long. It was made of a dark wood for the haft, and the head of it was like - no, it was a knife haphazardly strung to the end in a tight, knotted binding. I Dashed forward, faster than the creatures could move, and used my momentum to turn and fling the club at them full force. Not waiting to see if it hit anything, I grabbed the spear and put it in my right hand, but used both arms to steady it while I couldn't really feel the one side. The left was tingly, but usable.
More thumping came from below, and it spurred me further into action. I leapt forward at the grays (better than just creatures), seeing that my club had missed completely. It did, however, create a loud noise that startled the already panicked things freaked out at, growling loudly. A short-range Dash and a sturdy stance shot me forward and embedded the tip of the knife-spear into the chest cavity of one of them who crumpled to the ground shortly after, coughing up blood almost immediately. I withdrew the weapon, glad it hadn't gotten caught on bones or something, and whipped around to its partner, who had unfortunately ducked down and nabbed the club I so graciously put in its range.
The gray rose its full height and swung its new acquisition at me wildly, forcing me to step back to not lose my grip on the spear. Before we could reengage each other, we heard cries of distress from further in the building as the whole thing began to shake. Both the gray and I stared at the doorway, then back at each other, and instead of fighting it, I gritted my teeth and Dashed backwards away from it. I used the momentum and the back of my new spear to crash through the window before realizing that there was no window and losing my grip of the spear, just an opening where there might be glass. The damn thing tumbled down to the street below. Vague ideas of historical tech levels, wear and tear, and suppositions about what this place might have been were defenestrated from my mind at the same time I physically did it to myself to follow my weapon.
It's not like I was a pro at jumping from windows, especially ones above the ground floor. I panicked for a moment when I realized that my legs were way out and oh boy I was about to be in some pain. Desperation hit me and I wildly looked around - THERE.
I Dashed in midair to reach the little banner that was outside the building. It did not stop my forward momentum, but it did allow me to grab the thing and use it to slow my descent. Instead of landing and breaking my legs, I tore the banner on the way down and just landed with a huff, rolling to the side. Damn, my old body's knees would have been screaming at that. I looked up at the window through which I'd jumped to see the gray staring at me with its big eyes. I sprinted over to the spear to pick it up before starting to look where I might be able to run.
My investigation was cut short as three more grays burst through the front door, the slab of wood coming off of its hinges as they clearly had bludgeoned their way out. Pink tentacles reached out from behind them with no warning and grabbed one of them, pulling it back inside. One of the remaining grays was unarmed, and the other had a short 'club' that really looked more like a table leg than an implement of war. They spent no energy wondering about the fate of their compatriot and instead sprinted away from the front door. However, as they got away from that immediate danger, their roving gazes found me standing there like an idiot. The unarmed one pointed a finger at me and made a noise, and the both charged at me.
Were these things that stupid? I knew they were dumb, but for fuck's sake, there was a giant monster rampaging right behind them. Can't we just be friends? Temporary allies against the mimic?
My opening Mana Bolt was a little off, but thankfully still hit, crashing into the unarmed one's leg and tripping it up. Its partner kept running at me, so I lowered myself and prepared for it to arrive. As it brought down the club, I used my spear to Parry it into the ground and brought my hand up to its chest to deliver a Spark straight to its heart. If I got lucky, maybe it'd suffer a heart attack from the shock.
It shuddered and put a half step forward, and I had to disengage before its tusks found me as well. I could feel my reserves running dangerously low. My mana was running near empty and my muscles were screaming at me to stop. The gray took another half step, a hand to its sternum, and I used the opportunity to reach out and stab the thing in its neck with the spear from a full step away. Handy little tool! Maybe a macabre thing to think as red blood began to pour from the wound, but at the moment, I wasn't exactly thinking about being nice. Some distant part of me realized that I'd killed two of these things in quick succession without my earlier hesitancy, but a sudden shudder from the building told me why avoiding violence was far from my mind.
Besides, these things attacked me. In this situation.
The unarmed one had gotten to its feet and was charging me once again. I frowned at how it charged so crazily at me again, lacking any sort of tactic or strategy. Even the beavers - even the mantises - had had better battle sense than this. Hell, even I did, and I was some stupid girl from Earth who was holding a spear for the first time in my life.
Instead of waiting for it to come to me, I stomped forward and extended my spear to catch it midway. It dodged by moving its body away, but that was what I had been looking for. I stepped in the opposite direction and let its momentum carry past me. Before it could respond, I reversed my movements and brought up the spear to strike the back of its head with the blunt end.
Of course, as slick as I was trying to be, it's not like my body had the movements to back it up. The handle missed the gray and I hit it, sprawling us both on the ground in a tangle of limbs. We both let out strangled cries of distress as we tried to disentangle ourselves.
A huge splitting sound shattered the growing darkness, startling us both. I scrambled away from the gray and looked in that direction to watch as the front of the building collapsed. A mass of tentacles emerged, carrying nearly a dozen grays in its grasping limbs. I could feel the blood drain from my face as I realized just how badly I'd fucked up. Even if the mimic hadn't caught me, there had to have been WAY more enemies in that place than I could have handled.
That didn't help me here and now, though. I started to run through the street, perpendicular from the building, as it slammed a couple tentacles down right where I had been lying with my 'dance partner.' I didn't imagine anything good would have resulted from getting hit like that, so I kept moving. Even with my body straining, there was absolutely no way I could stop and rest. I looked back and almost lost a step at the sight of the mimic.
Now free from the floor, it was a monster of epic proportions. A cephalopod that looked like the horrid cross between a hermit crab and a squid was squeezing the life out of everything it had grabbed, before tossing them in a beak-like mouth. It was the size of a truck and trailer at minimum, and it was moving way too fast for me to count how many limbs it had. Four huge, beady eyes stared out at the surrounding streets before alighting on me, and it began to move. That wasn't the end of its weirdness, however. Atop its head and partially coming down its back was a big portion of rock or stone that looked a lot like the floor of the building that had just been demolished. At the front edge of the weird floor hat was that damn treasure chest, with two little tentacles stuck through it looking so much like pink, slimy chelicerae.
I was forced to waste another Dash as a tentacle elongated towards me and almost caught me. Maybe it didn't have quite the range necessary, but I wasn't willing to take the risk, especially when it was obvious that the thing employed some kind of local anesthetic. It was gaining on me again, though, whether its bulk or its locomotion made the difference, it didn't matter. I had to get creative. A small alley was off to the side, and if anything was going to slow this beast down, it would be a smaller space. Maybe it could get tentacles in, but that big body of it had had to bust through the entire building to escape. I just hoped that the alley wasn't a dead end.
A quick congratulatory cheer resounded through my head as the alley proved to just be a connecting passage to the next street. I used it to my advantage and ran through it as quickly as I could. Upon coming out the other side, I heard the thud of the mimic hitting the alleyway itself. I looked back momentarily and shuddered as I realized instead of wasting its time busting through the structures, it was just climbing over them instead. I could hear creaking and breaking wood from the weight of the creature climbing over them and took off again, this time looking for another alley as soon as possible. If I could get far enough ahead, I could lose this thing.
It wouldn't be as simple as I'd hoped, though. Turning into another small passage, nearly a dozen grays were up and and about with panicked expressions, and they absolutely didn't miss me bursting into their proximity. I grit my teeth and Dashed again before giving them time to react, and used my spear to stab the throat of the nearest gray. I rounded on another one and used all my strength to heel kick it away before sprinting away once again. This alley was unacceptably wide, but maybe these things would slow down my pursuer.
I had no time to react to that as I flinched when an arrow clattered by my feet. I hadn't even seen the bow, but that thought vanished from my mind when I heard screeches and the rumble of the approaching mimic. Weren't these assholes supposed to be stationary, mean little freaks? Why was I being chased by the tentacle monster from hell just for being a little lax? The screeches turned to war cries and a quick glance backward showed a rather one-sided battle between the big mimic and the small little humanoids. One managed to actually take off the tip of a tentacle with a half rusted sword, and with glee I saw as thick white blood (at least I hoped it was blood) pour from the wound. I dismissed the notification without a second thought.
The mimic let out a cry like no other. It had been nearly silent other than the destructive wake it had been leaving, so I was left momentarily stunned by the volume. It was a gurgling cry of pain and rage, halfway between a bird and a bear, and suddenly its movements redoubled. The tentacles thrashed around wildly and slammed several of the grays around haphazardly, the mimic now not even bothering to try and eat these creatures. Yet, despite all the raucous attention just in front of it, those huge eyes were still glued to me. Was it some sort of weird prey drive because I'd opened the chest? "Fuck off already!" I yelled at it and continued my retreat. I dimly noted that I was heading towards the center of the city still, and when I turned onto a major street, I was greeted by a strange sight.
In front of me was a large plaza decorated wildly with wooden and stone structures that were extremely poorly made. It looked like a little primitive fort, built to be a kind of temporary settlement. Diminutive watchtowers guarded a rickety gate that blocked my view into the plaza proper, but the grays manning them on either side were quick to point at me and reach down, retrieving shoddy bows.
My options laid themselves in my mind as my feet pounded on the stone beneath me.
One, I could turn and fight the mimic.
Two, I could keep running until I found something useful.
Three, I could treat this stronghold as something useful and force the grays inside to fight the mimic with me.
Yeah, three was the best option here. I gritted my teeth and charged the gate, making the guards reel back slightly in fear. They shot their payloads at me and though I could see one go far to my left, I was forced to Parry the second shot to prevent it from making its home in my stomach. They were strangely slow, and I wondered if they just sucked, or my reaction speed was getting better. Both of them were nocking replacement arrows, but lost their hold as they spotted something behind me. I didn't really need to guess what they'd seen behind me. Silly enough, as tall as they were, the 'walls' barely reached above my height. I used my momentum to fling myself at the wall and vault over it, leaving the open ground behind me.
The plaza that opened up in my vision was packed with activity. A few dozen grays were milling about, though the closest ones had started when I landed on the stone near them. A huge bonfire in the middle of the plaza was just beginning to fully catch, which gave everything an ethereal quality from the half light. The huge sanguine moon from last night was peeking over the rooftops of the nearby buildings and the whole thing was wreathed in a knotted ball of anticipation and excitement. The large circular square (hah!) with its shoddy buildings and fire would make the ideal spot to get lost in the crowd as it was forced to face the Mimic. Which, while I was gathering my breath for a moment, had almost made it to the gate itself. I took off running toward one of the guard towers on another side of the plaza to get a little bit of cover.
I was thankful that I did when the mimic burst through the gate, splinters of wood the size of my arm and bits of stone debris flying away. Several grays nearby were struck by the spray, but it was definitely enough noise to rouse the whole contingent of them. I had no time to revel in the chaos, myself. A gray almost right next to me was reaching out with its mouth take a chunk off of my arm, so I unceremoniously ducked under the attack and put my hand up to its abdomen. "Spark."
It let out a shudder and I stabbed it in the back as it fell to the ground, twitching. I was running dangerously low on my resources now, so I definitely had to be careful with what I did. The melee behind me was whipping up, and a quick glance showed a dozen grays in combat with the mimic, who was now sporting several white wounds across its body. A bit of worry popped into my mind as I realized that I might have traded the mimic for a horde of grays, but that was in the past. I had to deal with the now.
Trying to find some sort of stash of weapons or something, I took off running, still putting the grays between myself and the mimic. I could handle a gray or two, maybe three, but that thing was insane. I skidded to a stop near to a structure that looked like it had actually been part of the city and peered inside. Score! I dropped my makeshift spear and rushed inside. My hands wrapped around a proper one, with a better length, and I realized that my right hand was starting to regain feeling. I just needed to wait a moment, and then end it with whoever survived. I took a chance to peek out of the doorway.
The mimic was writhing, a whirl of death and disgust that killed grays by the twos and threes. They threw themselves at the creature, never faltering from their foolhardy rushes even as their brethren proved it terribly ineffective. Not useless, though, I amended. An increasing number of wounds and chopped tentacles showed that the mimic itself was taking damage from the attacks. I would need my strength, so I stayed as quiet and still as I could, but I knew, I knew the fucking squid knew where I was. Even beset from all angles by the dwindling grays, those damn eyes still looked about wildly until they locked on my position. I shuddered at its attention and gripped my new spear.
The fight pushed towards a fever pitch. There were only about two dozen of the grays left, but those alive were obviously much better fighters than their peers. They each wielded weapons that didn't look like pieces of shit, and actually stalked around the mimic and managed to not die from the first attacks that were directed at them. These stronger grays made up the vast minority, and really only three of them looked like they actually knew what they were doing. The grays were dying at a slower pace, the tentacles still vicious and powerful, but the tide of the battle was turning in their favor.
After pasting a gray's skull in the ground, one of the mimic's tentacles found its way toward the biggest of the elites. The hulking figure was wearing a shield on its arm in addition to a nasty mace and batted away the attack, but still pushed back by the force of the strike. It retaliated by smashing the tentacle with its mace, causing another cry of pain from the mimic to add to the din of battle. The growing roar of the bonfire was joined by the grunts and growls of the grays and the occasional outburst from the mimic. My huffing and puffing barely made a dent in the cacophony.
Not to be outdone, another elite wielding a pair of daggers actually sprinted forward and used them to pierce the side of the mimic and climb to one of its eyes. A stab found purchase and one of the orbs was out of commission, but that's when the mimic suddenly switched up its movements. Swiftly, one of its little tentacles came down and stabbed the gray in the neck with its end. I assumed that was the anesthetic, and was proved correct as it rapidly lost its hold and slammed into the ground next to the mimic. The monster wasted no time in pulping the elite, though it never stopped fighting the rest of the grays.
Even though the battle had turned from a slaughter to a valiant effort, it was clear the grays were going to lose this. Only two elites and three of the regular grays remained, and one of the little ones seemingly gave its life to slice off a tentacle that was looking to grasp it. The mimic looked like shit, too. Whereas its initial limbs had been an absurdly uncountable mess, only about half a dozen of them remained uninjured.
It suddenly rose up and leapt upward, landing on the remaining two little grays and disappearing them into its bulk. That left the two elites. The shield and mace combo rushed forward and managed to crush another healthy tentacle, but two more circled around behind it to take it out. Before they could strike, the second elite, using a spear much like mine, pinned one of them to the ground and ripped it away. That was just one, though, and the mace elite was hit from behind and stumbled to the ground. Now with no defense, the mimic crushed it without a second thought. The spear elite, alone now, whirled around and cut off another tentacle that reached for it, but that was as far as it went. A half-length tentacle swept under its legs and a moment later its skull was robbed of its structural integrity.
The mimic took a moment to whirl around, looking for more grays, before pulling itself in my direction. I sighed, a deep and tired sigh, and exited the building to approach it myself.
No more running. No more hiding. I have to fight this thing now, before it recovers. We were both tired out. Even the remaining limbs of the mimic looked lethargic as it moved towards me, its three eyes baleful in their piercing gaze. I scowled back at it, making sure my muscles were still loose as I ranged over more towards the bonfire. Taller than both of us, the blaze was now in full force. The sky now showed that huge red moon that almost dwarfed the tiny little one and no others, and the light coming from the moons and the fire made it almost too bright in this location.
Both the mimic and I stopped some distance from each other. We were both exhausted. We both knew it. Was it intelligent at all? It didn't seem like it, it should have given up instead of assaulting the stronghold if that was the case. No, this was a predator, and I was its chosen prey. But that prey was clever, and now I made my bid to be the predator. I got into my fighting stance, readying myself. The mimic raised its final three unharmed tentacles, white blood pouring from the dozens of small wounds. I chuckled. Even if it got me, the damn thing was definitely going to die to blood loss. Maybe it was intelligent to some degree, at least enough for spite.
For a moment, it seemed like no one was going to move, and then both of us were in motion. I rushed to the side with the single intact tentacle, intending to wound that side and make the fight that much easier. It read the intent with little trouble and turned on me, its two limbs on the other side shooting forth to take me out. I was basically unharmed so far, and I hoped I could take at least one hit here, but wasn't going to rely on it. This was going to have to end as fast as possible.
Rather than waiting for the attacks to land on me, I pushed into the direction and aimed to make sure I could dodge one of the limbs. I reached out with a hand to Parry the other one and pushed a Spark into it as I made contact with the disgusting creature. Slimy skin recoiled and shook as electrical power rocked through the long tentacle. I gritted my teeth and swung the spear up, one handed, piercing it through. I grasped the haft with both hands and lopped it off, white blood splattering my side as I did.
It wasn't that easy, though. The one tentacle on the other side that I'd originally targeted shot towards me and forced a Dash from me to get away. I gasped as I rolled along the stonework ground, scrambling to my feet and ignoring the enormous charley horse that was brewing in my leg. No more Dashes or Parries, got it. Two tentacles and a beak left. One of them was already coming towards me as well. These stupid things were way more useful than just arms, but they were so weak to attack that I wasn't sure where the advantage truly lied. I let out a yell as I aimed my spear and managed to pin the thing to the ground just like the elite had, and tried to rip my weapon across it to debilitate the limb. I was halfway successful as it let out a gout of blood, but that's where my luck stopped. The final tentacle, the one that I'd Dashed to avoid, found me. A whoosh of air left me as my stomach was struck by the blunt tip and within a moment it was wrapped around me.
One tentacle, that's all I'd had between me and flawless victory. The stupid part of my brain was actually pissed off that I'd taken the hit, finally. The limb surrounding my midsection tightened, but I could tell that its strength was flagging badly. It lifted me up and I was brought up close and personal to that beak that was normally hidden within its bulk. I could feel my panic rise when I saw the interior of it was lined with teeth-like protrusions. No. NO. Not when I'd come this far.
I looked around and with a swift movement, I plunged my spear into its face right above the beak. That blood curdling cry came from right in front of me this time, and I was almost lightheaded from the noise, but it wasn't over, not yet. Those last two little tentacles, the ones through the chest in the top, were coming down towards me. I couldn't let go of the spear or I was going to get bit.
Funny, that's what happened originally. I watched dully as they approached me and I madly made my move. One moved to strike my arm. Instead, I reached out with my left and gripped the thing, sending a Spark through it and willing as much mana as I could into the maneuver. At the same time, the other thing was springing towards my neck, probably to debilitate me the way I'd seen happen to the elite.
Instead, I turned my head and bit the thing myself, teeth gnashing as it struggled in my grasp. Here I was, held aloft in a tentacle, moments away from death, and using everything I had in me. Ever weapon, natural or not. I realized as I tried to bite the thing in half that it was quieter, and that I'd been screaming. It resisted, though, and for a moment I thought I was going to be done for.
And then suddenly, with a shudder, I was dropped onto a pile of flesh. I lost my grip on the spear and tumbled backward. The limbs around me lost all their power and a warm, gross smell washed over me as breath left the mimic. I tried to spring into action, to grab the spear, to move, but no, nothing was responding to me anymore. I fell back into the mass of tentacles under me and simply laid there, breathing heavily.
My clothes were certainly ruined. The blood of the mimic was everywhere, and I could smell its rancid viscera. This was also not to mention all the blood from the grays that covered everything. But despite all that, all that was left were my own beleaguered breaths and the roar of the fire near me.
The flesh of the mimic was disgusting. But damn, was it soft, now that it wasn't a rabid pile of muscles out to murder me, and I was well and truly exhausted. Fuck it, I can't move anyway. I closed my eyes.