Both fists were a blur and Jake was more than a little ecstatic that he caught not one, not two, but three of the walnut sized projectiles. That excitement lasted until the first half a dozen smashed into him. Completely shattering his shield in one go. The next half a dozen pelted him across the chest. With one striking his helm right in the center.
When he had first put on the helm it had been completely dark for an instant then simply faded away. While wearing, as far as his view was concerned there was nothing over his face. The HUD mainly gave him additional information on enemies. As well as the access to various sub menus such as the social menu and the bestiary.
Now spider web cracks spread across his view. His chest armor absorbed some of the damage as well. While his main defense was the barrier against physical attacks projected just above his skin. The armor itself could provide some protection, just only what it actually covered. Which wasn't a whole lot. His helmet did the same but apparently was pretty fragile.
Despite being hammered with just as many pellets after his shield broke as before. His health only dropped by a third. Even in the middle of the madness of the giant Dread Spitter rising up to shotgun blast him in the face. He was excited to see definitive proof his attributes had been increasing despite staying at D rank. In the beginning, his shield and health were virtually equal. Now not so much.
That joy lasted only a moment. After all, there was a giant boss right in front of him. His normal strategy of dodge and catch wouldn't work against that scattershot attack.
"Move." Jake practically dragged Cassandra away with him. His body had shielded her from most of the attack. But her shield was almost completely depleted as well. Together they tried to run with Jake pushing Cassandra forward. She had absorbed mostly intelligence with only a wild mix of the others. Jake had already absorbed a wider spectrum of mutagen, including speed before she started playing. Though neither of them had ranked up yet it was obvious that Jake was much faster.
He was just worried about when the next attack was going to come when Cassandra lost her grip on the rifle. Dropping it and then immediately tripping over it. She crashed down hard enough for her shield to flash, depleting more. Jake in turn tripped over her while using his hands to keep from crushing her. In the process, he smashed face first into the ground. More cracks spread across his vision and he swore loudly. His digitized voice sounded odd even to his ears, crackling and breaking up.
Over their head went a quick burst of three large projectiles. Not the wild scattershot from before but not a single attack either. Rolling over Jake kick flipped himself up to stand facing the monster.
"Shot it!" Picking up a rock he hurled it at the monster while running away to the side. He wanted to cheer when it actually bounced off one of the oversized multifaceted eyes. The monster trumpeted in anger and shifted to follow his direction.
Off to the side, Cassandra untangled her feet from her rifle's shoulder strap and scrambled into position. She barely even aimed before pulling the trigger. Jake felt the heavy retort even as he dived into a slide to avoid another scattershot. As he fell he saw the bullet hit the monster, causing its body to ripple like jello. The bullet tore right through it and out the top leaving only a narrow wound channel.
"I'm too close. Too much penetration, not enough damage. My HUD says I need to move back!" Jake scrambled on all four to keep moving before jumping up to run. Glancing back he saw Cassandra standing up.
She backed up while working the slide on her gun, ejecting one of the large smoking casings and racking another. She paused, shouldered the heavy rifle, and fired.
Jake had actually wondered what would happen if she didn't go prone. She was only a little bit taller than him, something he was annoyed by. But weighed even less than he did, not that Jake was all that heavy. On top of that, she was as he and most of the other boys in the class had noticed top heavy. When she fired the kick from the rifle was enough to knock her off her feet. She hit the ground hard enough that Jake saw the flash of her shield and then the burst of it breaking.
Despite that, her bullet again ripped through the monster's flesh. With another angry trumpet, the monster changed the direction it rotated. Jake skidded across the dusty ground before turning to kick off in the monster's direction. Leaning forward he pushed himself to the extreme. The ground seemed to blur and he felt the impact of his steps smashing into the ground. The space between him and the monster vanished rapidly. They hadn't been more than a dozen yards apart.
Never slowing he cocked back one massive fist and smashed into the spindly leg the size of a small tree. Hard chitinous exoskeleton exploded into fragments Jake sailed forward head over heels and then fell into the pit the monster had emerged from. He splashed down back first into the muddy water below. Overhead the monster trumpeted in agony as it stretched to its full height on the forest of legs. Jake jumped up dirty water leaking into his mask and shook his head to shake it off. What little light reached him suddenly dimmed and he raised both hands up out of instinct.
The soft rubbery body of the monster crashed down on him. His hands spread wide he caught the body and was slammed down to one knee but managed to resist the crushing force. Around him, the body of the monster deformed and stretched while he dug his clawed fingers into the flesh above. Filthy dark red blood ran down his arms in rivulets and the entire monster above him shook. Jake was surprised he didn't take damage but the pressure above him increased steadily. Slowly sinking him into the mud as he was pressed down. The filthy water was already splashing against his chin. If this kept up he would be pushed down and drowned.
Long seconds dragged on as he strained against the crushing weight of the monster. His claws dug into the monster but the damage was far too little. Every few seconds the monster would shake and Jake could feel strange ripples through the crushing flesh around him. Digging his fingers in and twisting he did everything he could to wound the monster. But his attacks were all based on strikes and punches. His claws were used to help with that but alone they weren't doing much.
Tilting his head back to keep the water from filling his mask, he spit away half a mouthful. "I really wish I could use fireball right about now!"
Arms burning and shaking from the strain of resisting being crushed, the seconds dragged on. Just when he felt he was going to buckle the pressure lessened slightly. Not a great amount. Not completely. But enough he stopped losing ground. Water was already leaking into his mask and had pooled around his face. He was limited to breathing through his nose or risking sucking in mouthfuls of the filthy water.
His fingers were buried all the way into the monster's rubbery flesh. With the reduced pressure, he managed to pull one hand's worth of fingers out enough that the sharp claw ends could cut into the flesh. Blood gushed over him and suddenly he found the sticky red liquid seeping into his mask instead of dirty water. Taking his last quick breath he tore into the body over him and dived in.
The Dread Spitters had no bones. Fluid filled organs inflated to give them their limited shape and most of their body was liquid. Jake practically swam through the inside of the monster before his claws scraped the skin on top. Thrusting both his clawed hands thru the skin above he tore open a hole in the top and pulled himself up. His mask was mostly filled with bloody water now. Leaning forward it started to drain slowly until a small piece fell free. Bloody water shot out in a thin stream that rapidly drained his helmet and allowed him to suck in foul tasting air. It was coppery and bitter yet so so sweet.
"Merc! MERC!" He could hear Cassandra shouting and glanced over. She was shouldering her rifle and pointing it at the unmoving huge monster. The barrel actually glowed orange slightly and smoked.
"I'm ok." His mask still distorted his voice but it popped and crackled even worse than before.
Her head jerked up to see him on top of the monster. "You scared me." She slumped down where she was to her knees then sat back hard.
"I scared me too." He laughed, the sound coming out all garbled through his damaged mask.
"Thanks for killing it." He looked down at the hole in the monster he was still half in and sighed. "Let me get the loot since I am already filthy."
It took him four dives back in to find the mutagen and the core. It was another C ranked core just like before. There was also another pulsating silvery wad of flesh.
Skill: Burst Shot
Universal Active
Fire three projectiles in short succession. Augment your damage when you need it most. More projectiles for more destruction. This attack consumes three units of ammunition. Reduces accuracy by thirty three percent.
Requires projectile weapon to utilize.
Jake slid off the body of the boss like it was a deflating air castle. His boots made a squelching sound when he hit the ground and he groaned. While not a germaphobe or a clean freak, Jake did not enjoy getting dirty. Not like this. It was part of the reason he enjoyed staying indoors and reading in the past.
Cassandra stood up, hugging her rifle to herself. "Are you ok? I thought you got killed. What even happens when you die in this game?"
Jake paused and realized he didn't know the answer to that question so for now ignored it. "I'm fine. Thanks to you! You managed to kill it?"
"I did. It kept trying to shoot at me but was facing the wrong way. It didn't seem like it could turn anymore. It kept shooting at me but the angle was all wrong. So I just dropped down and started shooting it as fast as I could. This close I got a damage penalty but there was no way to miss that." She waved her hand at the monster. He saw a large number of holes in one side of it.
"It was too busy trying to crush me." He let out a breath.
"Jake?" Cassandra said after a moment of silence while he tried to get his heart to stop pounding, her voice was quiet. It was hard to tell if she sounded scared, angry, excited, or all of the above.
"What? My name is Merc." Jake lied trying to sound confused. His words were still distorted even worse than normal.
"You sure you aren't Jake Nessan? In class 433? Sometimes you act like him, even kinda sound like him. Then when you caught that… ball? It reminded me of something he did." Cassandra was still looking at him intently, her dark eyes narrowing and her face flushing slightly.
"I don't know who this Jake guy is. My name is Merc." He slapped his chest. "I swear." The last two words came out undistorted. As his badly fractured mask finally shattered completely leaving his face uncovered.