"MAN, COME ON! I WASN'T READY FOR A BOSS FIGHT!!"
I was screaming at the top of my lungs while running away from the massive insect that's chasing me.
Its petals were perfect—soft hues of pink and white, with edges so pristine. Its body was arched back, with fore-legs even larger than its own body. Its other 'four legs'(haha get it...), each larger than my own body, create small dents in the ground when walking. The mantis's whole body shined brightly, and although it may look fragile, was as hard as steel. Its two big eyes twitching in its triangular-shaped head, with a pair of antennas used to sense its prey.
I was chased until I reached the entrance where I entered from, but the mantis stopped before reaching me. It let out a massive scream, and words popped up in my view
Before I had time to think about the analyzation, the mantis leapt at me. Its body landed right where I was a second ago, creating a hole deeper than my height.
Staring at the hole in disbelief, the mantis came at me again, this time running in a straight line towards me. Its scythe-like forelegs lashed out, cutting the air where my head has just been. Quickly glancing at the scythes(the mantis's forelegs), it was one of the sharpest objects I've every seen. A chill went down my spine as I realized that one hit from this thing, and its game over.
Finally, something challenging!
I prepare and lock in for the battle, telling [FMC],
"Get ready for a good fight!"
"I am already prepared."
I start with an activation bullet. I am pretty sure it won't do anything to its body, but just to test, I shot a bullet. Sure enough, it just bounced off the mantis. The mantis didn't even seem to notice it! It rushed at me with its right scythe aimed at my head.
"I'm creating a pentagonal shape at 11 o'clock, 10 degrees above eye level!"
"Got it!"
Quickly firing up pentagonal shape, I see it get filled almost instantly after it was created. The mantis's scythe hit the pentagonal surface and bounced off, surprising both the mantis and myself.
Getting rid of its confusing, the mantis sliced at me from his left,
"Incoming from 3 o'clock, at eye level!"
I see a pentagonal shape appear to my right, and I quickly fill it, once again nullifying the mantis's attack.
"Aiming for its eyes! Anchor point at 2 o'clock, angle of 74 degrees above eye level! Try to make the bullet bounce."
"Firing now!"
This time, the bullet bounced off the anchor point, and ricocheted towards the mantis's black eyes. But right as the bullet hit, it bounced off like the first activation bullet I shot.
So its weakness isn't its eyes.
But there was no time to think, as the mantis jumped into the air again. I was prepared for it to land on top of me, but suddenly, the mantis rotated mid-air, and slammed its abdomen on me instead.
"Quickly! Massive rectangle facing forward. Fill it!"
A rectangular shield appeared before me right as the abdomen made contact, successfully blocking the attack.
This analyzation thing, what does it mean?
I decided to make a risky move.
"Created a ramp behind you! Going up from ground level to about 25 feet tall!"
"Got it!"
Before I entered the passageway, I upgraded my boots with those weak toxin casings I got from the monkeys to allow me to run up walls temporarily.
"Ramp is completed!"
It was more complex then I realized. To create a ramp that is sturdy, precision in the placement of balance points for a ramp are important. I shot the network of anchor points with the intention of filling them, and a the ramp is constructed beneath my feet. I was preparing myself to run all the way up the ramp, but the mantis started running at me.
"Oh come on! Give me a break...."
With no other options I ran up the ramp, and right as I reached the top, I did a backflip, flying over the top of the mantis's head, giving me vision of its back.
90%!!!!
I quickly shot a square platform beneath my feat and after [FMC] filled it, landed on it and decided to take a quick break. I now understand how the analyzation works. I have to look at every part of the orchid mantis to be able to fully analyze it, and after analyzation, I am assuming that it would give me information about the mantis. I was excited at this discovery, but the platform beneath me disappeared.
I got too distracted!
"[FMC], create a large hendecagon, connecting the anchor points. After that, create a smaller hendecagon within the large hendecagon with the anchor points of the smaller one aligning with the larger hendecagon, but not connecting to the anchor points of the larger hendecagon. Do this 4 times."
"Come on, that's so much work!"
But soon enough, the hendecagons appeared, and I shot a bullet at the center, but instead of filling it, I tried to connect each anchor point to the activation bullet. The activation bullet connected to the anchor points, and created a web-like structure. I landed on the web-like structure and safely bounced off it, preventing me from falling from such a high altitude.
Now, what's the last part I need to analyze?
I stare at the mantis while running and protecting myself with bullets, but still could not figure out the part I was missing.
Think! Think!
I hear [FMC] yawn in the background, and a thought occurs in my mind.
The mouth!
I think back to my previous skirmishes with the mantis, and realize it has not once opened its mouth.
"Thank you so much, [FMC]!"
"Huh? What did I do?"
"Get ready to fight!"
I create a web behind me and it gets connected quickly. But I don't use it yet. The mantis seeing that I moved away from the web, dashed towards me and rapid-fired its stabs.
"2 o'clock! 27 degrees!"
It gets filled, blocking the attack,
"11 o'clock! 56 degrees!"
Blocked again.
This goes on and on, with the mantis attacking and us blocking. But I decided to play a surprise attack,
"Penetrate!"
This time, the bullet goes right through the small shapes created by [FMC], and hits the mantis right between its eyes. The mantis jumps backwards, startled at the sudden attack, but not harmed in any way. I quickly launch myself with the pre-set web towards the mantis, right at its mouth. The mantis didn't have time to slice me with its scythes, so it opened its mouth instead ready to consume me, but this was all a part of the plan,
Before the mantis bites me, I create a triangle and yell,
"Bounce it!"
And a bullet bounces off the triangle, hitting myself in the stomach and launching me backwards, away from the mantis. The activation bullet only deals damage to activation points, and since I hit a non-lethal area, I didn't take that much damage. Now that I have completely analyzed the mantis, I pull up the image of it in my menu.
A 3-D model of the mantis appears, and information about it can be seen at its side:
Yes! The weak spots are finally revealed.
"[FMC], you got that?!"
"Sure did."
"Lets kill this thing! Shoot a triangle at 4 o'clock! 84 degrees above eye level!"
The triangle appears, and I bounce a bullet off the triangle and hit the mantis in one of its leg joints. The mantis buckles for a second, but regains its ability to stand. It screams in anger and dashes at me, but its movements have clearly slowed down. I easily dodge its attack even with the low energy I had, but the mantis seems to realize that it might actually die if it keeps running at me wildly. It jumps backward, wary about the little kid standing in front of him. It starts raising its scythes above its head, seemingly about to strike, but instead of striking, he slams the ground creating shockwaves through the earth. I jump into the air, barely dodging the shockwaves rupturing the ground beneath my feet.
This thing has long-ranged attacks too!? Who made this guy?
The mantis keeps its distance, and continuously produces shockwaves towards me. I am unable to get close to the mantis, and the mantis seems to slowly regain its strength back. I seem to be in quite the predicament here, but an idea pops into my head.
I shoot a rectangle beneath my feet and yell,
"[FMC], Try to explode the ground beneath this area!"
I jump out of the way, and a second later, I hear an explosion. After the smoke cleared, I look at the hole created and jump into it. I then create a web in front of me and wait for the mantis to attack. The mantis launches another shockwave attack, and rips through the ground, but this time, it gets reflected back towards it by the web. The mantis gets hit by its own attack and topples backwards landing on its side. It tries to get up, but before it can rise, I shoot bullets at each of the mantis's joints with the use of bouncing bullets, and cripple the mantis. The flower sprouts on its back, and I safely grab it, picking up an item called,
The mantis officially stops moving, and lays on its side, lifeless and limp.
"Haha! Yes! We did it!"
"What a fight..."
Breathing sighs of relief, I sit down and look towards the other side of the cavern, and regain my energy before looking back at my menu. I was scrolling through some tabs until I hear,
"Um, [MC]?"
"Yeah?"
"I still can't see anything, are you fighting something else?"
"No"
"..."
I still sit there, happy in defeating the boss, until I see a shadow rise against the walls of the cavern.
I hear a scraping sound behind me, and what I am met with shocks my eyes. A pair of wings start growing out of the mantis's back, and its body starts turning extremely purple, with veins popping out of its body. Its legs start jerking, and its head starts twitching, and light comes back into its eyes, but this time, its eyes were red. I run backwards keeping my distance, and suddenly see the massive mantis floating in the air. It body is carried by its two massive wings, fluttering at an insane rate of 500 beats per second. A scream of anguish comes out of its mouth, and its shadow is projected across the massive cavern. The mantis then flies around the whole cavern, leaving behind trails of purple seeds. I jump away from these seeds instantly, and plants begin sprouting from these seeds, each rising to a height no less than 10 feet, covering the view of the caverns ceiling.
A notification appears,