Havok Bringer

"Now is as good a time as any. If we are going to have a chance at killing this thing then I am gonna have to move fast," I said to Sherlock as we approached the outer edge of the moat surrounding the island that the Swamp Emperor Crawfish currently inhabited.

I had retreated back into the thick swampy forest with the intention of finding an opportunity to make my initial attack and maintain the element of surprise. The Swamp Emperor knew I was out here, but it didn't necessarily know what direction I would strike from.

"Sherlock, can you plot a trajectory for me? I want this first grenade to land near its tail. I don't see any weaknesses in that carapace, but I know the underside of a normal crawfish tail is somewhat softer than the shell on the main body. If I can hurt it at all, it will help.

"Trajectory showing now, Captain. The armor will regulate your strength and assist with the throw if you accept the suggested trajectory. If you miss, it is completely due to user error."

"Always a ray of sunshine," I replied as I pulled a plasma grenade from my waist, wound up, and threw it at the Swamp Emperor.

The plasma grenade landed and rolled directly under the massive Rhino-sized crawfish's tail. The charcoal grey sphere rolled to a halt before a ring of light surrounding the outside flashed three times before the sphere exploded. Dirt and chunks of grass flew hundreds of feet into the air as the Swamp Emperor pulled its tail under its body and twisted in pain. The crawfish spun, searching for danger, trying to find the cause of the pain that it was now suffering.

"No turning back now," I said as I activated my boosters and shot out over the moat.

The moat was about 30 yards across and surrounded the Swamp Kings' island, which was approximately the size of a baseball infield. As I flew, I equipped the Blood Blades and was surprised to see them pulsing. A crimson aura falling from the blades like a light fog as I approached the Swamp Emperor.

I landed on the ground in front of the still reeling crawfish and prepared to fight, even though I didn't have an ability that I felt confident in using against the Swamp Emperor. Each of my abilities had excellent offensive or defensive capabilities, but the flip side was the curse that came from using each one.

The Pulsar blast was primarily used for disarming enemies. There were some offensive aspects of the ability, but I didn'thave confidence that I could injure the Swamp Emperor enough to justify the cooldown. The defensive bubble provided was nice, but being stationary for any amount of time wasn't something I was willing to chance.

Big Bang had the same drawbacks, except for the minor issue of losing my armor and all the protection it offered for several minutes.

Do-over didn't offer any relevant advantage, and Shield of Solaris was an option in a pinch, but the damage I took from it wasn't ideal. So I was depending on my untested swords and my ability to out think this monster. They would have to do.

I leapt for the Swamp Emperor as I held the Blood Blades in a reverse grip, the blades pointing down. I landed on the back of the monster and stabbed down with all the strength I could muster. My intent was to end this quickly; I knew the heart was on the top of the body under the carapace. If I could pierce it early, I could end the fight fast, and with all my limbs. That was the ideal outcome.

Thunk

The Blades managed to barely pierce the surface of the carapace, not even achieving an inch of penetration. The Swamp Emperor stopped thrashing as one of his black, antennae-like eyes twisted around to gaze squarely at me.

"Oh shit," I muttered, as I realized that things were about to get a bit more unstable.

The crawfish lifted his left claw over his head and pointed it in my direction. The claw opened, then slammed shut with a force that sounded like the sound barrier shattering. Waves of sound blasted into me, throwing me off the monster's back and into the nearby shallows of the moat.

"I think my ribs are broken," I coughed as I got to one knee and reacclimated myself to the battle.

"Scans show two ribs broken and several contusions on your torso. I would suggest avoiding that attack in the future."

I mentally activated my health stim to start the healing process and ensure that I would have continued mobility. If I couldn't move freely I would be easy game for the monster shellfish that was now hurriedly scuttling in my direction.

"I need to adjust my plan of attack. I can't pierce that shell directly by stabbing. It's time to see what this damage over time ability can do."

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The Swamp Emperor rushed, both claws open and swiping in my direction. As it swung with its right claw, I spun, avoiding the attack. The left claw immediately followed, and I ducked, but the attacks kept coming. I couldn't find an opening in the furious attacks, and it was all I could do for now to dodge and avoid getting snapped in half.

"This isn't working, I can't find an opening, and it isn't letting up long enough for me to counter!"

"Just do your best, Captain. I'm rooting for you," Sherlock replied.

I didn't have time to respond because of the barrage of attacks that the Swamp Emperor was continuously raining down on me. Then, without warning, the crawfish reared up and extended its claws to the side. I had seen this before with normal-sized crawfish. If you get a couple of them and put them in front of each other, they will often display this same behavior. It was a sort of aggressive posture they would sometimes take to show dominance before attacking.

BOOM, BOOM

The Emperor snapped both claws simultaneously as waves of sonic energy slammed into me once again. I was thrown into the air once again, this time I completely cleared the width of the moat to slam into a giant cypress tree and slide down to the ground. My health bar plummeted, now flashing red. It was too soon to use another health stim, and I was in bad shape with only about a quarter of my total health remaining.

The Swamp Emperor rushed across the moat, intent on finishing the job this time. I sat motionless with my back against the cypress tree. My breaths were ragged, as again I had broken ribs, and based on the blood in my mouth, I had potentially pierced a lung. I watched as the crawfish approached, its claws snapping wildly. The Emperor slowly made its way to my broken body and brought his head directly in front of mine. Small antennae were probing my helmet as its beady black eyes inspected me. The Swamp Emperor forcefully nudged me, trying to provoke a response. It wasn't happy with just killing me; it wanted me to fight, it wanted to make sure that I had nothing left in me before it would end my life.

I dismissed my faceplate so it could see my face. I wanted the beast to see the defiance in my eyes.

"hah, ha…" I half laughed, half coughed in the face of the massive monster.

The Swamp Emperor hissed furiously as it moved to grab me with its claws, but it was too late. While the monster's attention was on my face, I had slipped another plasma grenade from my waist. As the creature hissed in fury, I reached forward and shoved it into the small circular mouth at the base of its head. For good measure, I activated Shield of Solaris as I shoved my arm into its mouth to the shoulder.

The crawfish raised and bucked wildly, pulling me up off the ground, but it wasn't enough. My ability was cooking it from the inside, and as the plasma grew hotter, the grenade detonated, flinging me away from the Swamp Emperor.

"Sherlock? Sherlock?" I yelled, but all I could hear in response was an intense ringing in my head and ears.

I was alive, I was aware of that at least. I was stumbling around a…swamp? There was pain, so much pain. I stumbled and fell to one knee. My head was foggy, and everything was a blur. I looked down at my right arm to see that my armor was peeled back to the wrist, and my hand was a charred, mangled mess. I held the hand up in front of my face to inspect it.

"Wha…what happened?"

I looked around to see a giant crawfish thrashing as yellow fluid poured from a wound in the front of its head. The crawfish twisted and thrashed, having obviously been severely injured.

"Captain! Andrew! I need you to focus! Can you hear me?" Sherlock was speaking in a panicked tone as he tried to get my attention.

"Sherlock, is that you?"

"Captain, you are severely injured. The Swamp Emperor is not dead yet. Are you combat effective?"

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog as the memory of what just happened came rushing back to me like a blast of cold water.

"Holy shit, holy shit! It's not dead?!" I said as the realization came to me.

My health bar was now at less than ten percent and flashing menacingly. I was out of options and had no other recourse but to push through and end this now. I equipped one of the Blood Blades in my left hand and stumbled toward the injured Swamp Emperor.

Thwack, Thwack

I swiped defensively at the still reeling crawfish, dodging wild claws and the spear-like legs of the twisting, thrashing monster. The sword began to lose some of its crimson aura as I struck repeatedly. I didn't seem to be doing any significant damage, but black slices began to form on the carapace as I struck.

Thwack, Thwack

I continued to strike weakly, but with resolve, stumbling to one knee several times as I continued to deplete the small reserve of energy I had left. After several minutes, the black slashes began to emanate an acrid black smoke, but I continued to strike.

Finally, I struck the last blow I could muster as the crawfish slowed its thrashing and lay on its belly. It slowly lifted one claw in my direction, but it didn't have any strength left, and the claw fell limply back to the ground.

I slumped to my knees, breath ragged and painful. The Blood Blade had been completely drained of its crimson aura and was now completely black, resembling a chunk of sharp, black granite more than a crimson glowing tool of death and destruction. I let the blade fall to the ground beside me as I had no more energy left to lift it.

As I sat, I watched the smoke from the various cuts and slashes on the shell of the Swamp Emperor grow, and without warning, the Swamp Emperor thrashed one final time as sprays of blood shot from every slash, rising into the air and accumulating into an orb of blood above the now dead beast. The orb floated silently above the carcass before slowly drifting over to the Blood Blade, turning to mist and reabsorbing into the weapons, returning the blood-red aura to the blades.

"Well, that's handy."

"I never doubted you, Captain. Bravo!" Sherlock cheered, "You can use a stim now, by the way."

I mentally activated my health stim and heard the familiar hiss followed by a sensation of warmth as it began repairing my broken body.

"I think I'm just gonna take a breather while the stim does its thing." I flopped down onto the ground in exhaustion as a notification hit my interface.

Level 1 complete!

Proceed to the Center of the swamp for rewards and entry to the second floor.

"No rest for the weary, I guess," I said as I slowly picked myself up with a weary sigh and stumbled back toward the Swamp Emperor's Island.