NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81
My mind existed in two states. One observing this tragedy. One calculating a thousand moves for a game I wasn't playing...
Game? What game?
Grais's skin pulsed. Then it rippled with all the shades of all the colors you never knew existed, all the really unpleasant ones. Swelling masses grew then erupted in a haphazard manner, as if they couldn't be bothered to be shocking or truly grotesque. Honestly, it lacked the horror you might expect from an eldritch horror tearing it's way out of its former human host.
There was no weight to it, something was missing.
It spoke in a voice that sounded like a thousand out of sync throats trying to imitate a Theremin. The syllables were random at first, nothing but discordant gibberish. Then actual works emerged.
"Where is the SONG? The sickly sweet sounds of PLEASURE! The gurgle of DECAY! The braying of WRATH! The giggles of CORRUPTION! Where? Where did you go my lord?
A ripping noise preceded the final discarding of its man-flesh. Wails and screams flooded the air, and shortly after only a warped, twisted mass of writhing tentacles, snapping fang laden mouths, and soul-less eyes remained. The flesh, if you could call it that, had settled into a color somewhere between madness induced purple and ruptured intestine pink. (AN: I have both of those colors in my paints set.)
First impression: That's a lot of tentacles!
Second impression: Damn that's ugly!
Third impression: KILL IT! KILL IT WITH ALL THE FIRE!
Its screeches continued, carrying a note of loss.
I snapped into the moment one longer a mere observer with a separation from the events unfolding. My mind cleared and my resolve firmed.
"Shoot it, now!" My bellow broken everyone out of the daze the transformation had inflicted on them. "Before it attacks!"
John was the first to get rounds into the beast, followed by the deafening report of Raynor's weapon. The cacophony of the troops guns bare a split second behind.
Give the unknown nature of the creature before us, I had a brief concern that our bullets wouldn't have much effect on the disgusting beast. Thankfully I was wrong, each round hit it and erupted with a small burst blue flame. It seemed the minute amounts of Psicrystal in the crysbronze alloy reacted violently with the baleful purple energies the creature radiated. The damage was small but it was something.
Raynor started shouting orders. The troops hustled to follow them.
I took stock of the situation.
Mostly flat ground, the Station and it's covered pump area where behind the crazy ugly thing.
Sadly, we had spend time earlier clearing the area of trash to feed the disassemblers in the forges. There wasn't much left to use for cover on this side of the building.
We had tons of spare magazines and even more loose ammo.
It's wailing grew louder, "It hurts, it hurts to be alone. Forsaken. WHY?! Why does it hurt?" It then burst into giggles followed by more screaming.
It's energies that seemed muted somehow. It also seemed confused, if such a term applied. I expected something more. It showed signs of damage from the barrage pounding into it. Chucks thrown free to burn in blue flames.
I used Divine Wrath, hoping that the golden energies of faith would burn the foul thing to a crisp. While the energy appeared to increased it's agony, it was hardly the conflagration I was looking for.
It finally seemed to understand it was being attacked.
"What are these souls, tainted by soft energy? Why are you not drawn to my belly? Come, come food and join the blurp and the glorp of my stomach."
The beast charged it's movements halting and sluggish, tentacles flopping and dragging. Slow but inexorable. Getting use to the new manner of locomotion. As it move closer I realized how much volume it had gained, now a massive pile of wiggling flesh. Even now it's nature seemed to be shifting.
The damage of the sustained fire, began to add up. Larger chucks began to be torn from the main mass to burn upon the ground.
I leveled another Divine Wrath at it, as I pulled my Omaha, added my share as bullets to the fray.
We started spreading out as we backed away, trying to hit it from as many different angles as we could, while making it hard for it to pick a target.
It paused again. "What is the meaning of a heart beat? Who counts the cost of a tearful eye?"
It leap and caught one of the troop as he was changing his magazine. Tentacles pulled his limbs in different directions and tore him into quarters. The pieces of the man's body were absorbed into the tainted being.
"Little soul, little voice. It joins me, IT joins US!" A face morphed out of the pink flesh, it began to sing.
"It killed Huskler! You'll pay you bastard!" Someone yelled.
Another one of my men charged and shoved his rifle into a mouth, dumping his whole mag into the beast internals before getting smashed into the ground by a dozen fleshy pseudopods.
"Keighvus! No!"
This man too, was absorbed into the beast. Another face formed between the tentacles to add to the dirge sung by the other face.
"MY souls, my song. Twisting and loving peace for the little pretties." There was a new quality to the creature
It had no right! How dare it! I would make it pay!
I snarled and dropped another Divine Wrath on the fucked up amoeba. This time the light seared deeper into the mass of the beast. A lasting golden flame ignited in its pustulant innards. We were weakening it.
"Hold strong! We are hurting it! Keep it up!" I yelled fury burning in my heart.
"Roughnecks! Pour it on! Fight!" Raynor bellowed. His rifle blew basketball sized holes into the abomination.
"Fight!" 8 voices responded as one.
John had snatched up Huskler rifle, and a few mags. He reloaded the weapon and started popping eyeballs. One shot, one eye. He danced between tentacles as the foul thing turned it's full attention to him. It cheered in frustration, it laughed in pain.
I reloaded, continuing to add what damage I could.
Twitching oddly the foul thing started to sway, its momentum stalled. Everyone was still firing and reloading as fast as they could, determined to end this monstrosity.
"Why do the little souls not submit? We not longer wish to be alone!"
"Rot in Hell!" I blasted it with another Divine Wrath.
The gold flames rushed to consume its corrupted meat. This time the volatile nature of the energies resulted in a small explosion. Foul shreds of the thing Grais had become pelted the whole area.
We had done it. Hopefully the souls of our friends could now find peace in death.
Though, I still was left wondering what the fuck just happened?