Chương 25: Chapter Twenty Four

As he turned the corner, Bob was forced to admit that there may be some flaws in his 'no more overthinking things' resolution. An example of one being that, given only a few moments more, he might've remembered the propensity crabs had for walking sideways. A small part of him liked to think their eyes collectively widened as they met from across the hall, but given the physical inability of both of their forms, it seemed rather unlikely.

Still, this small lack of expressivity didn't make his newfound companion any less emotive.

'Kill!'

'Tear!' The calls this time seemed to echo not just through Bob's head, but also the otherwise empty hall of the manor surrounding them. Him only having a moment to be relieved that the passageway eventually broke into a T-junction – with the more horrifying presence closed off beyond it – before his attention was forced onto the suitcase-sized crustacean barreling towards him. Not that this ended up being much in the way of solace, given that only moments later other 'voices' began to join in from far off rooms.

'Rip!'

'Tear!'

'Rend!' The last word boomed in his head, nearly halting his thoughts completely when the telepathic 'noise' was echoed in the physical world by a massive'thud!' from beyond the intersection. One whose impact caused all the water in the hallway to vibrate from the force of it. Unfortunately, Bob had little time to process the giant crab trying to break through the fucking wall, due to having slightly more immediate concerns.

Concerns like the moderately-less-giant crab who'd already closed most of the distance between them. As his foe raised its pincers in preparation to attack, Bob found himself momentarily stunned. The violent and near-instantaneous reaction from the nearby crabs throwing him mentally off balance and directly into fight-or-flight mode. What small, rational pieces of himself still remained screamed for him to run.

To remember his contingency plan and make his way back up the stairs where the larger crabs would be unable to follow. To try and outpace the one in front of him in the ascent, and hide away until they'd forgotten about him again. These bits were left shocked and horrified when a far larger – and angrier – portion of him charged directly towards his oncoming foe. Shouting unheard obscenities.

The fire which had flared in him previously, one stoked by the feelings of fear, pain, horror and utter helplessness this world had inflicted on him, had returned. And now burned all the hotter for having previously been diminished. Because Bob was tired of running. Tired of hiding, and being chased, and constantly waiting for each new tragedy to befall him. Tired of boredom, and loneliness, and of his mind slowly being destroyed by the grating existential horror that was his very existence.

He was tired of all of it. But in this moment, more than anything else, Bob was tired of having monosyllabic threats telepathically screamed inside his head by voices from every direction. And suddenly found himself very determined to silence at least one of them. As he dove in, adrenaline and panicked rage guiding his actions, he realized almost immediately that he was faster than the monster. His near-instantaneous acceleration putting him within striking distance in the blink of an eye.

This encouraged him to press forward, quickly whipping out his tongue, targeting its legs like he had the crab upstairs. Hoping to cripple it before the fight could even get started. To shut it up before it drew who knows how many of its friends to them. Unfortunately, this crab hadn't been blindsided like the one prior. And with a quick bash of its left claw – a massive, crushing hulk larger than Bob's own body – his attack was thrown aside. At which point, it was the monster's turn.

Lashing out with a vicious strike of its own. One destined to split him in two should it connect. As the strangely wedge-shaped edges of the claw rushed down on top of him however, Bob found his mind suddenly begin to calm itself. The fear-laced adrenaline pushed back for a moment as he concentrated on where the attack was going to land. Before then gracefully spinning out of the way. Ding! Dodge (E) Has Leveled up!

4 – 5 As the crab's pincer passed within inches of Bob's wooden form, he felt the utterly-focused mindset that 'Dodge' placed him into begin to fade. Drifting away as dozens of tiny feet carried him gracefully past his enemy. Bob didn't let it. Grabbing desperately onto the sensation as a tide of fear attempted to regain a foothold in his mind. Most of the calm intensity drifting insubstantially away, but enough remaining that Bob felt far more in control as his opponent spun to face him.

Mind now better able to analyze its movements as well as the situation beyond the fight. Which was just about when he realized how badly he'd screwed up. As his foe's massive claws once again lashed out, Bob's now-calmer mind was able to regain some grasp on the constantly-shifting map that was 'Treasure Sense'. Dozens of 'blips' spinning and rotating around him as he simultaneously tried to prevent himself from being crushed. Blips which all seemed to be moving in one direction. The realization nearly killed him.

Bob only narrowly dodging the attempt to smash him into kindling as his focus was pulled to the ethereal sensation of his skill. Mind trying to decipher how many other monsters were being drawn to the corridor; as well as how close they were. Unfortunately, the news wasn't good. The entire area was awash with enemy signals. Their movement almost sketching out the further-off rooms and hallways as they all attempted to rush towards his location en masse.

The crab's cry having drawn far more attention than he'd expected. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Amongst them were at least four blobs of imminent death. Three skittering around near the borders of his range, appearing to only be beginning to move in his direction. And one, obviously, not more than ten feet away.

'Crush!' Part of Bob quailed as the water surrounding him once again shook. The ' boom!' of the behemoth's claw impacting the thin wall vibrating through his entire body. It was hard to tear his thoughts away from it. From questioning how long it would take for the creature to break through the structure separating them and turn his newly-evolved form into splinters.

Or at least it was, until another part of his mind – this one a member of the crew clinging desperately to the strange, artificial calm – almost casually reflected that it would probably take quite a while, actually. Given all the structures in the area seemed more or less indestructible. It took a few more moments of careful dodging before Bob managed to catch up to his own realization.

Once he did, however, the next impact against the wall – the likely unbreakable, potentially millennia old, apparently apocalypse-proof wall – no longer sent spikes of terror lancing through him. He felt nearly elated, in fact. That is, until he remembered that a single giant crab wasn't his only concern. His opponent screeched again, slamming one of its own pincers into the wall as he once more slipped narrowly out of the way.

He whipped out his tongue as he passed, attempting to intwine a near-by leg, but was too slow. Easily rebuffed as it spun to face him again. As it did so, he refocused himself, ignoring the massive abyssal blobs in order to feel out the 'lesser' threats surrounding him. A large portion of which were almost certainly also outside his ability to face. Especially when already in the midst of combat.

A good example being an incoming 'blip', one of comparable size to his current foe, which appeared not terribly far from his current location. The only one closer being a smaller signal which was nearing the hallway branching off towards the left. Which meant at least two enemies that would likely arrive before he'd finished off the first. That is, if he finished off the first.

Given its overall size and the thickness of its armor, Bob was quickly realizing that his only avenue for dealing damage was his self-made crushing attack. Unfortunately, said attack required far more in the way of build-up than his opponent seemed inclined to allow. First, he needed to entangle a part of the creature. Then he needed to – somehow – secure himself in a place where it couldn't reach out and pop him like a pimple.

Something which, given the size and strength of its claws, it looked extremely capable of doing. Only after that could he potentially prepare to deal it any real damage. All of which, at the moment, felt like a bit of a struggle. Either way though, he needed to take some form of drastic action, and quickly. Whether it was to attempt some form of attack or to flee cowardly up the tower's stairway, the decision needed to be made before who-knows-how-many others decided they wanted to join the party. Ding!

Dodge (E) Has Leveled up! 5 - 6 As he weaved out of the way of another crushing claw, Bob was at least able to appreciate the immense benefit being a monster with a class gave him. He was almost shocked by how… effortless it was to simply slip out of the crab's reach. The weighted blows of his opponent somehow never managing to catch up to him. Choosing both a dexterity-based class and species route really paying off in spades when it came to evasion.

Unfortunately, dodging the monster wasn't exactly going to help him with putting it down. Or shutting it up.

'Rip!'

'Tear!'

'REND!' And it seemed he hadn't been the only one to notice their apparent stalemate. The Crab's screams almost physically impacted Bob's mind in their intensity, its continued inability to hit him apparently driving the monster into something of a frenzy. The strikes once targeting him beginning to grow wilder and less predictable; flying over his head or impacting walls as it lashed out blindly in its rage. Something which cemented his decision on what to do.

The fire burning inside, calm though it may be, refusing to let the opportunity pass him by. As a claw slashed through the water a few inches to his right, Bob this time danced towards the crab, rather than away. He pushed himself nearly between two of its front legs as his mouth quickly cracked open, tongue shooting like a spear through the water instantly afterwards. His previous attacks had been too slow. Too weighed down by water resistance to slip past its guard. This time was different.

This time, as the crab attempted to bash his attack away, it found it was too late. Before the monster had even begun to turn around, Bob's tongue had already wrapped around the narrower segment of its claw twice. It took very little effort afterwards to 'reel' himself in. The crab actually assisting when its legs impacted him as it tried to spin in place. As he crashed into its body, Bob used 'Toothless Grasp' to mold himself over its chitinous exoskeleton.

His 'mouth' closing firmly over the joint of its arm as his 'tongue' wrapped more and more of its length around the slightly thinner section of carapace. He ignored its fervent cries for his death as he pressed himself into every nook and cranny. Sealing up the movement of this arm even as the other banged and slammed futilely into its own shell in an attempt to reach him.

Then, with a disgustingly organic undulation from the cordage making up his 'limb', Bob arranged his duo of solid objects firmly against either side of the still-flexing joint. Before beginning to squeeze.

'CRUSH!'

'DESTROY!' Bob ignored its sudden increase in vocabulary, as well as the banging ' thud!' of another assault on the neighboring wall. Focusing only on attempting to crack the thick exoskeleton he had coiled himself around. And beginning to dismay when the chitinous armor simply refused to give. Perhaps min-maxing into dexterity hadn't been the best of ideas.

'KILL!' The echoing call of the giant behind the wall made Bob compulsively check 'Treasure Sense' even as he redoubled attempts to crush his opponent's arm. The appendage's owner continuing to express its rage at the situation via one-word exclamations and increasingly elaborate gesturing with its unoccupied pincer. His largest worry was luckily still in place. Venting its frustrations against the immovable object in front of it and screaming threats at him through enchanted stone.

The next two closest crabs drew far more of his interest, however. The larger of the two was still heading towards him, but its route appeared to have been slightly more circuitous than he would have expected. Leaving it not much closer now than he'd thought it'd been before. A reprieve which, given his apparent inability to harm its similarly-sized cousin, Bob couldn't help but feel desperately thankful for. The smaller crab was the one that truly surprised him, though. Because it was running away.

To be fair, this wasn't the first monster Bob had seen flee from battle. Some of the smaller crabs earlier on the roof had scarpered off as well. Though he'd assumed then that it was because they didn't want to tangle with the beer-case-sized beast that was after him. But this crab wasn't even within eyesight. And it had to have already known that a larger crab than itself wanted a piece of him, given that his current opponent's 'call' was what drew it in the first place. So why was it leaving now?

Bob actually allowed himself to ponder it for a moment, attempting to explain its actions with the very limited amount of context clues he had available to him. Before the crab whose limb he was almost absentmindedly attempting to destroy reminded him that he had more pressing obligations. By hurling itself bodily into the nearby wall.

As the grinding shriek of carapace against enchanted stone filled his ears, Bob considered the possibility that he'd perhaps grabbed a bit too firmly onto the 'calm' supplied by his 'Dodge' Skill. Though, in this case it might have worked to his advantage. As the added pressure provided by the apoplectic crab, as well as the indestructible object it had decided to ram itself into, proved too much for its exoskeleton to bear. The muted ' Crack!'

from within the coils of his prehensile limb sounded out in symphony with a system alert. The blue window flashing in front of Bob's eye as both he and the crab's severed claw separated from the monster's greater body. The crab stumbled back, seemingly both stunned and put off-balance by the sudden loss of its weighty appendage. Which was good news for Bob. Given he found near the entirety of his attention focused on the shiny new toy the universe had just delivered to him.

'Well now.' He thought, 'face' once more twisting into some horrifying simulacrum of a smile.

'That might just change things.' Ding! Ropework Path Skill Acquired: Constrict (F) Congratulations!