Chương 59: 2.18 The Thing That Should Not Be - Metallica (6:37)

Z3ke (Original Poster) Update time and it's not gonna be all that big because I ran into a problem that Crush and the others didn't plan for. So, we finished scouting the crater and the surrounding area. Now Dylan and I are back at the security gate while Jared and Milicent are out doing some work. The Reclaimer is still hanging out at the bottom of the crater. The thing looks like a god took a giant scoop out of the middle of the city and replaced it with a big kaiju blob covered with plants.

It's the world's most dangerous botanical garden. I copied down both the attunement glyph and the sacrifice glyph that you all gave me. You all warned me not to copy it directly from my Tech Slate, especially in front of Milicent. I understand the caution. If she sees me constantly pulling out my Tech Slate and coming up with new and exciting glyphs, she'll wonder how much money she could make by betraying me and stealing the Tech Slate.

I don't want to get stabbed in my sleep by her, so I did memorize both the heat glyph and the rubber-band glyph. But have any of you guys actually looked at the glyphs you sent my way? What the hell man. Both of them are nightmares to try and memorize. There was no way I could copy the attunement glyph without having it pulled up on my Tech Slate. And the sacrifice glyph was so much worse.

It was packed with so many lines and curves and dashes and strange markings that it looked like a geometry textbook vomited all over everything. There was no chance that I could memorize it well enough to write it in my notebook. Instead, I left the building we'd all taken to hiding in and wandered around the district until I found a nice quiet spot. It was a broken overpass that overlooked the entire district. Sitting up there was kinda peaceful.

Both Jared and Daryl have said that there's no dangers in the district except for the Reclaimer, so I was able to sit down and relax for a bit without the fear of getting torn apart by some strange new monster. I balanced the Tech Slate on my knees and copied both glyphs out into my notebook. It took forever and my wrists still hurt and my eyes are still bleary. But I got it done and tore out the papers and headed back to Milicent and the others.

When I gave her the glyphs she studied them for a good long while, went completely pale as if someone had just handed her the blueprints to a nuclear reactor, and then grabbed Jared and told him they were going exploring. They spent most of the rest of the day roaming around the research district. According to Jared, Milicent had him help to look for locations for the attunement glyph and a place that was clear enough to hold the sacrifice glyph.

Somehow they found both and Milicent has already started marking out the spots and drawing the attunement glyphs out in chalk. Now, here's the problem and what Crush failed to think about. Milicent claims that the attunement glyphs I gave her only work if the target passes directly over them. She said something like the Reclaimer's mana signature needs to get close enough so that the glyph can actually lock onto it. Unfortunately, the Reclaimer doesn't really move all that much.

It just sits there at the bottom of the crater, and the most movement I've seen from it has been when a couple tendrils came out of its mouth and dragged some debris into the pit. This raises the very obvious question of: how exactly am I supposed to convince a city-sized monster to stroll through a few dozen glyphs scattered about the district?

The best plan I've got right now is to shoot the thing with Daryl's shotgun to grab its attention, and then to run like hell and hope it chases me to the glyphs without actually killing me. That's a horrible idea for a couple reasons. First, there's no way in hell that I'm shooting a kaiju with a shotgun. That just sounds demented. Second, if I pass the attunement glyphs first, doesn't that mean that I would activate the sacrifice glyphs? So I'm open to suggestions on how to fix this problem so I don't get killed.

Oh, there's one other thing. Milicent now looks at me like I'm a demented serial killer or something. When I gave her both the attunement and sacrifice glyph, she shot me this strange look that it took me a while to decipher. Then I realized that I had just handed her everything she needs to start up a massive ritual sacrifice. It's clear that the glyphs I gave her are unique and not all that well-known.

She's gotta be asking herself why I know how to make a sacrifice glyph, how I learned about it in the first place, and when I've used this thing enough times to be sure that it would kill the Reclaimer. I kinda get her trepidation around me right now. I mean, what would you all do if some dude strolled up to you and was like "heard you got a bunch of bodies you need to get rid of," and then he handed you a vat filled with acid and a guarantee that it would hide all the evidence. So… yea. That's a thing now.

Thanks for all that. Milicent thinks that I'm some weirdo who sacrifices things for fun and knowledge now and I'm worried she's going to turn me in once we get back to The MIZ. Byte-Sized What's Milicent's glyph writing rank at? If it's high enough, she should be able to extend the detection field of the glyph so you wouldn't need the Reclaimer to move directly over each one. Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh… no clue.

I'm guessing it's not all that high because she said that the Reclaimer would have to get really close to each glyph for it to activate. Basically, the thing would need to stand on top of the glyph for it to get the full effect. DataDatum That means she probably hasn't reached 7 yet. The higher your rank in the skill, the more flexible you can be with some of the glyph requirements. If she was really high, you wouldn't need as many attunement glyphs and they'd be able to stretch pretty far.

MossheadGPS Can you collapse part of the crater and force it out? Z3ke (Original Poster) I don't think so. The crater is absolutely massive and it's not like I'm packing a whole bunch of explosives right now. PixelBaron Plus, if he collapsed the crater that might trigger combat, and we don't want him to do that. The thing would eat him alive without going near the glyphs. LaughingCrow You're missing the obvious solution Zeke. Tie Daryl to a stick and wave him at the monster.

And if Daryl isn't up for it, then just use Jared. C0da_Creator Hey Zeke, this isn't really about the Reclaimer but have you thought about cutting Milicent loose once she finishes up with the glyphs? It could cut down on the shares you have to pay out. ShivSays Ooo. That idea's got some merit. Zeke, you did just say that she's giving you weird looks and might turn you in. Plus, she's probably getting way too interested in what you've got going on with your Tech Slate.

You've been updating the forum this entire time, using your Tech Slate, and pulling glyph blueprints out your ass. She's probably wondering if you have a bunch of info stored away on it. Also, once you hand over that glyph book later on, she's bound to notice that neither the attunement nor the sacrifice glyphs are in it. That'll raise so many questions like "why does the guy with rank 1 in glyph writing somehow know insanely advanced glyph structures that aren't in this book?"

10161066 | Tie Daryl to a stick and wave him at the monster. | All jokes aside, anything that involves Zeke standing near the crater and provoking the Reclaimer is basically suicide. The thing might look slow, but its reach is enormous. Once it notices him, it could close the distance between them faster than he can escape. 7Spirals He can always use a lure glyph. I'm sure that someone here can design something that would be effective.

It would be just like what Zeke did with the Hemocyte Swarm and the heat glyph, except the Reclaimer would need something slightly different. Who here knows about glyphs and can design something that would mimic the mana signature of an extremely dense biomass that the Reclaimer would be interested in. That should get it out of the crater. All it's been able to eat for the past few decades have been buildings, and if we give it something delicious it's bound to get up off its ass and chase it.

Place a lure glyph next to each attunement glyph -> activate the lure -> the Reclaimer senses "food" and moves to the signal -> when it gets there and finds nothing, it'll move to the next lure. This way Zeke can lead it across the district one step at a time. NullSigil I love it. It's like a cat with a laser pointer. Except the cat is a kaiju and can devour buildings. OldManKiyote Here you go Zeke. I designed something for you. You're going to need to attach it to each attunement glyph.

There are a few lines that you can use that will power the glyph and turn it off as soon as the attunement glyph locks onto the mana signature of the Reclaimer. This'll make it so that the Reclaimer doesn't keep going back to the same glyph. <lure/glyphs-zeke. jpeg> Z3ke (Original Poster) God I'm already hating this plan.

Z3ke [last online: 4 days ago] MoronicMnemonic OMG ZEKE!!! Update already. You're killing me here, smalls. You can't just build up a fight with the Reclaimer and then disappear for a couple days. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Grave, is there a forum rule about that somewhere? ClickWhirr At this point I'm assuming the Reclaimer won and the fic is over. SignalLoss Everyone needs to calm down. Zeke updates way more consistently than most people who are posting in the fanfic section here.

If he needs a few days to make sure his chapter is up to his standards, then we can survive the wait. Some of you are acting like this thread is a daily serial, and it's not. MossheadGPS Three days is a long time when the last update ended with Zeke trying to lure the kaiju across a bunch of magical landmines. Toast Woo! Just caught up with the story so far and I've got some thoughts. First off Zeke, great story so far. Second, what the hell were you thinking with the Hemocyte Swarm loot? Why only take the sensors?

Those are basically vendor trash. You're lucky if you get a single credit for one. The real money is in the processing nodes and the swarm cores. That's what people actually want. The sensors are stuff that scavengers strip out and sell by the crate load. MoronicMnemonic ^ Toast. I didn't want to be the first one to say it, but yea I agree. Zeke fought an entire swarm and then looted the equivalent of broken headphones. Massive fumble on his part.

ShivSays Who else thinks Milicent betrayed him and that's why Zeke isn't updating. He's trying to figure out how to introduce his kidnapping into the story. His last update basically saw him give her a bunch of powerful glyphs and then she immediately dragged Jared off into the research district. That feels suspicious, like she was trying to get Jared on her side so the two of them could take out Zeke before he tried to piss off the Reclaimer. HandsWithoutArms Or the Reclaimer ate them.

Or they accidentally triggered the sacrifice glyph early and turned Zeke into a mana battery. Or he got kidnapped by all three of them and they're holding him hostage until he explains where he keeps pulling these crazy glyphs from. Or Zeke tried to lure the Reclaimer by himself and the story is just done. There's honestly so many points of failure in this plan and something was bound to go wrong eventually.

10161066 This is karma because nobody spoke up when Crush suggested a plan where Zeke fights an endgame monster he's not ready for. Now he's making everyone wait. This is what happens when you let the Primary system run wild without questioning it. We should try fixing it so that it doesn't get Zeke's OC killed. Binary_Arcana The Primary system isn't the problem. And Zeke isn't going to kill his OC fighting the Reclaimer.

Also, this forum is spending way too much time trying to counter the Primary's influence instead of building on it. Grave, can you temporarily ban people from posting if they try to counter the Primary's advice. We all agreed to yes-and the Primary, but everyone is complaining and it's getting tiresome.

Thankfully we haven't had anyone try to lead a coup or anything against Crush or Mushroom or 7Spirals, but I'm getting tired of everyone popping in here and saying that the plan is garbage without coming up with their own ideas. Mikmj Binary never stops moaning and complaining, does he? ShivSays | Or he got kidnapped by all three of them and they're holding him hostage | I don't think they'd betray him. Jared and Daryl seem okay.

Vanestus ^ShivSays I'm really liking Daryl so far, definitely holding the position of best companion right now. Maybe Zeke can hire him again after this job. GigaVanguard Calling it now, Zeke and his crew are having to run a gauntlet of every faction he met on the way down, angling for their loot on the way back up.

Z3ke (Original Poster) If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Alright, alright. Everyone can calm down now. I'm back. The reason that I haven't updated for a bit is because the last few days have been absolute shit and I couldn't exactly stop in the middle of everything to pull out the Tech Slate and write a post. First, remember when 7 and Mushroom "did the math" and they said I'd need something close to 25 attunement glyphs to take on the Reclaimer?

Well, Milicent took one look at the estimate and decided she wanted to up the count to 35 glyphs. And making all those glyphs took us about a day and a half of walking through the research district and laying them all down. When I say "us" I mean Jared, Milicent and myself. We wandered through the district with Jared acting as our guide while Milicent handled the attunement glyphs themselves. She picked out the location, cleared off a section of pavement, and then drew out the glyphs in chalk.

Those things were huge by the way. Some of them stretch across half the width of a street. While she worked on those, I handled the lure glyphs. When she finished her glyph I'd step in and start laying out the structure of my glyph a few feet away. Here comes my first complaint because I wrote thirty-five complicated glyphs across half a system and all I got out of it was a single rank up in my skill. But whatever. While the three of us were poking our way through the district, Daryl was acting as our lookout.

He climbed to the top level of one of the old research towers near the edge of the crater. It had a clear view of the entire pit and most of the surrounding territory, so he posted up there and kept watch over the Reclaimer while we went to work. I really wish that I'd thought to restock my flares before heading down into the Under-MIZ. Unfortunately, I completely disregarded the fact that I'd used my only flare shooting the guy trying to mug me back at the Under-MIZ, and never bought anymore.

It would have been the perfect signal system. If the Reclaimer had woken up while we were out there drawing chalk circles all over the street, Daryl could've just fired the flare into the sky and we'd know to run our asses away. But… live and learn. While we were working on the glyphs, I could tell that Milicent was nervous about the whole plan. She wasn't panicking or anything like that, but she kept glancing towards the crater every so often and it was obvious that she wasn't liking what we were doing.

But while she was definitely nervous, she was also ridiculously excited, mostly with the glyph network that we were building. Not only was she creating all the different attunement glyphs, but she was also helping me integrate the lure glyphs to everything and connected all that to the much larger sacrifice glyph. It was complicated work. Every structure had to align properly and there were probably a ton of small things that she had to make sure it all worked.

While that might not sound all that fun for you or me, to a glyph nerd like Milicent, it was heaven. At one point in the middle of the second day she suddenly got ridiculously happy for about ten minutes straight and I'm pretty sure that was a sign she'd just leveled her glyph writing skill. Jared meanwhile wasn't as excited as Milicent. He helped guide us through the district and then just stood off to the side while she and I fiddled around with glyphs.

Occasionally I glanced up from my work and I looked over at him and I'd see him turned towards the crater and he'd get this look on his face. It was… kinda like anticipation mixed with a small amount of dread. It took me a while to realize what he was doing. He was constantly checking in with his skill and making sure that the Reclaimer was still sitting down at the bottom of the crater. It was understandable that he was nervous about the creature.

Once you've seen the thing in person, your brain starts doing this thing where it starts running through every single decision you've made that brought you to that point, and then it starts loudly cursing at you and wondering why you haven't run away screaming yet. Anyways, after about a day and a half of strolling through the district and drawing glyph after glyph after glyph after glyph, we finally finished placing all thirty-five of them.

That meant that Milicent finally got to work on the main sacrifice glyph, which took some time. The thing was absolutely massive and it took up this giant plaza in the middle of the research district. It took her the better part of the rest of teh day crouched over the ground laying down line after line of chalk. By the time she was finished, the entire plaza was covered in chalk lines. Finally, everything was in place and ready for the next part of the plan. Milicent had tweaked your guys' plan a bit.

Instead of activating everything manually at each location, she linked the entire network of glyphs to a single control point near a large observation tower a safe distance away from the crater. From there she could activate any of the glyphs she needed, which meant we didn't need to stand next to the glyphs to power them. Once everything was finished, she activated the first of the lure glyphs and then… nothing at all happened.

We all just stood there, our eyes bouncing between the crater and the lure glyphs I placed. The longer it took for any sign of something happening, the more nervous I started to get. My mind kept running through every different thing that could have gone wrong and caused the plan to fail. Maybe the glyphs were drawn wrong. Maybe the lure glyph wasn't convincing enough. Maybe the Reclaimer just isn't interested. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I was reminded of something that happened a couple years ago.

A buddy of mine got his hands on some shrooms and he wanted to know if I wanted to join him and watch Planet Earth together. Obviously I said yes so we downed them and sat on his couch and stared at the tv, waiting for around five hours for them to kick in. The whole time we were waiting I was thinking this batch is garbage. We got robbed. Then, halfway through an episode about jungle animals I suddenly realized that I'd been inventing theme songs for every creature on the screen.

That's when it hit me that the shrooms were working. I just didn't notice when it started. That's basically what happened with the lure glyphs. One moment we were all just standing around wondering if the plan had failed, and the next the ground started to tremble. I've been in an earthquake before and this was so so so much worse. The rumble started in the ground and I felt a faint vibration under my shoes.

Then it grew stronger and the tremor crawled up through my legs and climbed into my chest and settled deep into my ribs. My teeth rattled. My heart slammed into my chest. Every instinct in my body started screaming at me to run and escape. The crater shifted and the Reclaimer started pulling itself upwards. Its massive root structure tore free from the walls of the crater with a ripping sound. The buildings lining the rim began to crack and shift as the ground beneath them warped.

Pavement split apart into chunks as the creature's root network dragged itself out of the earth. Vines ripped free from the ground like snapping cables. The thick tentacles that had been coiled along the creature's back slowly unfurled and lifted into the air. My jaw dropped as I stared up at the thing and realized that seeing the Reclaimer in the crater had not prepared any of us. I knew it was big, but watching it rise up out of the pit was so much worse.

The creature kept getting taller and taller until the scale of the beast finally hit me. Someone earlier in the thread asked me if I pissed myself the first time I saw the Reclaimer. I said no. But when the thing finally stood up and I got a look at the thing in all its cthulu-like glory… that answer almost changed. The monster kept unfolding and when it finally reached a truly ridiculous height, it moved. One of the lure glyphs pulsed somewhere down the street and the creature's massive body twisted towards it.

It took a single step forward and the ground exploded. That's the best word for it. It exploded. One of its massive root-limbs slammed down onto the street and the pavement shattered outwards like a bomb had gone off. Huge chunks of concrete split apart and shot up into the air as the weight of the Reclaimer came crashing down. And that was a single step. Every step after that was just as bad. Buildings shuddered and crumbled and collapsed.

Grass exploded from the upper floors of towers as the shockwaves from the steps rippled outwards. Streets buckled and split open as the Reclaimer's massive root network dragged itself behind the creature. The thing was a living landslide as it surged towards the lure glyph. And when it reached the point where it should have found a feast of biomass… there was nothing there. It looked around in confusion for a brief moment before turning and focusing its attention on the next closest lure it could sense.

Then it moved again. Milicent was the first of us to snap out of her shock.

"It's working," she breathed as we all just watched the beast tear through the district. She rushed to the control point she'd built near the observation platform and dropped to her knees next to it. Her hands hovered over the glowing chalk lines as the glyph network slowly began to activate it. Beside me, Jared leaned over the railing and stared at the monster stomping through the district.

"Holy shit…" he whispered to himself. I kept one eye on the Reclaimer and the other on the sacrifice glyph several blocks away. It started to glow with a faint pulsing light as it hit the attunement glyphs. The lines of the sacrifice glyph started to glow and they grew brighter every time the monster crossed another glyph. The Reclaimer barreled towards the next lure but a half-collapsed office building was in its way. The creature didn't even slow down.

Several tentacles lashed forward and smashed straight through the structure, ripping the upper floors apart like they were made of wet cardboard. Concrete and steel rained down across the district as the monster shoved the wreckage aside and kept charging forward. Another attunement glyph activated and the sacrifice glyph brightened. Milicent let out a short laugh as she saw the plan slowly coming together.

"Holy hell. It's working. We don't even have to fight the thing." I glanced over at Jared and Daryl and saw smiles stretch across their faces. I knew that, after seeing the Reclaimer in the crater, they'd both been slightly nervous about trying to kill the thing. When it stood up, I'm pretty sure that they were seconds away from demanding we abandon the entire plan and sprint out of the district and back to The MIZ.

But with Milicent fully on board and the plan clearly working, I could tell they were thinking about what would happen when the Reclaimer collapsed and the district started to fill up with priceless alchemical materials. Everything was going perfectly. But that was also the time when everything went to shit. Gunshots echoed across the research district and my head snapped towards the sound. Another burst followed. Then another. I was barely able to make out movement at the far end of the district.

Small figures were pouring out of a building and flowing out into the streets. They streamed out of alleyways and broken storefronts and the skeletal remains of research labs that had been abandoned for decades. I squinted, trying to get a clear view of them, and immediately understood what I was looking at.

"Scavenger teams," I huffed out under my breath. Groups were sprinting through the rubble and taking cover behind wrecked vehicles and collapsed walls. I was able to make out one group moving together in a tight formation. They had on pale armor and smooth porcelain masks, and at the front of them was a tall figure that I recognized almost immediately. It was the Pale Regiment. Throughout the district I spotted more and more groups pushing their way through the rubble.

One group had on heavy armor and they moved in a disciplined circle. I remembered walking in the middle of them as they tore through the creatures of the Flooded Neighborhood. They were Holdfast soldiers and I figured that Marcus, their leader and the former friend of the mayor, was with them. They were already halfway through the district, advancing towards the chaos like they expected to find something valuable waiting for them.

More and more scavenger teams rushed through the district and none of them looked familiar. They spread out across the ruins and took up positions that might offer them cover. And as I watched them move without the precision or discipline of the Holdfast soldiers or the Pale Regiment, I instantly knew who these new scavengers were.

"They followed us," I cursed. Jared looked over at me with a puzzled glance.

"What?" It clicked into place all at once. These teams hadn't just randomly shown up in the research district. They'd been tracking us. Ever since I dropped off all that look at the Anchor Guild we'd been tracked. Ever since I showed off my dimensional storage space in front of the Holdfast mayor we'd been followed. Ever since helping to kill the Hemocyte Swarm in the factory we'd had eyes on us.

Each of those groups now scattered across the district - the scavengers from the Anchor Guild, the soldiers from the Holdfast, and the Pale Regiment from the Factory - must have all had the same thoughts. They thought that I'd either had the inside track on some massive treasure haul, or maybe they figured I was just the luckiest scavenger in the entire city. Either way, they followed us hoping to latch onto me and my luck.

They'd trailed us through the Crushed Skirt and the Flooded Neighborhoods and the Fossilized Factory Belt. And now they were all here, standing in the middle of the district, and staring up at a kaiju monster. From my spot at the observation tower I could just barely make them out. But despite that, I knew the looks that would be on their faces. I could imagine the shock and confusion and panic and sheer horror that they all had as they looked up and took in the Reclaimer for the first time.

A burst of rifle fire echoed across the district like a starting pistol and all chaos broke loose. Another scavenger team answered from somewhere down the street and a third joined in seconds later. Rifles barked from every direction. Some of the teams shot up at the towering bulk of the Reclaimer, sending streams of bullets to smash harmless against its thick skin. Others stupidly decided that the monster wasn't the biggest problem and instead aimed their guns at each other instead.

Teams scrambled for cover in dilapidated buildings as bullets ricocheted across the street. The Reclaimer let out a roar that rolled across the district and that was what got the Pale Regiment involved. One of their soldiers stepped forward and unleashed a blast of superheated plasma at the scavenger teams. The ball tore straight through a building where one of the teams had taken cover. Concrete melted and steep warped and the entire structure collapsed.

Another blast followed and punched straight through the side of an office tower a block away. The scavenger teams panicked. Some of them immediately started retreating, clearly deciding that fighting both the Pale Regiment and a city-sized monster at the same time was a terrible idea. Others tried to close the distance, sprinting through the rubble in an attempt to get within melee range.

It was clear that their guns weren't in great condition and they were afraid of being picked off by the Pale Regiment's superior firepower. I watched a scavenger group circle around behind the Pale Regiment's position. They moved fast and stayed low and used the shattered remains of the district for cover. They darted from broken wall to broken wall, weaving through collapsed storefronts and chunks of concrete. For a second it looked like they could actually pull it off.

The scavengers burst out from behind a wall and rushed the Regiment's formation. Gunfire exploded at close range and one of the Pale Regiment soldiers went down. But the victory lasted all of a second before the masked leader stepped forward. He whipped out his baton and slashed out with it. By the time the scavengers realized just how dangerous he was, the fight was over. Their bodies hit the ground and the Pale Regiment reformed their line like nothing had happened.

That all happened in maybe ten seconds, and while it was going on the Reclaimer was still wreaking havoc. One of the massive tentacles along its back uncoiled like a snake and whipped out to smash into a building where a scavenger team had taken cover. The building folded inwards and concrete exploded out in a massive cloud of dust and debris. When the tentacle lifted again, I could see two people wrapped up in its coils. They screamed as the Reclaimer dragged them into the air and towards its mouth.

A wet opening split apart and the tentacle let go of the scavengers and they fell screaming into the void. Another tentacle lashed out a second later and more scavengers vanished into its maw. My lure glyphs were still pulsing across the district, glowing steadily as they tried to draw the creature along the path we'd designed for it. But the Reclaimer had stopped racing towards them and my stomach dropped as I realized what was happening.

The Reclaimer had now discovered actual food, and it was no longer interested in the fake lures that I'd set out. The Reclaimer tore through the district like a starving animal. Buildings collapsed in its wake as its massive root network ripped up the streets and dragged the bulk of its body forward. Towers that had somehow survived decades of decay finally gave up as the creature smashed through them. I watched as it approached one building and didn't even bother charging through it. It just rolled over it.

The office building disappeared beneath a mass of roots and vines and fleshy growths. Within seconds the concrete walls began to sag and dissolve as the entire building was devoured by the bulk of the Reclaimer. And as the beast moved, new life erupted everywhere. Grass burst through the cracked pavement. Vines slithered across the broken streets. Plants bloomed and burst open, spilling out clouds of spores that covered everything.

The Reclaimer was doing exactly what it had been designed to do: rebuild the ecosystem as it moved along. Watching the whole thing unfold gave me a strange flashback to when I was a kid. I remember watching old episodes of Power Rangers and, thinking back on it now, each episode ended the exact same way. Some giant monster would show up and start stomping through a cardboard city, topping the buildings left and right.

Then the Power Rangers would have to get out their machines and come together to create a larger construct to fight off the monster. Standing there in that observation tower, staring down at the Reclaimer while it crushed buildings and devoured the scavengers, that was exactly what was happening. The only different between this and the old Power Ranger episodes was that this monster wasn't some dude in a suit, the buildings weren't cardboard, and the victims weren't paid actors racing through the streets.

"It's still charging," Milicent said. Her voice snapped my attention back to the glyph network. The sacrifice glyph was glowing much brighter now. Energy pulsed through the massive diagram and raced along the etched lines.

"Twenty two anchors," she said as she studied the glyph carefully.

"Maybe twenty-three." I looked back at the Reclaimer and noticed it wasn't anywhere near the next lure glyph. One of its tentacles scooped up another scavenger and dropped it into its mouth.

"That's not enough," I mumbled.

"We need to wait until it hits at least thirty." Milicent nodded grimly, but I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was. The lure glyphs were still active, but the Reclaimer was ignoring them now. Instead, it was focused on the dozens of armed idiots running around the district.

"Twenty four," she said a moment later. But by then the monster had already started drifting away from the lure path entirely. More scavengers were firing it, drawing its attention further and further away from the route we'd carefully laid out. The battlefield was complete chaos, and it was threatening to derail our plan completely. I looked at the sacrifice glyph as it pulsed with power. The lines were bright and bold, but I knew it wasn't quite there yet.

And if the Reclaimer didn't cross those last few nodes, the whole trap could fail. I clenched my jaw and shook my head.

"We can't risk it." Milicent looked over at me, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"We should wait. If it wipes out the scavengers, maybe it'll wander back towards the lures." I shook my head no.

"If it decided to leave the district entirely, then all this will have been for nothing. Activate the glyph." Milicent hesitated and for a second I thought she was about to argue with me. Then she let out a slow breath and placed her hand on the control point and triggered the sacrifice glyph. Every line of the massive glyph flared to life at once and a blinding surge of energy erupted. Across the district, far from the glyph, the Reclaimer froze. Then it began to glow.

A strange rushing sound filled the air, rising rapidly in pitch until it sounded like a tornado had dropped into the middle of the research district. Something invisible whipped through the air, racing towards the Reclaimer from every direction. I had no idea what the glyph was doing, but whatever was happening the Reclaimer hated it. The creature let out a deep, rumbling growl that vibrated through the observation tower.

The sound was so powerful that the closest building near the creature crumbled to dust and tipped over. Its tentacles lashed wildly as the glow inside its body intensified. The light grew brighter and it turned and focused its attention on us. I almost did piss my pants at that point. I probably would have if my body hadn't locked up completely in fear as the beast stared us down. Then it rushed at us. I wanted to run away. I wanted to vomit in fear. I wanted to be anywhere but on that observation tower.

My brain kept repeating the same thoughts over and over and over again. Move. Run. Get the fuck out of there. But I couldn't. I was struck with fear and my legs wouldn't move. Plus, I knew that if the Reclaimer survived whatever the sacrifice glyph was doing to it, then it didn't matter if I started running. The thing would have flattened me anyway. So instead of running, I just stood there like an idiot and watched as it raced closer.

The glow inside the Reclaimer grew brighter and brighter with every step it took. It pulsed beneath the surface of its body, lighting up the tangled mass of roots and tentacles that covered it. It got so bright that I was nearly blinded by it, but I still didn't look away. The Reclaimer lifted one of its massive legs and tried to shuffle closer, but something had gone wrong. The leg didn't move. I didn't understand what I was seeing until I realized the truth as I stared at its foot.

The creature's root network was still buried deep beneath the earth. Normally, when the thing moved through the district, it tore those roots free and then dragged them behind it. But this time the roots didn't detach. But the Reclaimer kept moving forward anyway. The result was ugly. There was a wet, tearing sound that echoed across the district. The massive leg of the beat stretched for a second like it was made of rubber, and then it snapped.

The whole leg tore loose from the creature's body as it tried to step forward. Chunks of flesh split open and peeled away while the exposed tissue hardened into a crystalline structure. The detached limb collapsed in a heap of fragments and the Reclaimer stumbled. Its enormous body lurched sideways. Cracks spread across its skin as the glow inside it continued to brighten. Chunks of its skin started to slough off and peel away and fall to the ground in heavy, wet splats.

The creature roared again and the sound slammed into my chest like a physical blow. My heart spasmed violently and I feared that it would rip itself apart inside my chest. I gripped the railing harder and forced myself to breathe. The Reclaimer staggered forward another step, and I couldn't help but marvel at the beast. Even as it was slowly falling apart, even as its skin dripped off its body and its roots clung to the ground, the beast still tried to move towards us.

Just past the Reclaimer I was able to see the trail of devastation that it had left in its wake. Well, I say devastation, but it was more a trail of life. The streets had been covered in a growth of flowers and vines and grass all along the path behind the Reclaimer. But now, that growth was dying. The bright green plants began to blacken, their colors draining away rapidly. Vines shriveled. Flowers darkened and crumbled to dust. The entire ecosystem that the Reclaimer had created was unraveling.

The creature stumbled again and it tilted sideways and slammed into a nearby building. The building collapsed instantly, folding in on itself as the Reclaimer's massive body smashed through it. The monster staggered out of the wreckage, using its tendrils to try and hold it aloft. Black, foamy liquid spilled from its mouth and poured down the creature's front in thick streams that hissed when it hit the ground. More and more of its skin peeled away and dripped to the street like melting wax.

The Reclaimer let out another shriek, but this one was higher pitched than the last. It sounded… desperate. Confused. Afraid. Then it collapsed. The massive body crumpled inwards as the internal glow reached a blinding intensity. For a moment the Reclaimer looked like a statue made out of crystal and dying plant matter. Then it shattered and fell to the ground. The collapse sent a shockwave racing across the district. The blast of air smashed into nearby buildings hard enough to knock several of them over.

Windows exploded and debris blasted outwards in every direction. The observation tower shook violently beneath my feet as the shockwave slammed into it, the entire building swaying hard enough that I swore we were about to be buried under a shit ton of rubble. Somehow… it held. Slowly, the rumbling faded and the dust settled and the district fell quiet. I looked down at the wreckage below and the Reclaimer laying sprawled out across multiple city blocks.

Its massive body had been reduced to a bunch of vines and crystal and blackened flesh. It let out a single death gurgle… and finally lay completely still. I stared at the massive thing, my body trying to decide whether to shout out in celebration or fall to the ground in relief or vomit everything in my stomach out in fear. Beside me I heard Daryl mutter out two words that easily summed up my feelings.

"Holy shit."