Chương 184: Stingbreath

A monster made of sulfur-green crystals and superheated rock lumbered out of the building. It was the size of a horse, but clouds of black smoke vented out its back, swarming around it and making it appear nearly twice the size. It had the shape of an armadillo, but it was slightly more slender, with rows of green spikes on its back like studs on leather armour. Its muzzle was sharper, like a carnivore's, and its glowing eyes pierced the haze.

"Any idea what that is?" I asked.

"A Stingbreath," Sage said.

"Watch for toxic wind seeping from its mouth."

"Poison gas…" I whispered.

"Great." We didn't have any defense against that. I couldn't block it with my shield.

"How strong is it?" I whispered.

"Middle of the Silver tier," Anchor provided. The Stingbreath raised itself up on its back legs. Its throat trembled, and it unleashed a shrill shriek that sounded like a wolf's roar combined with a rockslide. Puffs of lime green gas seeped out the sides of its mouth.

"Is it flammable?" I asked.

"Down here?" Sage shook her head.

"That would be unwise. It would burn up immediately."

"Hey, it was worth asking." So far, only a puff of air had seeped out its mouth, but he backed away anyway, inching away down the street. Brawl stayed right by my side, twirling his flail slowly.

"We can take it, brother. We've dealt with tougher foes."

"Yes, when we knew what we were up against." I kept backing up, and the Stingbreath matched our pace. It dropped down to all fours again, sending a shudder through the ground. Vibrations coursed up my legs, and I nearly stumbled.

"We have no idea what this thing can do, and I don't want to find out the hard way." The gas was heavy. Although there were only a few wisps right now, it didn't diffuse into the air well, and it stayed close to the ground.

"The longer we take, the more poison it will spew," Sage warned.

"How do you know about this monster, and not the lava gorilla?" I asked as I turned, backing around a corner. While I did heed her warning about timeliness, I didn't want to trust knowledge that was, at best, a guess. If she was just guessing, I wasn't putting my life on that.

"I don't like not knowing things!" she hissed.

"I spent all last week perusing the monster compendiums and learning about the potential foes we would meet down here. For your information, dustbrain, that 'lava gorilla' is called a Flameknuckle." I was still going to call it a lava gorilla. The name stuck in my mind better. But I had more pressing concerns.

"Alright, so does this Stingbreath have any good weak spots?"

"Puncture the poison glands in its mouth," Sage said.

"Anchor, I think it's time you tested your new arrows," I said.

"You got a clear shot—" As soon as he pulled his bow off his back, the Stingbreath slammed its jaw shut, hiding its weakness behind a maw of crystal teeth and a rocky chin. Did it understand us? Or had it just recognized the bow as a weapon? And did that mean it knew its own weakness?

"I don't have a shot," Anchor called.

"Make it open its mouth again!" The armadillo dipped its head, shielding its weaknesses with a helmet of green crystal, then charged forward. After registering the threat, it was taking us seriously now. It bounded forward, claws ripping up the paving stones below.

"Left!" I shouted. We all dodged in the same direction, making sure that we didn't scatter and make this harder than it needed to be. As the Stingbreath passed, it whipped its tail at us, including the crystal club at the end. Brawl raised his shield to deflect it, but the impact shattered it and sent him sprawling to the ground. I ducked under the club, pulling Anchor and Sage down with me. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Brawl pulled the remains of his shield off his arm and muttered, "Not again…"

"We're going to need to get you a better shield," I said. The Stingbreath skittered to a halt after missing us, then turned around to face us, its glowing eyes narrowing. Then it opened its mouth. Instead of a wisp of poison gas, it breathed out a waterfall. It plummeted to the ground and splashed, filling the street. I took a breath, then shouted, "Hold your breath! Anchor, fire an arrow at its mouth!"

"I don't have a clear shot!" he replied.

"I can't see the glands while it's spewing its poison!"

"Just aim at its mouth and make it stop!" He fired an arrow, and the Stingbreath cut off its swell of poison gas. It didn't stop the gas that remained. I clamped my jaw shut and forced myself not to breathe. I could last for about five minutes now, given my increased Vitality. But Morph couldn't. He couldn't stop himself or his leaves from constantly respiring.

"Get to higher ground!" I whispered to Sage, making sure not to take a new breath and only use what I had in my lungs.

"Protect Morph and your legs!"

"What about us, brother?" Brawl asked.

"We're going to take it down. We need a clear shot on its mouth." I couldn't explain too much, and I was already running out of air in my lungs. My voice was already coming out as a breathy gasp. But I had a faint idea of how I could give Anchor a clear shot.

"Distract it!" I hissed to Brawl.

"It's going after Sage!" As she and Morph climbed the buildings at the edge of the road, the armadillo turned toward her. It lowered its head, preparing to smash through the buildings. Brawl sprinted toward it and struck it under the jaw with his flail, sending it skittering back. We needed to force it to use another gas attack. That was the only way to get it to open its mouth. But even if we did, Anchor needed to see the glands to hit them.

If I made the beast's head jerk around, it would make the streams of gas thinner and less condensed, giving Anchor a view. But for that, I needed it to hold still.

"Brawl!" I gasped, using the last dreg of air in my lungs.

"Stop it from charging!" He nodded. As the Stingbreath turned toward us, Brawl stepped forward, then rushed up to it, moving to close quarters. He held out his flail, grabbing the head with one hand and the hilt with the other, and used the chain to block its attacks. The Imperial Steel held where regular steel would've snapped in half. Either he was trying out a new style, or he'd just gotten a lot more efficient at using his equipment. Either way, it worked for us.

The monster was holding still as it tried to claw at him. Its crystal talons glanced off the Imperial Steel of the chain, creating sparks, but not much else. Come on… I thought. Come on, use your gas attack again… Anchor drew his bow back and aimed the arrow. I signalled for him to aim higher, and he nodded. Five minutes of breath only counted when I wasn't using my air for talking and exerting myself. My lungs ached and pressure built in my throat, and my body begged me to do anything—inhale, mouth or nose.

It took all my willpower to resist, even as darkness encroached on the edges of my vision. Brawl was the first to inhale. He sucked in a breath as he blocked a swipe of the beast's claws, and his eyes went wide. I didn't have a view inside him, but judging by the way it was making my eyes water, it wouldn't be pleasant inside your lungs. Brawl coughed as he blocked a swipe, and blood dribbled down his chin.

Sage watched, clinging to the edge of the rooftops, fingers clenched tight enough to crack the ancient roofing tiles.

"Brawl!" she shouted. But the Stingbreath still wasn't spewing any more gas. It was only relying on what it had already made. Its mouth was sealed shut. Anchor fired an arrow with a resonance Skill at it anyway, but it bounced off the beast's nostril, only leaving a thin gash in the stone. I shook my head, and Anchor prepared another arrow. Then, head swimming, I rushed forward, running to Brawl's side. Maybe with two of us, it would try another gas attack— It spewed neon green gas on my head. My eyes burned.

Tears welled in the corners, and I blinked to keep them clear. The beast lunged at me, swinging its claws, and I stabbed through its hand with a spear resonance Skill. But we had it where we needed it. I used an Art, jerking its head up and thinning out the gas stream. A pair of glands hung from the back of its mouth, vibrant green and pulsing. Anchor fired a pair of arrows and hit both of them with a resonance-Skill-enchanced arrow.

They exploded in a puff of green gas, and the beast reeled backward, lifting up onto its hind legs. It withered from the inside out. The rock melted into black ash, and it fell onto its back, crushing its own tail. It writhed for a few seconds, before finally falling still. I reached into my kit bag for my siphon, but before I could, Brawl collapsed beside me. I hooked an arm under his shoulder and dragged him backward until the air cleared and my eyes were no longer watering.

Sage and Morph climbed down to join us.

"I don't have much Presence left," she said.

"But I can keep him alive and get him back on his feet." She pressed her palms flat against his chest, and they glowed. As she healed him, I took a cautious gulp of air. It tingled my throat, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Although I'd need some healing of my own when we got back, it could have been worse. I readied my siphon and rushed back to the monster's corpse with the siphon in-hand, then drew a Presence from the beast's chest. As I worked, I held my breath again.

Finally, a Presence emerged from the beast's chest. It was bright green and vibrant, full of swirling storms and crackling energy. Then there was the loot. I couldn't find any lumps of Imperial Steel in the monster's corpse, and the crystals were already disintegrating. It had to be guarding something, though. I ran back to my squad and said, "Before we go, we should check out the building it came from. There might be some sort of treasure in there."