Of Dark Rooms and Consuming Flesh

Moira squeezed her eyes shut, raising her shield to protect her face from the fresh onslaught of rubble and debris as she fell through the rapidly crumbling floor.

What little light had shone in through the windows was swallowed by the stone and shadow below.

The Shield Warden landed with a heavy, wet thud a floor or two down - she wasn’t sure which. She was **** into a crouch by the impact as the shock ran up her legs, but the building gave her no room to recover, as huge chunks of concrete crashed down all around her, splashing into a thin layer of dark liquid on the ground. She lifted her shield higher up to protect herself from the stone raining down around her, at the same time willing her blessed armaments to shine as brightly as they could, trying to dispel the darkness she now found herself in.

Unfortunately, whatever liquid she’d landed on, whether blood or water or both, didn’t seem to reflect light properly, reducing the radiant shine of her holy arms to a dull glow around her.

“At least this is more stable ground,” the redhead thought to herself, tapping an armored boot on the ground, “...for now.”

Frowning, she looked up, trying to peer through the cloud of dust that the collapse had stirred up to find the monster that had ambushed them. She was certain it had fallen along with her, so where was it? The sounds of the crumbling building were muffling any movement in the dark parts of the room around her, and the rubble had left a surplus of visual cover scattered around.

Moira clenched her teeth, growling with frustration as another hunk of stone slammed into her shield, ringing loudly on the metal as it crumbled and rolled off. With a mighty yell, she **** her holy shield upward and outward, bringing the strength of the Blessing to bear in a burst of light and **** that cleared the small area around her.

In the moment’s opening that bought her, she dashed to the side, trying to get out of the direct line of falling debris.

She had barely taken three steps when she saw movement in the darkness in front of her. The creature had been slinking along in the darkness, trying to get behind her, all the while pressed against the wall tightly to cloak itself in darkness. The writhing black sinews that squirmed beneath its skin had wormed their way outward, covering its body to camouflage itself against the shadow all around.

Now, Moira had inadvertently jumped straight at it.

Neither Warden nor abomination were quite ready to fight at that moment, but also neither of them was going to back down. Adjusting herself mid-stride, Moira brought her blessed shield to bear as flesh sprang from darkness - upon her as suddenly as she’d seen it. The monster’s arms were spread wide with their massive, clawed hands open and ready to snap down on the redhead like a bear trap.

The Warden bet that she was fast enough to get inside its reach first, so she continued to press forward into the flesh-hunter’s waiting arms, pouring her mana into her hammer. The weapon glowed white-hot with the Lady’s fury, its glow blinding in the darkness they’d fallen into. Moira punched out to one side, catching the creature’s left arm with her shield to open it up for her strike.

“FOR THE LADY!” She screamed her lungs out, turning breath to fury as she slammed her hammer into the monster’s ribs.

Bones snapped against blessed steel, corrupted flesh sizzling as it was crushed beneath the Warden’s blow. Black sinews recoiled from the light, withering away from the impact. The boss’ entire chest seemed to cave under the **** of the blow. By the time her momentum had stopped, the head of Moira’s weapon was fully embedded in the monster’s ribcage.

She smirked ever-so-slightly as she caught her breath. John had mentioned to her that the holy damage his staff provided him seemed remarkably effective against these creatures. It was good to know that hers seemed just as potent.

The problems began as soon as she tried to tear her weapon from the monster’s flesh.

She couldn’t.

The strange black muscles beneath the creature’s body that had retreated from her first hit were now growing back over her hammer, pulling bone and skin back into place to trap her weapon. Moira shifted, trying to give herself more leverage, but her other arm was stuck, too. She turned, finding that the arm she’d pushed aside on her charge was now holding onto her. The limb had twisted and distended itself, splitting its forearm in half to wrap its flesh around the edges of her shield.

’I’ve heard of slimes or earth elementals that can fight like this, but undead?’ Moira thought, focusing on her training to suppress any sense of panic. She growled, once more pouring her mana into her equipment. “The Lady rejects you!”

The monster burned as her armaments glowed in unison, holy magic once more flowing through them. Still, the boss was unmoved, refusing to cede control, despite the injuries. As the Warden continued to struggle, the abomination brought its other arm around, slamming into her side. She yelped, trying to wiggle her way away from it as it began to squeeze, clamping down and trying to crack through her plate armor.

She shifted her arm as much as she could, pressing her bicep down to pin the creature’s fingers before they could reach up towards her neck. The creature’s entire body seemed to ripple as its muscles flowed underneath its skin, piling as much strength into its arms as it could. At the same time, it rested more and more of its weight on Moira, who was fighting to stay standing.

A flash of light behind her caught her attention as she tried to figure out what else to do. A lit, red flare had come tumbling down the hole she’d fallen through, plunking into the thin layer of water and continuing to burn, casting a crimson light over the entangled combatants.

The redhead smiled - John and Ela were on the way.

“Alright then.” She grit her teeth, turning back to the abomination.

With what space she had, Moira hopped up on one leg, pressing the other into the creature’s chest. She used that position to gain even more leverage, dumping as much mana as she could into her hammer, whose light was now so bright she could see it shining through the flesh-hunter’s ribcage. Kicking out as hard as she could, the Warden pulled her weapon with all her might, slowly ripping the creature’s chest apart from within.

They sat, locked in that struggle, for what felt like an eternity to her, fighting to see what would give out first, the Warden’s armor or the monster’s bones.

Before they found that answer, the whole building quaked again. Pops and cracks rang out from above, the sounds of some room above caving in deafening them both. Moira and the boss stumbled around as the structure shifted sideways, nearly knocking them off their feet.

Behind them, a scream echoed down the hole in the ceiling as rubble began to fall in again, the roof above crumbling. With an unceremonious crack as he bounced off one of the sides, The Gamer dropped down through the opening in the roof, splashing down into the water and rolling to his knees. He held his arm, looking around, quickly trying to take stock of the situation.

John’s eyes widened as he processed the struggle in front of him. He tugged on a rope tied around his chest, trailing back upwards into the building, yelling something that Moira couldn’t quite make out. At the same time, his staff materialized in his hands, aimed at the pair. The lantern on the end dangled down, its light glowing now with green mana as he channeled one of his spells.

“GO FOR THIS ARM!” Moira yelled, nodding her head towards the limb crushing her side.

John didn’t say anything, wordlessly tilting his staff slightly and letting rip a [Lesser Air Burst] at the monster’s right shoulder. The whirling orb of wind crashed over the creature’s rippling flesh, leaving golden sparks of holy flame scattered across pale flesh.

The boss recoiled, trying to maneuver Moira between itself and The Gamer as a shield. The two struggled for position, leaving John unable to throw out any spell safely as they twisted side to side. The Warden put her second foot back on the ground bracing herself against the creature to try and hold them both still and offer a clean opening. The boss entangling itself with her to keep her in place also gave her some measure of control over it, as long as it refused to let her go.

As she wrestled against the abomination, she heard The Gamer running through the water at her side. She glanced over, finding him prepared to dive into the melee. He’d stored away his staff, drawing the spare knife Ela had convinced him to keep strapped on his leg.

“My hammer is stuck!” Moira yelled, hoping John would understand.

He nodded, shifting his focus downwards as his companion yanked her shield arm back, causing the monster to twist to the side and expose the spot where her weapon was stuck. With Moira holding the boss as still as she could, The Gamer slid in low, jamming his knife into its side underneath her hammer, dragging it across the hammer’s head to try and scrape the squirming sinews off.

The Flesh that Hunts had incredible regeneration, enough that Moira could see it reforming almost as quickly as John was cutting into it, but at least that meant that it was focused around his knife instead of her hammer. She sang a silent prayer in her head, calling upon the Lady for strength as she renewed her fight against the creature. At the same time, The Gamer detonated another of his [Lesser Air Bursts] on the monster’s back, now that he could cast it safely.

Slowly, she felt bone and flesh begin to give way, the sizzling of holy magic becoming more and more audible as her hammer started to break through.

An amber glow flared across John’s arm. “Now!”

As The Gamer shouted, a spike of concrete shot from the floor at the foot of the monster, ripping into its chest right below his knife. As the abomination recoiled, John tore his knife out, slashing open as wide a wound as he could for Moira to capitalize on.

The Warden wasted no time, bracing her foot on the ground and twisting. Golden light leaked from the hole in the boss’ side, liquid blue weeping from the shredded flesh. With all her might, she pulled, her entire body tense with effort. The popping and snapping she heard this time was not the building, but the monster in front of her.

“RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!” Moira roared as she ripped her hammer free, taking a chunk of the creature’s chest with it, which quickly shriveled and burned away.

The monster seized up for a moment, then flailed around wildly, letting go of the Warden so that it could shove both her and John away as it stumbled backwards, blue and gold running down from the new hole in its chest. Its body was attempting to stitch itself back together, but the effort was clearly getting to it, as even the writhing sinews were now sluggish and weak.

“You alright?” The Gamer asked, running over to stand next to his companion.

“Much better now,” Moira said, watching as the last traces of undead flesh across her arms and armor melted away, leaving her once more a pristine paladin.

As they both stepped forwards to attack again, the creature turned to face them again, then punched one of its own hands into the wound on its chest, seizing a fistful of meat and liquid mana and scattering it across the floor between them. Where it landed, crystals of ice erupted, a makeshift wall of spikes that drove the pair backwards. Then, the creature turned and bolted into the darkness, smashing its way through a section of wall and off into the hospital.

John activated his eyes, trying to track the creature by traces of mana, but another rumble shook the building - stronger this time, nearly enough to knock him off his feet. As he caught himself, Ela slid down through the hole in the ceiling behind them, splashing down and immediately rolling to get back to her feet with her axe drawn.

“We’re alright,” The Gamer said, turning to her, “but it just ran off.”

The Bookworm Knight looked between the two for a moment, sizing up their injuries. “I do not think we have enough time to climb back out of here. This building is coming down.”

“Suggestions?” Moira asked, the faintest hint of panic coloring her voice.

“Uh… If I’m oriented right, the opening we were talking about before should be that way,” John said hurriedly, pointing and looking around for a door. “We can try to run for a window or something, anything to get out of this **** trap.”

“There, a door!” Moira said, gesturing one way with her hammer, lit like a torch with her magic.

Immediately, the trio ran off, the building shaking and snapping all around them. Collapse was imminent.

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