Fear gripped each of my limbs as I stared at the pale monstrosity. I sat completely paralyzed, half bent over, only my eyes able to move. I’m not sure why, maybe my subconscious recalled how this beast just about killed me. And that it might happen again. I licked my enlarged front teeth, ice filling my veins.

  NO! Remember why you came up here! Just mimic it and get the hell out. That’s it! But even with my reasoning, my body didn’t want to listen to reason. It wanted to stay alive. And it deemed moving to be the quickest way to that end, so still I stayed.

  Hmph.

  It breathed out loud again. But not as loudly this time. If anything, it was weak. Its shallow breaths flowed across the floor, its heavy stench curling my nose. It smelled just like the mountain of corpses back in my forest camp. The stench of death.

  My eyes focused and cleared up, allowing me to actually examine the boss. Fresh scars littered its body, blood seeping and pooling on the ground. Thorns stuck out all over its body, and dark burns dotted its body. Some of its silvery liquid tried to staunch the flow of the blood, but it seemed to have a hard time gathering enough of it, or even raising it from the ground. Specks and splotches hopped off the ground, gaining next to no height. Some of the surrounding columns turned back into that liquid as well to aid in the recovery efforts, but it was for naught. Anymore and it would threaten to disrupt the integrity of the tower.

  The giant red stripe that ran along its back lost the majority of its color, the effect of the blood loss, perhaps. It laid on the floor of the tower, head curled up to its side, eyes closed, and somehow looking far smaller than it had when I first encountered it. The beast was still massive, not actually losing any size, but it looked…fragile. The battle with three of the strongest Laurelhaven had to offer clearly took its toll on the beast.

  Which begged the question as to where they even were. Jaren, Lirae and her husband were nowhere to be found on the current floor. They must be searching for it, knowing how close to death it is.

  Upon seeing its weakened state, the fear crippling me almost vanished in a heartbeat. I stood tall, this was my chance. Mimic it and get out.

  I activated Creature Mimicry, but nothing happened. I was still too far away. It's alright, just a few steps. Then you're done.

  But the very moment I took my first step, the pale lizard’s eyes shot open. Even in this weakened state, the red glint that pierced down to my very core was as strong as ever. Or for that second at least. It closed its eyes again, using what was left of its remaining strength to pick up its massive head.

  This time, both eyes stared at me, the red glint as ferocious as ever. It still acknowledged the challenge it had given at our first meeting. It meant to keep that bloody promise. But looking upon the bloody and beaten boss made my stomach twist. Scales and burnt flesh fell from the beast’s body as it rose to its feet. It opened its mouth, but instead of the rows and rows of teeth it had the first time, only a dozen or so remained. Blood poured out from its missing teeth.

  This once terrifying creature, king of the raid, master of this oddly beautiful tower, reduced to this. Yet even with all of its injuries, it wished to continue our battle.

  I should just mimic it and run. That would be the smart thing. Even I could tell, by the hairs standing up on my neck, that even in this feeble state it could probably easily kill me. But…

  I cracked my neck, matching its eyes. I’m not sure why, but I needed to take this challenge head on. I took a deep breath, sucking in the air through my buck teeth. I smiled. Maybe not in this form.

  I looked around, then with a shrug shifted out of Squirrel form. Back in base form, I walked up to it, getting within the twenty-five feet mimic requirement.

  “Mind if I do this with your form? Probably the only chance I’ll have against you.”

  It snorted, almost as if it answered my request. I raised my hand, and activated mimicry once more.

  My skin tingled, as it always did with new forms. My head burned, my eyes watered. Something was wrong. My whole body wracked with pain as the mimicry went on. I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach. What’s happening?

  The pain continued for what felt like hours. Drool and snot poured out of my face, and blood dripped from my ears. Was I about to die? Did Tutor just send me to my death with this quest? I cursed at the unending suffering, until a notification popped up.

  Quest Complete! Apex Form Acquired.

  Processing…

  Error: Insufficient Competency.

  Sealing Form…

  Reptitan Form Sealed. Will Unlock at…Level 11.

  Reverting to Base Form.

  The pain vanished. I checked my status bars; I wanted to know just how close to death I came. But to my surprise, they were full. 100% on all fronts. I moved on to my form timers, to see how much time had passed.

  A minute, that was it. That agony was only a minute long. “But how?” But before I could ask another question, a fresh wave of death stink washed over me. I looked up. The boss took a step forward, leaving a bloody footprint in its wake. Apparently it was tired of waiting for me.

  I stood up, wiping the drool and snot off my face. “Shit man. I know I promised you a battle, but your form just about killed me.”

  It snorted again, answering me again. No way. I was reading too much into it. The tower shifted again. Another of Jaren’s attacks? Maybe I wasn’t going to have to fight it after all. I looked around. I was wrong, that wasn’t the shift this time. The bars and threads that interlocked and made up the walls doubled, then tripled in number as many of the columns fell into the floor. Their liquid filled up the holes left in the wall. Finally, the fluctuations halted as the wall rods stopped interlacing with each other, now tightening up, forming a solid wall. The reddish light from Len’s flames died out as the room became dark, the walls, floors and ceiling completely blocking out the light.

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  Dark Vision activated. The outside world had been blocked out. It was just me and the boss in this silver room.

  I couldn’t help but scoff. “Heh, had to make a boss arena for us. How cliché.”

  It snorted again. I tilted my head. It's answered three times now. Starting to feel like a pattern.

  A loud bang rocked the walls behind the boss. Then another on my side. Jaren and company, most likely. If this was the only part of the tower to solidify like this, then it's a pretty dead giveaway that the boss is hiding out here. And the longer it's alive, the longer the raid takes, the more lives are lost. It needs to die.

  I shook my head, then looked at my form cooldown notifications. All but one sat under my health bar. My newest and least used form. I sighed, looking at the surrounding walls. “Well, I can at least use it without female intervention.” I grinned, shifting into Salamandras form. The strange goopy sweat began to pour from my body.

  “Let’s get this sausage party started then.”

  I ran at the boss’s side, firing off a few shots of Acidic Salvo. I aimed them up at its head, but the boss only roared, blood spewing out from its mouth. Silver liquid launched off its head, intercepting each of my shots. But that wasn’t my target. I was after that one bloody foot it had, just like my fight with the huge Reptan.

  I rushed around, shocked at how much control I had over my body. I thought running barefoot and sweaty would affect my agility, yet It felt like I was moving better than before.

  But my plan was pretty easy to see through, the boss pulled its injured foot back. It roared again, three-foot silver spikes flew from its head. I jumped away, dodging all but one of the spikes. It cut through my arm, not deep, but I felt it. I pushed forward, dodging a few more of its spikes and taking pot shots at its side.

  It managed to block most of my shots with its defensive liquid, but I saw some land true. The greenish yellow acid flowed down its side, landing right on one of its gashes. The boss screeched as the acid ate away at the inner flesh. Its metallic goop covered the wound as it flushed out the acid, giving me a chance to get closer to my target.

  But as I got close, the silver liquid formed a wall in front of the foot, blocking off any attempt at an acid shot. I felt a shiver run down my back. A Preflex! It was on the money, too. I hit the deck just in time for its massive tail to fly right over me. It stopped at the silver wall around its injured foot. I saw a burn on the side and welled some acid up in my mouth. I spat it out as I climbed up.

  The beast roared as another of its injuries melted down from my acid. I almost felt bad, you know, except for all the killing and maiming it's caused. And it did almost kill me, so maybe I shouldn’t feel pity for the thing.

  Yet as our battle went on, me spitting more and more acid all over its various wounds and it's lashing out with all of its body parts and silver liquid, I couldn’t help but feel bad. It even let me mimic it.

  As I lept away from more spikes, I caught another glimpse of the red glint in its eye. It never wavered. Its attention stayed on me. But why? Why was it so stuck on me? I felt it gnawing at me from the moment I ran from it. Did Jaren feel it too? Surely he’d have given you a better challenge.

  A spike flew into my left forearm, not a glancing blow this time. The spike dug in and got stuck. I backed away, hiding behind one of the few columns left in the room. I pulled it out. Blood mixed with my sweat before I covered it. “Damn it.” I peeked around the column. I looked up and saw the ceiling had a few holes in it, small ones, but enough to let light through. Dark Vision off.

  The once pale white boss was now covered in a myriad of colors. Red blood, black burns, green thorns, and my yellowish acid painted the boss. Yet it wouldn’t go down. I needed to make a decisive blow.

  The pain subsided from my arm. I looked down and saw that the Protective Mucus had activated on its own, covering the hole in my arm. It didn’t cover my whole arm this time however, only around the forearm, leaving my hand free. It was like a mucus made gauntlet.

  I stood up and walked around the column. The boss, towering above me, turned right at me. He opened his mouth, roaring again, spitting blood around its jaw. A lot of the wounds along its body had healed to a degree, all but the wounds in its mouth. I nodded. That was my target.

  I rushed forward again, attacking like I was going for his foot once more. The silver wall erected around the foot as a few more spikes showered near it. But I stopped in my tracks, turning back to its front. I welled up acid in my mouth.

  It whipped its tail at me, but I saw it coming and hopped, just high enough to get over it. It stopped its tail midair once it saw the attack missed. Yet, I jumped back up, landing on its tail. I whipped me up, bringing me higher in the air. I lept once I was above its head.

  I fell toward my target. The boss opened his mouth with a cry. Death stench covered my entire body, almost making me gag in the air. But I needed to hold on just a bit more.

  As I fell closer and closer to its gaping maw, I filled my mouth with as much acid as I possibly could, to the point my cheeks hurt from how stretched out they were. The Gexen’s mouth shut when I got close, its few remaining teeth bared down on me. But I shoved my mucus covered hand into them just in time. The pain was excruciating as the immense pressure from its teeth bore down on my forearm. But with the help of Protective Mucus, it held up.

  I breathed in through my nostrils as deep as I could muster, then spewed all the acid out of my mouth. I covered every inch of the boss’s mouth with the burning liquid. The smell of death mixing with my acid made the most abhorrent reek imaginable. I think it forced me to vomit even more acid.

  The beast flung its head to the side, throwing me away and into one of the side walls. I smashed into it, the pain forcing all the air from my lungs. I hit the floor with a thud. My vision blurred as I tried to look up at the boss. My health bar blinked red, the first time I’d seen it do that in a long while. If that didn’t work, then I was done for. The floor rumbled beneath me, slow steady quakes. It was walking up to me. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t listen yet.

  I wiped my eyes, trying to fix them, but it wasn't working. The world was still blurry, but I could make out the boss’s silhouette waking up to me. “Shit. Shit!”

  My hands tried to push off the ground, I even tried to crawl away, but nothing was working. The small rumbles of the Gexen’s footsteps ceased, it sat right in front of me.

  “No! Not YET!” I yelled, flinging my hands around. Until my vision cleared up.

  I looked up at the boss. Its lower jaw was gone, left behind as it walked up to me. Blood and flesh fell from the roof of its mouth. Its red stripe was completely gone now, its tail dragged across the ground. I looked up into its eyes. The red glint was gone, now replaced with a blank stare. Until it looked down at me. There was no pain or challenge anymore, just acceptance. It had lost. Yet maybe something else too. If only Tigris was available, then I could read its aura.

  It knelt it utterly destroyed head down to me. Then a foreign thought entered my mind.

  Well fought, my L—

  You Leveled Up! Nice Going! You are now Level 6!

  You Leveled Up! Nice Going! You are now Level 7!

  You Leveled Up! Nice Going! You are now Level 8!

  You Leveled Up! Nice Going! You are now Level 9!

  The notification chimed multiple times as each level up came around, cutting off the thought before I could hear it fully.

  The boss fell to the floor, unmoving as its body disintegrated from the acid wounds.

  I won. I won… I WON! I threw a tired fist in the air.

  “What an utter waste of experience.”