Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 48%

Levi backed away from the thrashing, enraged centipede. He was breathing hard, his mana expended. Without being able to activate his blades he couldn't make much more headway against the monstrous centipede, so it was time to return his attention to overseeing those who still could deal damage. He'd made a big enough dent that he felt confident of their chances.

Between Maggie, Shadevine and Plus, and Skarm's constant attacks, combined with the lingering Dark damage Drok had left behind, the centipede's health was falling steadily now, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. Maggie's health was continuing to drop, the centipede's constant attempts to crush her coils between its back plates inflicting damage to both her and itself. Melted stone dripped from its pentagonal plates in multiple places, but that didn't seem to deter it in the least.

Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 45%

Gordon stood with his back to the wall, valiantly parrying a single pair of legs that slashed out at him seemingly of their own volition, despite the centipede's main attention being focused elsewhere. He wasn't making much headway.

Shadevine shifted his position regularly as the centipede twisted and coiled, keeping out of danger quite effectively, but Plus wasn't as mobile or fast. One chance collision with the centipede boss's back plates doubling back on itself, and the shadevine was sliced in two.

Gordon winced, but his eyes remained intent and he didn't falter. His manablade flickered on and off irregularly, his mana control worse than his stamina's, but he was moving and countering and evading instead of standing still or hiding, which Levi considered major progress.

Skarm's attacks were cut short as the centipede's flailing slammed its head and back into the stone wall that rose sheer to either side of the narrow point. His health dropped, though not by much, and he regained his footing as he fell to the ground. Centoo ran over to provide him a ramp to run up and jump back up to the larger centipede's head, too high up for Skarm to reach on his own.

The centipede saw him coming and focused its full rage onto the pair. Skarm reached up and caught a descending bladed leg between his crossed claws, squeaking angrily as he forced it away, then slashed all the way through it, showering a handful of tiny bladed sections and leaving the centipede's leg sheared off in the middle.

But it had a whole lot more than a single leg, and eight or so were slashing down into the already-injured Centoo's vulnerable back even as Skarm did his best to fend off a second.

Centoo charged forward, ignoring the rapid damage he was accruing, and twisted his head to toss Skarm back up to his position. Skarm caught his intentions and jumped with the movement, soaring above the massive centipede's head, claws extended to catch it on the back of the neck as he fell and swing himself back around.

But Centoo's inattention to his own defence proved to be his undoing. His health, already low from before, finally dropped to nothing.

"Levi?" Gordon shouted, sounding concerned.

Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 33%

"Hold on, we're getting there."

Frosty remained out of reach, her initial injury steadily healing, though her webs were less than effective against the heavy stone centipede. Maggie had just over a third of her health remaining, and Cen was at around half. Two was faring best, having taken only a single glancing hit, his strategy focusing on the distant tail and not doing enough to attract attention even as his green-and-orange-glowing weapon inflicted its corrosive Destruction and toxic Nature damage in a dozen spots across the centipede's body.

Levi hadn't seen Flomper in a while, so she was probably either dead or continuing to attack from underneath to try and trip the centipede boss. She really didn't have the best combat utility. Levi hadn't seen her do more than minimal damage to anything since she'd joined the team. It seemed singularly frustrating for her to be so consistently stuck-up while contributing the least.

Levi sighed and backed further down the crevice toward the exit door. He knew he was trapping himself if the centipede boss got it in its head to come after him, but for the moment it seemed fully distracted. Bracing himself against the wall, he swallowed another mana restorative. He felt a moment of instinctive fear as sight, sound, and touch all dissolved into white noise, leaving him completely blind to the world and entirely vulnerable. Doing this in a combat situation without someone to specifically watch over you was a dangerous gamble, but he didn't see any other way to victory.

Sensation returned with a searing pain through his stomach, and Levi gasped as he blinked away the mana afterimages and found himself face-to-face with the centipede boss's furious eyes. Four of its bladed legs were buried in his body, another three raised to strike.

Levi slashed out with both blades, mana pulsing through in panicked overdrive, slicing free the legs that impaled him on the left with Destructive Slash, severing those on the right with a Beast Bite, then he threw himself backwards and away before the other legs could come down on him.

His health was dropping fast, and his breathing shuddered unsteadily with the physical obstructions still embedded in his chest and stomach. He didn't have time to pull out the legs, the centipede was continuing to charge, remaining legs blurring as they stabbed forward, its weight threatening to crush him.

It must have recognized him as one of the most dangerous opponents.

"Levi!" Gordon shouted, slashing out with his own sword, all the way back at the centipede's middle section. The crevice was too tight for him to reach Levi even if he were fast enough.

But not Frosty. She dropped down in front of him, spitting web straight into the centipede's face, across its leg joints, then stabbed out with her own crystalline legs as she fell, slicing another narrow gouge into the centipede's savaged and exposed chest.

Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 12%

It bought Levi a second to gain ground, and he hastily pulled out the centipede leg from his lung and pulled health to the injury, drawing it dangerously low, but easing his breathing. He jumped back into the fray, confidence returning. His mana was still nearly full, and despite his low health the centipede was in much worse condition.

They could do this.

He found he was laughing again, the sharp vibrancy of near-death desperation slowing the world as he seemed to see everything in perfect clarity.

Levi twisted away from two more attacking limbs, severing a third with a Destructive Slash, then stabbed deep into the centipede's exposed chest with a Beast Bite that left it twitching and spasming. He must have finally reached something vital, if monsters even had vitals. Some did, some didn't, and it seemed entirely random as to which was which.

He yanked the sword out, trailing chunks of grey flesh in its wake, then parried another leg and jumped over a fifth. Adrenaline and stamina sang through his body, the combination allowing him to move and react faster than any ordinary human. For a moment, he felt invincible.

Then his stamina ran out. He was still only level 12, and he couldn't maintain this fighting peak for more than a minute before draining himself completely.

He stumbled as another slash cut through his armor and into his leg, his body unable to move as fast as his mind required, his automatic mental prediction models of the fight faltering as he fell.

Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 7%

So close.

Cen dropped from the wall onto the centipede's head, clawing at its eyes, then dropped to coil protectively around Levi, forming his half-bunker and buying him time to recuperate.

Levi didn't dare risk a stamina restorative with his health this low, he couldn't afford to cripple his regens, but he did swallow a health restorative, falling as complete weakness overcame him. He caught himself with his longsword and landed on one knee, panting and unsteady. His heart raced desperately as Cen's health fell in rapid succession, wondering if he'd be back on his feet before his protector fell.

The weakness passed, the lower level elixirs taking less of a toll than later on.

"Get clear!" Levi shouted to Cen, but they both knew it was too late for that. Cen disregarded his suggestion, uncoiling as Levi stood, and rearing up to his full height to sparkle defiantly right in the boss's face.

It wasn’t enough. The boss’s resistance was too high for the petrify effect to get through, and Cen dropped in a lifeless half-curl as the boss’s blades slammed down.

Level 3+

(Stone Centipede)

Health 4%

“I’m not letting you out of this that easy,” Levi growled. “You’re going to have plenty of time to make up for what you’ve done.”