The Corpse-Guzzler, now adorned with its new, grotesque limb, began dragging itself toward the third security guard's body. Each movement was a wet, sloppy sound that echoed in the cavernous lobby. Leo knew, with the cold certainty of System-infused logic, that they had to act now. If it consumed all the guards, if it sprouted more limbs and absorbed who-knows-what from their equipment and biology, it might become an entirely different class of threat.
"We can't fight that thing," Evelyn whispered, her voice tight with panic. "Look at it. It's a giant ball of meat."
"We don't have to kill it," Leo whispered back, his eyes darting around the ruined lobby, his mind a frantic catalog of assets and obstacles. "We just have to get past it. We need a distraction. A big one."
His gaze fell upon the wreckage of the main entrance. The heavy, armored-glass panels of the revolving doors had been shattered, but the central motorized column was still partially intact. A thick, armored power conduit snaked out of the floor and into the mechanism.
Electricity. A classic.
This was a job for his new skill. He closed his eyes for a second, focusing on his intent. He imagined a tool. He pictured the heavy-duty rubber-handled wire cutters from his main workshop. He felt his MP bar dip by a significant chunk, and the new skill activated.
[Improvise Tool (Lvl 1)] activated. Insufficient high-quality materials for 'Wire Cutters'. Suggesting alternative: 'Makeshift Prying Shears'. Proceed? Y/N]
It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. "Yes," he muttered.
He pulled two of the thick, flat, metal support struts from the wreckage of a nearby information kiosk. They were about two feet long each. He overlapped the ends, then wrapped the join point with a long strip of rubber he tore from a floor mat, creating a crude handle and a hinge. He felt the System guide his hands, reinforcing the makeshift joint with a faint blue energy. In his hands, he now held a crude, but functional, pair of giant shears. They felt solid.
The Corpse-Guzzler had just reached the third body. Time was running out.
"I have an idea," Leo breathed to Evelyn. "It's going to be loud. The second you see it react, run for the parking garage stairwell. Don't look back."
"What are you going to do?"
"Create a health and safety violation," he replied, a grim smile touching his lips.
He left their cover behind the toppled logo and began to move, not towards the monster, but in a wide arc along the edge of the lobby. He was a shadow flitting between overturned planters and piles of debris. His Agility was a revelation; he moved with a swift, silent confidence that was entirely alien to the clumsy janitor he used to be.
The Corpse-Guzzler was completely absorbed in its meal, its circular maw working rhythmically. It didn't notice him.
Leo reached the ruined main entrance. He knelt beside the thick, armored power conduit. It was as thick as his wrist. He positioned his improvised shears around the cable. It took all his strength to close the handles. The metal of the shears groaned in protest, and the rubber grip dug into his palms.
With a final, desperate grunt, the sharp edges of the struts bit through the cable's outer casing.
VWOMP!
An explosive arc of brilliant blue-white electricity erupted from the severed cable. The raw power of the building's main grid discharged into the surrounding metal wreckage of the doorframe. The air crackled, the smell of ozone filled the lobby, and a dozen small fires ignited simultaneously.
The Corpse-Guzzler shrieked, a sound like tearing fabric mixed with a high-pitched squeal. The sudden flash and deafening boom were a massive sensory shock. It recoiled from its meal, its entire slug-like body writhing in agitation.
"NOW!" Leo roared over the electrical hum.
Evelyn burst from cover, sprinting across the open lobby. The monster's head swiveled, its attention momentarily torn between the terrifying electrical storm and the new, fast-moving target.
It chose Evelyn. Its instincts screamed that fleeing prey was more important than a static hazard.
It began to move, pulling its immense bulk in her direction. It was faster than it looked, its new limb digging into the marble for leverage. It was going to intercept her.
Leo's shears, their purpose fulfilled, dissolved into motes of blue light. He was already moving, his spear—his trusty broken broom handle—in hand. He wasn't going to make it in time for a direct confrontation. He needed to stop it, not just fight it.
His eyes landed on a fire extinguisher that had been knocked off the wall, lying on its side. An idea, born of desperation and a deep understanding of pressurized chemicals, struck him.
He activated [Mop Up]. But he didn't target a liquid. He targeted the extinguisher's pressure gauge, the most vulnerable point.
Nothing happened. The System flashed a red notification in his vision. [Target must be in a liquid state.]
Fine! Plan B!
He grabbed the fire extinguisher. It was a CO2 model, heavy and cold to the touch. He ran, not at the monster itself, but at the path ahead of it. As the Corpse-Guzzler slid forward, he pulled the pin on the extinguisher, squeezed the handle, and aimed the nozzle at the marble floor directly in front of the creature.
An immense, freezing white cloud of carbon dioxide blasted out, instantly coating the smooth marble in a thick layer of slick, frosty dry ice.
The Corpse-guzzler slid right onto the patch of frozen floor. Its dozens of small, spindly legs lost all purchase. It was like a slug hitting a skating rink. Its forward momentum carried it, but it lost all control, sliding sideways and crashing heavily into a marble support pillar. It let out another furious, frustrated shriek.
The move had bought Evelyn the crucial two seconds she needed. She reached the stairwell door and wrenched it open, disappearing inside.
Now it was just Leo and the monster.
The Corpse-Guzzler scraped its new bone-limb against the pillar, trying to get traction. It was recovering quickly. Leo knew he couldn't kill it. It was too big, and its healing factor would make any small wound meaningless. But he didn't need to kill it. He just needed to get away.
He backpedaled, keeping his eyes locked on the monster. It finally pushed off the pillar and began to crawl towards him again, its maw opening wide.
Leo had one more janitorial trick up his sleeve. His most powerful one.
As the creature lunged, he focused on the slick, black trail of slime it was leaving behind it—a thick, viscous mucus that allowed it to move smoothly. He thrust his hand out.
[Mop Up]!
He felt a massive, powerful pull on his mana. His MP bar dropped by half in a single, gut-wrenching moment. He wasn't just targeting a puddle; he was targeting the creature's entire slime trail, all at once.
The mucus membrane coating the marble floor vanished.
The effect on the Corpse-Guzzler was catastrophic. Its entire method of locomotion was based on gliding over its own slime. Without it, its soft, fleshy underbelly was scraping directly against the hard, unforgiving marble floor.
It was the equivalent of ripping the tires off a moving car. The creature ground to a halt with a horrible, wet tearing sound. Its momentum caused it to accordion into itself, its body ripping and tearing open on the rough, shattered floor. It was grievously wounded, its own movement turned against it. It roared in agony, unable to move forward, its body effectively glued to the dry floor by friction and its own immense weight.
Leo didn't wait to see if it would recover. He turned and sprinted for the stairwell, diving through the door just as the creature managed to rip a chunk of its own flesh free to start moving again. He slammed the heavy metal door shut behind him.
He stood in the darkness of the stairwell, his back against the door, listening to the enraged, wounded thumps of the monster on the other side. He was breathing hard, his body screaming with exhaustion, but he was alive. Evelyn was safe.
Evelyn was standing a few steps down, her hand over her heart. "A fire extinguisher? And… what did you do at the end?"
"Professional-grade floor stripping," Leo gasped, a wild, adrenaline-fueled grin on his face. He checked his inventory. He'd lost the makeshift shears and the fire extinguisher was empty, but he had something new. The System had rewarded his non-lethal, tactical takedown.
[XP GAINED: +500 XP for incapacitating a higher-level enemy.]
[Loot generated due to environmental interaction: (1) Preserved Corpse-Guzzler Slime Sample.]
No level up, but a hefty chunk of XP. He looked at the new item in his inventory. It was a vial of the very slime he had just mopped up, a perfect, uncontaminated sample. A super-lubricant, perhaps? Or a powerful adhesive? Another tool for another problem.
The thumping from behind the door subsided. It was probably healing, or had given up. For now, they were safe.
"Come on," Leo said, his breathing finally evening out. "Let's go find that breaker room. We have a security office to crack open."
They descended into the gloom of the parking garage, the air growing colder, the scent of gasoline and old exhaust replacing the smells of blood and ozone from the lobby above. Their journey into the guts of the building was about to begin.