For a moment that stretched into an eternity, they were frozen, mesmerized by the grotesque horror illuminated in the flashlight's beam. The Tunnel Sludge—a name Kai's mind supplied with dreadful certainty—pulsed in the light, its dozen milky eyes blinking with a slow, alien rhythm. The gurgling sound intensified as it began to slosh towards them, its form deforming and reforming as it scraped against the tunnel walls.
"Incredible," Ben breathed, his voice a mixture of academic fascination and pure terror. "A non-carbon-based, amorphous organism. It appears to be a scavenger, an extremophile adapted to this subterranean environment. Its digestive process seems to be external..."
"Less analysis, more 'how do we kill it'!" Elara hissed, taking a half-step back.
Kai's mind was racing. His Observe skill had failed to give him a level, which meant this thing was outside the standard classification of monsters he'd encountered. It wasn't from a Rift. It was native to this place.
"We can't get past it," he stated, his voice tight. "And we can't go back. We fight."
The Sludge was picking up speed, its advance now a determined, hungry surge. A pseudopod of gelatinous flesh lashed out, slapping against the concrete wall a dozen feet ahead of them. The spot it touched sizzled, a puff of acrid smoke rising from the concrete.
Acidic. The swordsman's echo supplied the tactical observation coolly. Do not allow contact.
"Ben, keep the light steady on it! Don't let it get out of the beam!" Kai commanded. He raised his shield, the metal feeling woefully inadequate against a creature made of living acid. "I'm going to test its defenses."
"Kai, don't!" Elara cried out.
But he was already moving. He ran forward along the narrow walkway, his boots splashing in the shallow, murky water. He stopped just out of the creature's reach and thrust the cavalry saber into its quivering mass.
The effect was disgusting and completely useless. The blade sank into the grayish flesh with a wet squelch, meeting almost no resistance. It was like stabbing a giant, thick jellyfish. When he pulled the saber back, the hole he'd made simply sealed itself with a gurgling sigh. The creature didn't even seem to notice.
It retaliated. Another pseudopod, this one larger, shot out towards him. Kai brought his shield up just in time. The acidic slime splattered against the metal with a sound like frying bacon. The shield held, but the spot where the slime hit began to smoke and discolor, the metal groaning in protest. The corrosive force was terrifying.
He scrambled back, his heart pounding. "Physical attacks don't work!" he yelled, his eyes darting over the creature's form, searching for anything, any kind of weak point.
"Its nucleus!" Ben shouted, his voice high with a sudden realization. He was pointing the flashlight beam at a specific spot deep within the creature's body. "Look! In the center! It must keep its core internal for protection!"
Kai followed the beam. Ben was right. Suspended in the murky depths of the gelatinous body, Kai could just make out a darker, more solid-looking mass, about the size of a basketball. It pulsed with a faint, internal light, like a dying ember.
That had to be it.
The problem was, it was buried under at least three feet of corrosive ooze.
"I can't reach it!" Kai shouted back over the creature's gurgling advance.
"Displace the biomass!" Ben yelled, sounding more like a frantic professor than a survivor. "You need to make it expose the core!"
The Sludge surged forward again. Kai met it with his shield, the metal screaming as more acid ate at its surface. He was being pushed back, his boots slipping on the wet walkway.
"How?!" he roared, the heat from the corroding shield washing over his face.
"I don't know! A concussive force? A chemical reaction? Fire?"
Fire.
The word sparked an idea. They didn't have a flamethrower. But they had something that created heat and a chemical reaction. Elara's pack.
"Elara! The spray can!" he yelled, his arms trembling from the strain of holding the monster back. "The hairspray! And the lighter!"
Her eyes went wide with understanding. She ripped her pack off and fumbled inside, her hands shaking. She pulled out the aerosol can and the small plastic lighter.
"Throw them to me!" Kai yelled.
She tossed them. The can clattered on the walkway next to him. He kicked it with his foot, then snatched the lighter from the air. He couldn't use both his hands.
"Ben! On my mark, get ready to run!" Kai grunted, planting his feet. He took a deep breath. "Elara! When I move, grab the can!"
He shoved with all his might, his Strength stat lending him power. The Sludge gave way for a split second, and Kai lunged to the side, away from the walkway. He dropped to one knee, holding the shield as his only defense.
"Now!"
Elara darted forward, snatched the can, and scrambled back to Ben's position. The Sludge, its path momentarily clear, ignored Kai and began to ooze towards the other two.
"Ben, keep the light on its core!" Kai shouted. He flicked the lighter, a tiny, precious flame springing to life. "Elara, when I say, spray the flame! Aim for the front of it!"
"This is insane!" she screamed, but she aimed the can, her thumb on the nozzle.
"Spray now!"
She pressed down. A long, hissing jet of aerosol shot out, passing through the lighter's flame and igniting into a roaring plume of fire. The makeshift flamethrower engulfed the front of the Tunnel Sludge.
The creature reacted instantly. It let out a horrific, gurgling shriek, its entire body convulsing violently. The gelatinous flesh pulled back and away from the intense heat, contracting in on itself.
And for a single, breathtaking moment, the dark, pulsating core was exposed near the creature's surface.
Kai didn't wait. He lunged forward, ignoring the searing heat. He raised the saber high, the swordsman's echo guiding his arm in a perfect, powerful downward thrust. He poured all his strength into the attack.
The blade plunged deep into the exposed core.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, the core fractured, spiderweb cracks of brilliant blue light spreading across its dark surface. The Sludge let out one last, bubbling scream as the light erupted from within, tearing its amorphous body apart from the inside out. It didn't dissolve into particles like the Rift monsters. It simply collapsed, its corrosive flesh neutralizing into a vast pool of inert, murky water that washed over the tunnel floor, carrying the bones and debris with it.
Floating where the core had been was a single, milky-white orb, pulsing with a gentle, cool light.
Kai stood panting in the sudden silence, his shield half-melted, his ears ringing. He had won.
[You have slain a Level 6 Tunnel Sludge.]
[XP Gained: 150]
`[XP: 370/600]