Symbiotic: Chapter 6

The second Constrictor’s body scraped against stone as it entered, eyes glinting in the dim light. Sara gripped her punch dagger, her bat laying on the ground beside her where she had dropped it, but the cave was too narrow, the walls too close. There was no room for wide arc swings, no space for the Power Swing that had saved her so many times.

Her stomach tightened. "I can’t use the bat in here. And I sure as hell don’t want to get close enough for a dagger. I need something to keep them at a distance, and stay away from those coils... Something like..."

The System answered her desperation.

[Create Advanced Object Activated] Item Created: Mycorrhizal Spear. Effect: Body (Force +1 | Speed +1)

[Cost: 200 Microbes. Remaining Network 366 of 666]

Silver threads wove together in her hands, stretching into a long, slender shaft tipped with a sharp fungal blade. The weapon shimmered faintly, dark green fibers laced with silver veins, and a brutally sharp silver tip that felt like it cut the very air as it moved. A spear. Perfect for tight quarters, perfect for keeping predators at a distance

The Rock Constrictor lunged, coils rippling. Sara darted sideways, thrusting the spear at an angle. The tip pierced between scales, sinking deep. The serpent hissed, recoiling, but she pressed the attack, stabbing again and again, each strike angled to slip past its armor.

She barely had time to pull the spear free before another Constrictor slid into the cave, drawn by the sounds of battle. Her muscles screamed, but she shifted her stance, spear held low. The serpent struck, and she sidestepped, driving the weapon upward into its throat. The blade tore through vines and stone-like flesh, spores glowing faintly with each thrust.

The cave echoed with hissing and the sharp crack of spear against scale. Sara darted around the confined space, stabbing at angles, never letting the serpent coil around her. Finally, with a last desperate lunge, she drove the spear through its skull, pinning it against the cave wall until it shuddered and fell still.

*Ding* [Your party has killed a Rock Constrictor x2]

400 Experience being divided evenly among your party.

Error: Party size (667) exceeds limit. Negligible experience gained.

Current Experience to next level: 5.95 of 250]

Sara staggered back, chest heaving, spear slick with sap and blood. The bat lay forgotten on the cave floor, too clumsy for this enclosed fight. The spear was her salvation now, a weapon born of necessity and precision, and the stat boost it granted made her movements sharper, faster, more decisive.

She wiped sweat from her brow, eyes flicking to the cave entrance. The timer still ticked in her vision.

[Quest Timer: 50:37 Remaining]

And she knew more serpents were coming. IT appeared the System was going to send her new foes every 5 minutes, whether she was ready for them or not. So she better be ready. The defense had only just begun. Even as she had the thought, she saw TWO Rock Serpent heads racing through the cave entrance. Great!, she thought, now they are coming two at a time!

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Sara’s arms trembled as she pulled her spear free from the last Rock Constrictor, its body collapsing in a heap of shale-like scales. The cave floor was slick with brown blood and shattered shale, littered with corpses that reeked of battle. Thankfully, she had figured out how to disable the System Kill notifications popping up and blocking her vision after the last one nearly got her killed. She barely had time to breathe before the next wave slithered in. Two Constrictors, their massive bodies sliding over the remains of their fallen kin.

She braced herself, spear angled, but the fight was brutal. One serpent’s fangs sank into her arm, another coiled around her leg, crushing until bone threatened to snap. Pain flared white-hot, her vision swimming, but she forced herself to stab again and again until both predators fell limp.

Her leg buckled beneath her, useless. She gasped, forcing the spores to surge.

[Ability Activated: Repair Self]

[Cost: 50 Microbes. Remaining Network 316 of 666]

Wounds Restored. Mobility Recovered.

Strength returned, but she knew she couldn’t keep fighting like this without more protection. Her network hummed, and she made her choice.

[Create Advanced Object Activated] Item Created: Mycorrhizal Shield Effect: +2 Defense]

[Cost: 200 Microbes. Remaining Network 116 of 666]

A shimmering shield formed in her hand, fungal fibers weaving into a sturdy barrier laced with silver veins. Relief washed over her, but the cost was steep.

[Remaining Network: 116 of 666]

Dangerously low. Risky, as it put her below the requirement amount to Regrow. But Regrowth would save her, it would lose her chance at that Safety Token. Plus, she had bodies to absorb if she could find the time.

The next wave came quickly, two more Constrictors. This time, with spear and shield together, Sara fought with precision. She blocked crushing coils, stabbed at angles, and kept her footing. When both serpents fell, she stood tall, battered but not broken.

[Skill Acquired: Novice Spear & Shield Mastery]

The notification pulsed in her vision, and suddenly her shield and spear felt lighter, the movements smoother and less jerky. She understood how to use the shield not just to block attacks, but also block her foe from seeing the angle of her next attacks. She was evolving, adapting, becoming something sharper.

Sweat dripped into her eyes. She shoved her wet hair back, chest heaving, and glanced at the timer.

[Quest Timer: 41:00 Remaining]

Still so long to go. But she had a moment. She pressed her hand to the nearest corpses, spores spreading, and felt the surge of energy as the bodies dissolved into her network.

[Microbes Absorbed: +400. Remaining Network: 516 of 666]

The faint tinkle of crystals hitting stone echoed in the cave, but before she could reach for them, her Danger Sense screamed.

She turned, eyes widening. More movement at the cave’s mouth. Not just serpents this time.

Two Rock Constrictors slid forward, their bodies grinding against stone. And beside them, a Jungle Cat prowled, vines twisting, eyes glowing with feral hunger, ready to strike as soon as an opening presented.

Together. Coordinated.

Her stomach dropped. If a snake restrains me, the Cat will finish me. This isn’t random anymore. They’re working together.

Sara raised her spear and shield, spores glowing faintly beneath her skin.

[Warning: Combined Predator Assault Detected]

She grit her teeth, heart pounding. “Thank you, Captain Obvious!” she growled to the System announcement.

“Well… Time to get serious.”

The next wave had begun.

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The cave echoed with the hiss of serpents and the low growl of the Jungle Cat as the next wave descended. Sara gripped her Mycorrhizal Spear and Shield, the fungal silver veins pulsing faintly with her heartbeat. Two Rock Constrictors slithered in from the left, their shale bodies grinding against stone, while the Jungle Cat padded in from the right, eyes glowing green, tail lashing.

She moved fast. The first Constrictor lunged, and she sidestepped, driving her spear into its flank. The second tried to coil her legs, but she smashed it with her shield, forcing it back. The Cat leapt, claws extended, she ducked, rolled, and stabbed upward, catching it in the shoulder.

The fight was brutal. She blocked with her shield, stabbed with her spear, and danced around the cave’s narrow confines. Her robe shimmered with spores, but her body was bruised, bleeding, And she had already been forced to heal herself twice.

[Ability Activated: Repair Self x2.] [Cost: 100 Microbes. Remaining Network 416 of 666]

She was just finishing off the Jungle Cat and dodging the last Constrictor when the System chimed again.

[Quest Timer: 35:00 Remaining]

[Next Wave Incoming]

Three more predators entered, another Rock Constrictor and two Jungle Cats. Four enemies at once.

Sara’s breath caught. Her muscles screamed. She was surviving, but was falling behind. Too slow.

She fought like a cornered animal, using every trick she’d learned. She slammed her shield into the serpents, forcing them to recoil. She darted sideways, baiting the Cats into lunging past each other. She stabbed at angles, never staying still.

But the damage piled up. A Cat’s claw tore through her robe. A Constrictor’s tail slammed into her ribs. She staggered, nearly falling, barely avoiding being wrapped up by a Constrictor by instead rolling into the cutting claws of a Cat. Blood coated the cavern floor.

[Ability Activated: Repair Self] Wounds Restored. Mobility Recovered.

[Cost: 50 Microbes. Remaining Network 366 of 666]

She gasped as spores surged through her body, knitting flesh, dulling pain. She fought on.

Another bite. Another coil narrowly avoided. Another claw not.

[Ability Activated: Repair Self] Wounds Restored. Mobility Recovered.

[Cost: 50 Microbes. Remaining Network 316 of 666]

She was burning through her microbes, but it was the only way to stay alive.

She smashed her shield into a Cat’s face, driving it into a Constrictor’s path. The serpent struck, confused, and she took the opening. Spear through the Cat’s chest, shield raised to block the next attack.

She moved like water, like fire, like desperation incarnate.

Finally, the last of the four collapsed, twitching, then still.

Sara stood in the center of the cave, panting, bloodied, her shield cracked, her spear slick with sap. Her robe glowed faintly, spores drifting in the air.

She checked the timer.

[Quest Timer: 30:42 Remaining]

Forty-Two seconds to rest. That’s what all her efforts had won her. Fourty-two seconds. It was nothing. But, gasping and panting and trying to shake oxygen to her heavy limbs, it felt like a day at the spa compared to what she had just endured.

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