The Bizarro Sentinel, a Beast of Nightmare capable of spewing hordes of mind-scattering bugs. A creature that lacked a proper source of origin, much like many other malevolent entities across the lands.
Yet, despite that fact, the legends of the land say that, alongside the other dark forces of nature, like the Great Terrors and such, these malevolent creatures were born on the "Dawn of the Black Eclipse" thousands of years ago, which marked the first and last time in all of the Almighty Dream's history that a High Sovereignty had "died".
Their body, upon demise, unleashed a wave of Abstract Essence that spanned entire countries, and divulged into many aberrations that spread across the lands, and eventually created the "Deathdrake Citadel", now called, the "Home of All Monsters".
And, in that land of darkness and filth, the size of an entire continent, where even Saints don't dare venture into, the Bizarro Sentinels were seen as plague nests that continuously lived and reproduced, until the Mindscatter Bugs, once having eaten enough, matured into more and more Bizarro Sentinels, fuelling an endless cycle.
And, with how this particular Bizarro Sentinel unleashed its bellow and swarmed the small cavern with treacherous bugs, it was no wonder why they were seen as such.
Following the summoning of bugs, the Bizarro Sentinel then waved its hands and a strange, purplish liquid started to emerge from small crevices in the cavernous walls.
"Filth shall eat flesh!" The creature declared in an otherworldly tongue before the liquid started to form into large orbs of floating mass.
Michael's eyes widened, as he yelled:
"Avoid its attack! It's summoned balls of miasmic liquid!"
Felix and Scott shook their heads in return, and they prepared themselves. The chittering Mindscatter Bugs were waiting eerily for the moment to pounce on them, and it took only the pointing of a crooked, foul finger for it to commence.
The bugs charged at the trio, paired with the floating balls of miasma. But thankfully, the three of them were not overwhelmed by fear, and they gracefully managed to avoid the miasma-infected water.
Despite the reputation that such evil entities upheld, comparable to actual demons in terms of destruction and evil, some of them were not comparable at all, especially with the knowledge of their shortcomings, such as this creature's abnormal body structure making it unable to properly defend itself.
"I'll clear the way!" Felix said, slicing through the bug horde to the best of his ability, "Try to kill it!"
Michael and Scott looked at each other and charged forth, using Felix as cover to make it through the bug horde, and Scott made the first attack on the Sentinel's body, hitting the creature's leg with a flaming fist.
Yet, the Sentinel remained mostly unharmed, through the biological resilence of a tough, fleshy body.
"Scott! You need to pierce it! It won't get hurt through blunt force!" Michael yelled as he slashed at another one of the creature's legs.
The Bizarro Sentinel wailed in response, and in retaliation, tore a large stalactite the size of a human from the top of the cavern, and struck down with it, close to killing Michael in an instant.
"Shit, that almost caught me…" Michael murmured, feeling the rocky ground beneath him tremble, before shouting, "…Scott, watch out, they're coming!"
Scott, who had been momentarily startled, quickly turned around and saw a swarm of bugs zoning in on him from far away. He ignited his fist once again with his bloodied hand but suddenly felt as if it was too weak to defend him properly.
With the power of this Arcane Mark, I should be able to deal with these things easily, right? Then, why don't I try this?!
Scott picked up a small, sharp rock and coated it with his blood, before igniting it instead. Or trying to, anyway. However, the tremors coming from underneath, combined with the muffled sounds of a nearby underground river alerted him of another threat and halted what he was about to try out.
"Crap…" Scott mumbled, before turning to the incoming swarm and just whacking them away with his fists.
"Hah… this isn't that hard at all!" Scott grinned, before wiping the few bugs out. He then turned back to Michael and caught the moment he fully sliced one of the Sentinel's legs off of its body after a few tries, causing the creature to wail again. Scott muttered:
"What the… he's that capable?"
"Hey, focus!" Felix called out. Meanwhile, he had made a large web out of his string ball, which he used to easily ensnare and kill the bugs with his dagger.
Scott raised his thumb and proceeded back to go and help Michael. However, he was stopped in his tracks by a large fracture in the ground, originating from the embedded stalactite that opened it up to the untouched flow of water underneath.
Damn it, damn it! Scott clamoured in his thoughts, I'm ruining things, so snap out of it!
Scott shook his head ferociously and leapt towards the ground that had yet to crumble, regaining his footing successfully. And then, he looked for a way to help the other two, which came to him in the form of the Bizarro Sentinel's wounded leg.
"…There's no time to think…!" Scott yelled, pushing his hand out and initiating the transmutation of a different "subject".
And then, with some delay, his attempt at another subject's transmutation succeeded, causing a blazing crimson flame to combust out of the creature's blood. That fire quickly overtook its body and was accompanied by Michael's vicious sword attacks and Felix's distractions.
But, the clear path to kill the creature failed, when the ground underneath them fully collapsed, sending them all on a short trip down into separate parts of the underground river below.
***
The flow of the river rushed towards the deeper end of the caverns, leading directly to the entrance of the monster nest itself, a "danger zone" that only the most experienced adventurers would know how to survive.
And Scott, who was now swimming against the current for his life, felt that he was about to enter such a place, that would lead to an early demise.
"Ha… ha… HELP!" Scott cried out, though nobody seemed to be around to hear him. But, as he was pulled by the current, his right leg, fortunately for him, was ensnared by an underwater root.
"…Phew. What a disaster…" Scott murmured, "I need to find Michael and Felix, quickly…"
The river's current pulled him deeper, yet, for some reason it felt like the underwater root was also pulling at his leg as if it were alive. And then, he caught sight of a Mindscatter Bug nearby.
"…One of those bugs…? …Then… what's pulling on my leg?" Scott murmured, almost too afraid to ask.
Scott looked down and squinted his eyes, peering into the water, and was startled to see a strange, fleshy mass had gotten a hold of him instead.
It was indeed the Bizarro Sentinel, deformed due to its already abnormal body, heavily injured and still bleeding. But it was still alive.
It also seemed smaller than before at first, but it rose out of the river slowly, one of the rootlike growths of its body still attached to Scott and yanking him into the deformed hand of the creature, revealing itself before it bellowed in his face.
"Shown to us, the Eternal Night and its "dark" scent. Let us kill you, and consume the flesh for power."
"Fuck… fuck off!" Scott's voice unleashed from the top of his lungs in defiance. At the moment, his fist couldn't ignite, leaving him mere seconds away from instant death.
But at least he had more time to admire what could be his final moments, due to the creature's injuries making it sluggish.
At that moment, Scott chuckled internally. From what he could tell, blood and fire were the "equation" for "hellish fire", and yet, even "hellish fire" was negated by the "subject", water. The "logic" he had discovered behind transmutation was too rigid to help him in this situation.
But, he also realised that, since transmutation had logic in the first place, shouldn't things that are "naturally" possible be easier to make happen?
Scott's gaze skimmed the water, and a swarm of Mindscatter Bugs approached from the orifices of the great creature, ready to feast on his flesh. He knew if this didn't work, he would die.
And so, if that was the case, he decided to do things properly. With all his might, Scott concentrated like he had never done before. And yet, it was like nothing had happened at all.
"Hah… that's it then, huh?" Scott spoke, his breath already growing fainter from fear while staring at all the bugs that had surrounded him.
But, it took a moment for him to realise that a bitter cold had shrouded the entire river, followed by the current of the river gradually freezing over, partially freezing the creature's legs as well.
And then, large ice shards instantly arose from the frozen river and stabbed through the Bizarro Sentinel multiple times in succession, finally finishing the job.
"Ha… ha…" Scott breathed, as he saw the Mindscatter Bugs drop, dead, and the monstrous hand that was holding him tight released its grip.
"Ha… ahaha… hahaha! Finally!" Scott celebrated, landing on the frozen part of the river. He had finally managed to learn another approach to transmutation—turning water into ice.
But, a much bigger problem was quickly laid ahead of him. He was alone, deep underground, with no sign of the other two. It was certain,
Scott was trapped.