• Queen Scorpion

The Queen Scorpion snapped its pedipalps as it approached with deleterious purpose. Its head twitched and crackled repeatedly in the darkness.

The pain in Spheris's leg had not subsided, rather it had gotten worse. It stung him with an excruciating pain, and he could feel an inflammation swelling on the injury.

Seeing that he was wounded, the Queen Scorpion attacked, sending its stinger at him with a brisk strike. Spheris sidestepped the magma-covered pincher and with alacrity, sent an attack of his own. The creature however, was quick enough to evade the [Shaded Blasts] and this presented a problem for Spheris. The [Blasts] was the only offensive Influence he had, and he had wished to end this battle quickly, so he could tend to his poisoned leg. 

The Queen Scorpion struck a blow with its left pincer, then another with its right. Both were gingerly averted by Spheris as the creature continued to push him deeper into one of the dark passageways.

It hissed angrily and a nauseating chipping sound continuously sang from its chelicera. Talon flew to the magma-scorpion's face, digging into its carapace with its sharp claws. This prompted the Queen Scorpion to screech out in irritation, and with a swipe of its left pedipalp, Talon went flying and crashing down on the rocky ground.

"Talon! Stay back!" Spheris cried to the bird, before returning his focus to the Queen Scorpion. It hissed and snarled, snapping its large pedipalps continuously while its lava stinger wafted above its carapace head.

They circled each other, waiting for who would strike first. Spheris had already settled on not throwing the first punch, seeing that the creature had extremely quick reflexes like he did. He orchestrated a plan in his head and waited for it to strike.

Surely enough, eventually, the Queen Scorpion shot its menacing pedipalp at Spheris, and with breakneck response, he rolled out of the way and the pedipalp struck the cave. Spheris hurriedly found his feet, and activated [Embrace Of The Dark]. With a swift motion, he sent a tendril of shadow at the creature's pedipalp, clasping it in a tight grip.

The Queen Scorpion's hollow eyes turned to horror as it glanced at its captured pedipalp and at the smirk on Spheris's face. 

He wielded the tendril as a rope and used it to swing the creature with as much force as he could, slamming it to the left wall, and then to the right. When he stopped to gather his breath, he heard it hiss and chip faintly. It was still alive.

And so he mustered up his strength once again and swung the magma-scorpion crashing to the left wall, and then once again, to the right. When he stopped, the creature was dead silent. Now, there was no hissing, no chipping, no stupid snapping of its pedipalps. 

Spheris unconjured the [Embrace Of The Dark] and with a silent groan, clasped his aching thigh. The poison had already began to spread through his leg. He could feel the scorching sensation inside of him, tearing at him as he dragged himself towards the Queen Scorpion.

It certainly looked dead. A part of its carapace had broken open, just above the lateral eyes. Spheris got closer to inspect the creature, and when he was sure it was dead, he fell to the floor and began to unbuckle his trousers. 

He groaned continuously, the burn was bitter. It felt like his skin was going to tear right through and he would roast from inside out. As he began to take off the cascadean boots, his eyes caught the tibia of one of the creature's legs move.

Spheris's [Umbric Intuition] blared, but his response wasn't fast enough. The Queen Scorpion exploded awake and jumped right on top of him, covering him with its thick carapace. Talon screeched and fluttered above while Spheris moaned in pain under the creature's spiracles. 

It chipped loudly now, and from below, he could see the pectines flare up each time it made that horrible noise. Then a new sound — one that sounded like a roar — escaped the beast as two giant sharp teeth uprooted out of its chelicera. 

Spheris let out a cry of defiance when he saw this. He was not going to survive the cold, the hunger, and the thirst, just to die to some scorpion monster. He clustered as much strength as he could, releasing his palms from the creature's heavy grasp and folded them into a fist.

With a strong channel of his Essence, Spheris conjured [Shaded Blasts] and the burst of dark energy exploded on the monster's lower carapace, hurtling it backwards and crashing onto the trenchant earth. 

He struggled to his feet as the Queen Scorpion found its. Who in their right mind would create such an annoyingly tenacious beast? It snapped its pedipalps in focused rage and hissed at him. Spheris glared back at the monster with as much focused rage as well. If it dared attack him one more time, he swore to kill it.

The Queen Scorpion could care less about his threats, he already failed to kill it once before. It charged towards him, skittering with purpose. But Spheris stood still... waiting... calculating the creature's steps. When it was close enough, it shot out its pedipalp once again at him, but Spheris had already vanished.

He [Leaped] into the shadow beneath him and fleetly [Leaped] out of the one behind the Queen Scorpion. At that moment, turning back to look at Spheris, the creature knew it had made a mistake. Spheris's fist burnt with a blackish flame and he punched right into its head, breaking through the carapace and shattering its face into arachnid parts. 

Purple blood splashed all over Spheris's face and after that was a loud engulfing silence. The only sounds were the echoes of his exhausted, furious panting.

He forced his hand out of the beast's carapace and it collapsed lifelessly to the floor. Then, Spheris let out a bleary, tired, downhearted sigh. His feet had already started to fail him when the poison finally took hold of his consciousness, causing him to fall backwards... and faint.