Our group made its way into the black smog, barely any light breaking through from above. It was suffocating, and the smell had changed. Putrid acidic rot permeated the space, following wherever the smog went. I felt my nose hair burning and my eyes watering, but I kept my gaze on the smog around us. The familiar debuff of Smog of the Swamp King appeared on our menus, reminding me that the more attacks we took, the higher possibility we could be stunned for a few seconds. Although we were stronger together, we were also louder. We had to use our number advantage when we could, and avoid getting outnumbered ourselves.

  A few of us stifled coughs, air catching in our lungs like walking and breathing at the same time was a new, difficult task. Christian paused, reaching into his bag.

  “Here, take these. It's getting worse out here.” He passed out a pack of surgical masks, which we all put on. He seemed to be unbothered by the smog, pausing before continuing onward. He was right. It had gotten worse. But Christian’s reaction made me stop. Had he been outside before? He hadn’t mentioned anything. I pushed the questions out of my mind. For now, I had a single focus. Any movement around us that could be an enemy, a monster waiting for us to go down the wrong dimly lit alleyway.

  We walked the block to Ralph’s in silence. The streets were entirely empty, unnaturally clear of people or debris. Occasionally we’d have to dodge an open manhole cover, the sound of water trickling into our ears before fading away. A few cars had been crumpled and pushed off the road, sometimes into the side of buildings. They had been crushed by some massive force as it drove down the street. The cube of Zengoth had been by. I didn’t know how recently, but our safe zone was within its route. We also passed by a few shops where people hadn’t survived. A book store had all its doors closed, a metallic shutter over the window which had been punched through, leaving a giant hole in the shutter.

  We closed in on the shutter slowly, making sure there was nothing still inside to attack us. There was nothing alive, but a few more people who were killed, their bodies in various states of decay. I didn’t look for long. They had been crushed, and the people they had been were gone. Nothing we could do. For what it's worth, if Maria and Ritesh were shocked, they didn’t show it.

  Maria had her arms slightly raised in front of her, palms outstretched and fingertips gently moving as blue essence drifted away from her, consumed into the smog. We walked between the street and the sidewalk, Christian in front with Maria behind, Ritesh in the middle, and Zahra and I in the back. Just because Maria was on the lookout didn’t mean I could slack. My heartbeat raced in my chest, and I had trouble breathing through the surgical mask. Sweat was beginning to form and drip down my forehead, heat flashing from my cheeks and neck. Nevertheless, I kept scanning the area and alleyways we passed, hoping each time I wouldn’t see an alien monster.

  What I forgot to keep track of was the ground.

  I felt a strong, thick as a pipe appendage wrap around my legs, and before I could utter a peep, I was rapidly dragged off my feet towards the street. Behind me, I heard the sound of Maria and Christian yelling, as two more distant pops could be heard away from us.

  We were all under attack, and I’d missed it.

  “Levi!” I heard Zahra yell as I landed on my ass, my hands helping to break the fall. The creature twisted, and suddenly I was on my stomach, skin dragging against the asphalt as I was pulled, nearly at the manhole. I kicked as hard as I could against the creature, but its grip was incredibly strong. In return, the beige, scale covered tentacle lifted me and then cracked down like a whip, slamming my head against the ground of the street. I felt dizzy from the shock, my health bar drifting below half.

  Fuck this.

  I felt energy well inside me as I brought my arms up into a plank, slightly lifting my legs into the air as I kicked in opposite directions, activating Force Resonance. The pressure on my legs instantly broke, and I heard the sound of ripping flesh. I hadn’t just freed myself, but severed the tentacle entirely. I leapt to my feet, seeing the tail end of the tentacle spraying yellow blood onto the street and retreating into the sewer. Whatever it was attached to was down there.

  I looked at my health, which slowly ticked back up. It would take about 20 seconds to get back to full. I heard the crackling of fire, as well as something else whipping through the air. The tentacle had pulled me far enough away that I couldn’t see the group, but I could hear them fighting off this thing too. I heard the sound of hissing and bubbling from the sewer as I must’ve done some damage. I didn’t have time to recover. I sprinted towards the only thing I could see, and jumped into the manhole, following the tentacle down into the sewer.

  I landed about 10ft down, my knees taking the shock surprisingly well as I finally got a look at what had grabbed me. The monster was about the size of a lion, standing on four legs. Three incredibly long tentacles stretched from its back, only one of which wasn’t still attacking my friends above through the manholes. It looked up and made eye contact with its massive snake head, beige scales and skin stretching over a snake-human face. I leapt forward before I could think, Its description flashed in front of me as the creature raised the injured tentacle, preparing to strike again.

  More information appeared this time, Greater Observation working at full capacity.

  Sewer Hydra, Level 1

  Class Type: Physical.

  Strength: 19

  Dexterity: 15

  Intelligence: 4

  Spirit: 10

  Health: 22

  Luck: 10

  A lonely, nasty creature. Known to stalk underground mines, these creatures hate being seen. They prefer to wait for prey to come along the entrances to their underground lairs, where they can capture a meal and quickly bring it back home. The multiple thick long tentacles along its back make this an easy task, leaving behind a dried splatter of blood where a limb was torn off, the only sign a Sewer Hydra has successfully dragged away prey. It doesn’t mind having to carry extra parts. It makes it easier to feed the newborns, after all.

  The tentacle attached to its back whipped towards me, a massive crack echoing through the sewer as the streetlight-sized appendage scraped against the ceiling above. Sparks lit the ceiling where beige scales met stone, the monster hissing as it tried to end me with a single, fearsome blow.

  The strike missed me, my body instinctively moving out of the way as I watched this thing’s every move. Dirty water sprayed the walls and the back of my hoodie, as I rushed forward. It crouched down towards me, preparing to leap on me and bite down. Long fangs protruded from its mouth, so I made sure to target them first. As the Sewer Hydra prepared to attack, I cocked my right arm back and waited for the perfect moment.

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  I barely had time to react as the snake head’s bite came towards me at lightning speed, as I let loose a full uppercut right to its stupid, round, scaly jaw. The hissing stopped as the creature reeled back in pain, but before I could land the follow-up punch, the tentacle raised up from the water, attempting to slam me into the wall in retribution. It was incredibly fast, and I was lifted off my feet as the back-tentacle slammed into me, pinning me against the wall. Even with the damage, my health was slightly above half, my regeneration working overtime. But the blow winded me, and the 1 second timer to use Force Resonance expired.

  The hydra’s hate-filled glare bore into me, blood and sickly green-yellowish liquid dripping from its broken jaw. I heard it begin to hiss again as it slowly got closer, opening its mouth and preparing to blast me with the green pool of acid filling in the back of its throat. The liquid bubbled and cracked as the air filled with the corroded smell of sulfur. Regardless of how good my regeneration was, I had no desire to test it. Suddenly, the creature reeled back, the other two tentacles attached to its back retreating from attacking the group above us. Neither tentacle was in fighting shape, one had been burnt nearly to a crisp, the other had withered away into a thin, fleshy rope, barely able to lift itself.

  I activated Density Shift on my right leg, using the creature’s recoil to make my move. I successfully kicked the tentacle pinning me away, as the Hydra stared back down at me, its head rising up as it got ready to spray its poisonous breath. I couldn’t run or dodge, the only option was to take the attack head-on. I completely reinforced my right arm, Density Shift coating it in blue energy as our attacks collided towards each other.

  I had no idea how much it was going to hurt.

  The haymaker I threw was immediately drenched in acidic bile, tearing away at my skin even through my skill. But I couldn't stop, no matter how much it hurt. I put everything into the strike, parting the acidic stream in half as my arm was nearly turned skeletal from the damage. My health had dropped below a quarter, and the bar had turned red. I couldn’t help but let out a scream as the smell of burning flesh suffocated me. But still, my fist hit its mark.

  As my exposed boney knuckles collided with the right side of the snake’s jaw, I activated Force Resonance, hoping it would be enough to finally kill the thing.

  A massive burst of wind exploded out from my strike, echoing throughout the sewer.

  I barely registered my fist making contact as the Sewer Hydra fell to the ground, defeated. Its head squelched on the ground beside me, a massive hole where its throat was supposed to be. My chest heaved, and my arm itched and burned as the skin and blood reformed.

  I scrunched my eyes, wiping hydra droplets from my face. I looked at my health bar, which read 34/170, quickly refilling as Greater Regeneration healed five health a second. I watched in awe as my arm slowly reformed, looking good as it took thirty seconds to recover my health. As my health reached back up to 170, I tried moving around and stretching a bit. My body felt fine, but occasionally there would be some phantom pain, which was weird. My mind was having trouble comprehending this new body, although I was grateful for how it had saved me.

  I didn’t like any of that, I thought as I walked towards the monster’s corpse and its potential loot. I heard movement above me, and a familiar voice called down.

  “Levi! Are you okay?!” Her voice rang in my head, which pounded from the adrenaline.

  “I’m okay! I took out the monster too, so we should be all good.”

  “Is there a way out anywhere?”

  I looked around, spotting a service ladder connected to one of the manholes above further down the sewer.

  “Yep! I’ll be up in a sec. Stay careful!” I yelled. Zahra acknowledged me with a “Yuh” which echoed in the dreary, smelly underground. I turned my attention back to the Sewer Hydra’s body. A new option appeared in my menu called ‘Loot’ as I examined it, which I clicked right away. A new message appeared in my textbox, and sparkles of blue energy flew from the creature’s body into mine.

  Hydrarian Rope (Rare)

  This rope is fashioned from the body of a Sewer Hydra. Despite the smell and weird stains, it's a trusty, durable rope which can magically extend into three different pieces. Why have one rope, when you can have three!

  The System gave the item a small image, which looked like a scaled cat o’ nine tails, but out of rope. Crusty, white and yellow rope that gave me the ick without even touching it.

  Hopefully someone else will want this. I thought, moving to the second item.

  Potion of Nullification (Acid) (Uncommon)

  When drunk, this potion gives immunity to acid damage for one hour. This does not include other poisons. Consumable: 1 Use.

  I didn’t hate the item, but it was annoying for something so useful to become available after my arm had melted and reformed together again. The pain was excruciating, and not something I wanted to repeat. I finished up, ripping a scale off its tentacle and placing it in my inventory before climbing up the ladder to the exit. Since the safe zone was a hospital, maybe we'd have some way to analyze the beige scale further. Either way, I was taking it. Smog began to slowly drift down into the underground, finding a new place to corrupt.

  The group wasn't very far away, Maria was sitting on the curb, her hand applying pressure to a new gash across her temple as Ritesh and Christian helped her dress it. The two of them had a few blood-red scratches against the skin, peaking out through freshly ripped clothes. They were alive and okay, however, which was all that mattered. Zahra was standing nearby as well, watching me pull myself out of the sewer. She didn’t have a single scratch on her. In fact, she looked like she had just gone for a light jog, not fought against some scaled tentacle predator. Small circles of smoke slowly drifted off her heels when she swayed, the only sign she’d faced any danger at all.

  Meanwhile, my body was basically unharmed, a testament to Greater Regeneration’s strength. I had hoped Density Shift would have been better, but my arm had basically melted away from taking the hydra’s breath. I couldn’t bet on the skill protecting me from attacks or saving me. Instead, I would have to hope my regeneration could outpace whatever damage I took. I made eye contact with Zahra who scrunched her nose.

  “The smell coming from you is crazy, dude. Like… is your nose going to recover? I don’t think mine will. You may need to destroy your clothing, I’m pretty sure you’re a walking biohazard right now,” she teased.

  I smiled back, moving closer as I responded.

  “Be careful, I took a lot of damage fighting that thing. I could really use a hug of support from my friend, Zahraaaaaa.” I lifted my arms to embrace her, but she skittered away like a cat sprayed with a water bottle. I laughed, walking back over to the group.

  “Absolutely not! Hell no! Take a shower!” She exclaimed as she ran behind Christian, who had finished helping Maria. The woman looked fine, for the most part. The cut was wrapped and cleaned, the white bandages pushing her bangs back up to her hairline. Ritesh had his arms crossed, a contemplative look on his face. He helped Christian put the medical supplies back in the backpack while my textbox lit up with a message.

  Art: Great job, Levi. The force of your strike cut the stream in half, and your application of Force Resonance was timed appropriately. Next time, it would be worth it to avoid these attacks until we know if they inflict status conditions. These skills have limits, you know!

  Levi: Uh thanks, I guess? Trust me, I don’t want to do that again.

  Art: Agreed, hopefully the Sewer Hydra hasn’t birthed whatever these ‘newborns’ are. I haven’t seen that system creation before, maybe it's new for your planet’s System integration.

  Levi: Yeah that makes it really easy to calm down. Thanks Art.

  Art: You’re welcome!

  Maybe symbiotes didn’t have sarcasm. Either way, I zoned back in on the group conversation. Christian was looking at his handiwork around Maria’s head.

  “That should stop the bleeding, but let us know if you feel dizzy. Head wounds tend to bleed more than other places on your body, and you lost a bit when that… thing slammed you. How much health do you have left?”

  “Just over 100.” She responded. “Unfortunately, health regeneration is slow. 1 HP a minute means we would have to wait an hour for my health to fill up. We can’t stay here and it's a waste to go back. We should just continue, we need to see what's happening with the rest of the city.”

  We all nodded in agreement, knowing she was right. We couldn’t plan if we didn’t know what was going on, and sticking around doing nothing was not an option any of us would entertain.

  We pushed our masks back on, pushing through the smog once again as Christian led the way. He looked back at us, pointing at the small park area outside the hospital which led into UCLA.

  “Change of plans. If things are getting worse, I want to see why before anything else. We can loot the Ralphs on the way back. Keep alert, we’re going to the University.”