Milo analyzed the crab creature, trying to get a sense of what was going on. The first thing he noticed was that it only had one pincer, the other had been ripped or cut off in some way. His prosthetic cracked as it wrapped across the crab's leg. Cutting into the shell slightly, azure blood spilling from the wound.
The crab didn't hesitate to fight back, its pincer shot out attempting to grab and crush Milo's tiny human skull. Milo let out a curse as he barely managed to duck in time before the pincer snapped the space where his head was at before. It didn't stop there, it's pincer kept shooting for, not leaving a single opening for Milo to attack.
'I need to trap it somehow'
Milo looked around, but the layout here was simply too big for the crab to get trapped. With a grimace, Milo willed his prosthetic into a metal thin wire with several small needles.
The crab had its prey right where it wanted it. It was clear to see that the prey had given up on fighting, it was running away, seemingly disoriented as it was bumping into the different corals sticking out.
The crab couldn't see the dozens of metal wires it was now cutting itself on until it was too late. Milo willed all the metal wires he had planted to constrict upon the crab, as tightly as possible.
More blood rushed from the multiple slits that appeared all around the crabs shell. The crab was halted for moments, and moments was all Milo needed. His prosthetic entered a sword form, and Milo aimed right for what he hoped was the crabs head.
Milo rejoiced as his blade cleanly entered the monster crabs head, however he quickly jumped back as the Spell did not announce the kill. The crab let out a horrific almost mocking screech.
Milo felt slightly more on edge, but still didn't hesitate to leap in for another attack. Before it could land, a pincer reached out and grabbed his prosthetic in its hand.
The monster let out another screech, its pincer tentatively grinding down the metal prosthetic. Milo was stuck in the air, unable to do much. Eventually, the Spell whispered into his ears.
[An attribute of yours is being nullified]
Milo really wanted to laugh at the cruel irony of the Spell. So if his prosthetic was being destroyed, it would nullify the attached Attribute? That just felt downright unfair, more like a memory than an attribute.
Milo's mind was racing to trying to think of anything to get him out of this horrible situation.
Before the crab could fully destroy his prosthetic, a myriad of sparks formed a small iron mallet in his left hand.
Raising Carmen's Hammer up, Milo brought it down upon the prosthetic, and sure enough, the prosthetic had just been repaired of some of the damage it was suffering.
The crab let out a squeal? Milo couldn't even tell at this point. He was struggling to think straight given his bizzare situation.
The monster seemingly realized that it was pointless to continue with this, and let go of Milo's prosthetic, instead aiming for his much more exposed and squishy body. Milo brought his legs up and pushed himself backwards. Away from the monster, but he was still about fifteen feet in the air.
When Milo hit the ground, the first thing he felt was something in his toes snap, and boy did it fucking hurt. His body tumbled along the cold and muddy dirt, heaving with each breath.
Milo had to get up, if he didn't he would die. With a pained groan, he got up on two feet.
The monst let out a low screech, Milo assumed it was giving an amused applause. Looking at his prosthetic, it was in pretty bad shape, some of the mechanical parts that should've been inside the prosthetic were now sticking out of it, and most of his fingers were badly bent.
It was hard to will it into a shape that resembled a normal arm, but he managed to. The back of his elbow opened, a small thruster was now charging up. The crab rushed forward, pincer reaching to slice Milo in two.
Milo met the charge with scorn on his face, he had spent two precious soul shards on this prosthetic and it was now almost brought to ruin thanks to this oversized piece of seafood boil.
As the two met in the middle, Milo jumped over the pincer, landing on the top of it, he jumped off that to. Soaring above the crabs head, the thruster on his elbow finally allowed all the heat and pressure it had been building up release. With a roar, his prosthetic came down upon the already injured monster's head. A loud boom rang throughout the area as the crabs skull condensed like a crushed water bottle.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger]
Finally, the fight was over. Milo had come out the victor, if not for some minor setbacks. Sitting against a coral pillar, Milo looked up at the sky, the bleak sun was directly above Milo, meaning there was still plenty of time before sunfall.
Milo brought up Carmen's hammer, bringing it down against his prosthetic once again. This felt straight out of a cartoon, it was utterly ridiculous that with each hit, his prosthetic was slowly repairing. Just what other sort of wonky tools did Carmen have?
After what felt like a lifetime of hits, Milo's prosthetic had returned to a relatively normal state. It was still terribly scratched, but it was no longer the jumbled mess it was before.
Then, Milo looked down at his disjointed toe, if Carmens hammer could repair his prosthetic, it should be able to repair his toe too.
—-
Eva carefully walked around the red labyrninth she found herself in. From what she could tell, this was some uncharted zone of the Dream Realm, and there were no visible gateways or any sense of civilization in sight.
This was troubling, especially because she might be alone out here among this accursed dark sea, the memories and attributes she had would allow her to be just fine on her own. But it was still a troubling matter to not have someone with her in this place.
With a sigh, she desummoned the helmet part of her Mantle attribute, it was one of attributes she was given as part of her aspect, and it was a powerful one at that. She currently had full immunity to mind attacks, moderate protection to physical attacks, and low protection to soul attacks.
Eva had no idea if she would ever encounter a Nightmare Creature potent enough to attack her mind, but you never know. She also never thought she would receive a divine aspect, and yet here she was.
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a loud boom, even though it was still minutes away, she changed her leisurely pace into a mad dash. She only knew of one Sleeper who could do something like that. At least she hoped it was a sleeper and not two of those Carapace Scavengers killing eachother.
—-
Milo let out a loud yelp as instead of mending his broken bone, Carmen's Hammer instead acted as a normal hammer and only made it worse.
"Oh come on! What a fucking scam"
Milo then jumped as he heard a snicker to his left, looming at the edge of the crimson forest was Eva… and she was attempting to hold in her laughter.
Milo was both relieved and annoyed to see Eva, on one hand, he had reunited with one of his only friends from the Awakened Academy, and a powerful one at that. On the other hand, she was very clearly amused by his unfortunate situation.
"Hey! Are you just gonna sit there giggleshit or are you gonna help me?"
"Yeah… Pft, yeah just give me a second"
Eva walked over to the Carapace Scavenger, luminescent sparks forming in her hand. The sparks settled, forming a sharp dagger in her hand. Eva cut open the Carapace Scavenger, cutting out slivers of meat, and then reaching the Soul Shard. She examined it for a moment then tossed it to Milo.
Milo's hand shot out, catching it, and then crushing it
"Thanks" Milo suddenly had no edge to his voice
"No problem… wow you are one greedy boy aren't you? Shut up real quick when I gave you that Soul Shard"
"Who are you calling boy? You're only a year older than me!"
Eva just gave a wave of her hand like it was irrelevant to her claim. Stuffing the meat into a seaweed satchel at her side.
Walking over to his side, Eva simply… heaved him over her shoulder. Milo was glad that she could not see his face because it was burning red with embarrassment, he was suddenly hyper aware of the very little clothing he had.
"I was thinking of heading to that statue later, does that sound like a good idea?"
Milo pondered it for a moment, he knew that it would probably be a week of travel to reach the damn thing, but it wasn't like Milo had any better plans
"I have no objections"
"Alright, now where did you camp out for the night?"