Finn had almost launched off with his Boot Jet when the ground shook. The very hot sand he was fleeing from trembled in an area, shaking violently as something sought its way out.
Finn paused, studying the area with the intensity of an eagle. Foolish you might say, but despite all he had gone through, Finn was still interested in whatever was causing the tremor.
A true scientist's curiosity.
A smooth black plate came to sight first, then dramatically, the ground shook fiercer, and what came out next made the almighty Finn's heart skip a beat.
A gigantic, long, black, chitinous tail ending with a sharp stinger.
He didn't need further revelation. He knew it was a scorpion, a massive one to be precise.
He didn't need to be told to flee, but this adamant man stood frozenly. Not from fear, but from contemplation on what to do. He knew he had two options; flee or fight.
But both were out of his thoughts. That wasn't how he thought. The one thing that makes him different from others; always thinking out of the box.
The black scorpion had found its way out, piercing through sand, digging through hotness, and revealing its enormous monstrosity—an enormous mass of exoskeleton with eight legs, six eyes, two lethal pincers, and a strong tail ending with venomous stinger.
The beast was out of Finn's imagination. Standing close to thirteen feet, like the size of a small house, Finn knew he was in for a big deal.
Too late to regret his decision. He had something planned.
'I don't need to slay it, don't need to escape. Only coercion.'
He had long made the decision… Since the desert seemed to stretch for eternity, and he couldn't tell how far it stretches, his Boot Jet might just not suffice for the journey out of the treacherous dryness, putting the jet's low power into consideration.
What could happen if his jet fails and he becomes stranded in the middle of the desert with no other means of transportation? Die of starvation and thirst? Or something worse?
With such a gigantic beast presented before him, he could coerce it to transport him, and seek shelter in some shaded parts of its enormous body.
However, a question hovered in the air like a determinant.
'How to coerce such a monster into doing one's will?'
Two lines furrowed on Finn's forehead as he racked his brain for answers. "This one doesn't feed on mana like others I've seen in some other universes. It hunts and consumes other beasts like the ones on Earth..."
The beast at first didn't seem to notice the puny creature standing just few meters from it. Then slowly, its six eyes came alive and registered the 'prey'.
It clicked its pincers, shrieked, and began its assault.
Its tail descended with an unmatching speed for its size, almost stinging Finn who was lost in thoughts. He had only moved in the last, impossible second, a nick of time.
"This one is trouble. Blasting it with rays would only make it agitated, not succumb to defeat. I only need to instill fear and respect," Finn admitted with absolute honesty. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin the chance.
He looked down on his broken arm again. 'But at what cost?'
Finn dodged another tail attack with his inhumane blitz, full focus returned, but not without suffering another pang in his fractured bone. Every movement with that arm cost him significant pain that made his hatred for the Olympians soar.
However, the massive beast was learning fastly, predicting his movement and increasing its speed. It began revealing its true nature as a hunter in the vast desert.
This time, it struck with 'everything' in its arsenal… The beast leapt despite its size, instantly closing the gap between itself and its 'prey,' snapped its pincers to crush Finn, and struck with its tail. All done in speed that defied its size and anatomy.
Finn barely had time to react… He dodged the first pincer with characteristical agility, slid under the other pincer before it could snap close, but as he emerged from the other side of the pincer, a long shadow casted on him.
He didn't check, as he already knew what it was. Checking was an inevitable death.
He activated the Boot Jet in the last, impossible second, and flew sideways. Nevertheless, the stinger had managed to graze his right arm, infusing little venom into his bloodstream.
Finn flew farther, creating at least thirty metres gap.
'Fuck! If I continue this way, I might lose it. If only I had bonded with those mighty beasts I'd encountered…' Finn screamed in his head, furious by how things were turning.
'Luckily, I still have an antivenom serum with me.' He noted, looking down on his now impaled right arm.
Two injuries on two arms, with one even poisoned… A true bad day for Finn Fritz.
The antivenom wasn't just any one though, it was one that could erase traces of all kinds of venoms in a body. Another incredible creation of Finn Fritz.
Just as he retrieved the serum from his utility belt and was about to inject it into himself, a clear, deep, almost ancient-like voice boomed in his head. One that made him stop and question his sanity.
"You seem rather powerful for a tiny one. I didn't even expect a trump card from you… Regardless, you're doomed!" The voice had said.
"What?! Did the beast just speak to me?!"
He was left with no answer.
The scorpion's body began an ominous glow, one that Finn had begun to recognize as trouble. However, this one wasn't a golden one like the opponents he had faced, it was a translucent one. A translucent gleam of power that would soon decide Finn's fate.
"Fuck this!"
"Activate Gauntlets!"
"Activate Combat Boot!"
Mechanically, an embedded chip tore through the flesh in his forearms, shifting, gearing, adjusting… and voila! A metallic hand glove with strange dials and mechanisms, stretching from his fingertips to his elbow. Brown, strong, powerful, lethal… Just the way Finn Fritz likes it.
His shoes had also shifted form; metallic boots with too many features, specifically designed for combat.
The ominous glow finally receded, but in its place, two identical beasts materialized.
Clones, but just as ferocious as the original.
"Of course. They always have special abilities." Finn frowned.
The clones were the first to move and the original closely followed behind, all ready for action.
'This might be the chance, and it looks like the beast is telepathic.'
He didn't wait for them to reach him. This time, he attacked.
With his gauntlets and combat boot activated, he launched onto the approaching nightmares.
He had pushed a button on the left gauntlet, switching to adhesive mode (for stickiness), and on the right, he pushed another button, switching to strength mode.
He knew the next world of pain in his broken arm would be gruesome, but he chose to stake on this one.
Speedily, he dodged a tail-strike from one of the clones, used the opportunity to lodge onto its tail with the adhesive mode gauntlet, and delivered a devastating blow to its stinger with the strength mode gauntlet.
The stinger crushed to nothing with the power of his strength gauntlet, reducing the once lethal, chitinous weapon to a 'useless' length.
Finn didn't waste the moment. Time wasn't in his favor.
He slid down the now 'useless' tail, determined to finish the trouble before another attacked.
Too late, the second clone had reached them, immediately identifying the tiny trouble on its brother clone's back.
Finn thought it wouldn't strike since he was on its accomplice's back.
He was wrong.
The tail swooped down like a terror, gigantic stinger hovering over him like a death wish.
The shadow casted on him first, then descended like a thunderbolt. Again, he managed to escape by the skin of his teeth.
'Is it me or I'm getting slow?' Finn panicked as he escaped a narrow death, his chest heaving frantically as he struggled to breathe.
The venom! It was already spreading in his body, affecting his general wellbeing. He hadn't used the serum before he jumped into action…
Now, his skin was losing color, becoming pale as the venom corrupts his system.
He only had few minutes before he was a goner.
The beasts didn't let up. Not now. Never.
The original was still watching from behind, refusing to join the assault until need be.
'Strategic… It has some form of intelligence.'
The clones attacked in sync, two tails (one without a stinger) swooped down on him at once. The kind of assault that makes you question what you've done to deserve such cruelty.
"No more. It's over."
He could die now like a loser, or use the options he was conserving for future purposes, since he didn't know what the Olympians or this cursed world had in store for him.
Injured arms, poisoned body system, low supplies, low power… Nothing to look forward to in the blazing sea of sand.
Nothing was in his favor. He had to make a decision. A decision that could cost him the rest of his days…
————~~~~~————~~~~~———
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