To Kill A Snail

"Maybe I spoke to soon!"

"You think!"

The Colossal Hollow lunged before he finished saying those last words.

The night air trembled as its massive bulk shifted, the grotesque amalgamation of twisted sinew and bone casting an eclipsing shadow over the battlefield. Its eyes, molten orbs of sunfire, burned as they locked onto them—not with anger or malice, but with the calculated disinterest of a god watching ants scurry beneath its feet.

Rendrik's breathing was shallow but sharp. Every muscle in his body tightened with pure instinct, because this wasn't anything new—not exactly. He had fought monsters before. But, yet, this? This was not a monster. This was a force of nature.

"Move!" Arvin barked, and Rendrik's body obeyed before his mind fully registered the command.

A colossal limb swung across the sky, its sheer weight and force compressing the air itself. From their position, there was a sickening howl of displaced atmosphere trailing behind it. A spectacle threatening more than just imminent death. And in seconds, the limb crashed into the ground like a meteor.

Rendrik barely threw himself out of the way before the earth split apart where he had stood. A crater, the size of the bunker itself, smoked in the Hollow's wake. Then, fissures stretching like fractured veins snaked their way through the ground, some reaching the northeast mountain, causing a rockslide that nearly reached their position.

Arvin, unnerved by the sheer force, had already repositioned himself, moving with the fluid precision of someone who had been here before. Someone who had faced impossible odds and lived to tell the tale.

But Rendrik, he had to pushed himself to his feet, after losing his footing well before the rockslide, shaking off the impact.

"Holy! This thing is faster than it looks."

His voice came out strained. The adrenaline had not yet masked the ache spreading through his limbs. If it ever would, he thought. He had not yet healed from the wound to his abdomen left there by Drevan. And the memory itself was all the same as painful.

Meanwhile, Arvin was already moving again. His sharp eyes scanned every inch of the Colossal, dissecting it like a problem to be solved, perhaps it could.

"We can't kill it outright. We need a plan."

"Great. You got one?"

Arvin's jaw tightened, but one look at the towering monstrosity, and the doubts that came rushing into his mind, lasted only but a second, before his usual resolve returned, unsure but steady.

"Working on it."

Then, the Colossal let out a sound—not a roar, nor a bellow. It was something deeper. Something ancient. The kind of sound that was known to preceded disaster. And in the back of their minds, they knew—they had seconds before it attacked again.

"Screw it."

Rendrik's voice had cracked as he launched himself forward. Then, his palms ignited, and fire roared to life, wild and untamed. The Colossal turned, almost in slow motion, unbothered by the sudden flare of heat.

It didn't care. And the thought of it weakened Rendrik's legs, turning them in to gelly, but, somehow, he managed to feel the ground beneath his feet as they pushed forward, focusing his mind on the distant sensation between his toes.

Soon, he closed the distance and flung his arms forward, releasing twin torrents of flame that surged toward the Hollow's grotesque body. The air, as both men perceived it, began warping under the sheer intensity.

Then, for a brief second, hope flared in Rendrik's chest. However—

The flames parted.

The Colossal stepped through the inferno, untouched. It seemed, the fire barely even scorched its hide. And once again, doubt came flooding in. And Rendrik's stomach dropped farther than he had ever felt in his entire life.

"Oh, shit."

Before he knew it, the Hollow moved. Faster than it should have for its colossal size. Its massive arm swung again, and to them, it looked more like a high-speed missle then a mountain of muscle and jagged bone.

In any case, Rendrik tried to retreat, but it was too late.

The impact hit him like a meteor.

Pain... White-hot, all-consuming pain.

Rendrik's body skidded across the battlefield. His bones rattled in endless waves from the impact before he slammed against a half-buried slab of wreckage. If he hadn't been close to unconsciousness, he would have heard it. Rather, he would have felt it—something cracked inside him.

His ribs?

His spine?

His vision blurred while dark spots began creeping into the edges. And, to make matters worse, he attempted to pull air into his lungs only to find out that he couldn't breathe.

The Colossal didn't even slow down, either. Every stomp, every meteor, that was meant for Rendrik exploded the ground where he had been fractions of seconds ago, each time as close a call as the last.

But Rendrik kept moving—fast, calculating, and always one step ahead.

But Rendrik knew. If and once his wound open up again, he wasn't going to be fast enough.

'I… can't beat this thing!'

The thought sank deep into his mind, insidious and whispering.

'Then don't fight it head-on, you idiot. Think.' He thought.

Finaly, with a bit of luck, the Colossal stumbled, allowing Rendrik to sprint away, creating little distance, yet just enough to by him seconds of thinking. From there, he took a rehearsed knee, and placed his plams hard against the ground, his fingers curling into the dirt, gripping reality.

There had to be something. Some weakness. Something—anything.

Then, he saw it.

The Colossal shifted, and for a brief second, Rendrik saw its knees buckle. It was massive, but unbalanced. Its own weight was its greatest weakness.

Rendrik's mind raced to a plan.

'We can't kill it. Not outright. But maybe we can bring it down. The thing is slow only when it turns, so with any luck, we could take the advantage.'

He snatched his gaze from the Colossal and snapped it to the old city-worker.

"Arvin!" he shouted.

The old man was already moving, again, his sharp eyes catching on to what Rendrik had seen. Though Rendrik yelled it anyway.

"We need to cripple its legs!"

Arvin nodded, and there was no hesitation. No words. There was only understanding.

Rendrik forced himself onto his feet, before he continued.

"I'll draw its attention! Then you take its legs out from under it!"

Arvin's brow lifted slightly.

"You sure about that?!"

"Nope!" Rendrik grinned through the pain. "But I'm doing it anyway!"

Arvin smirked.

"Good answer."

As if it had understood their language, the Colossal let out another earth-shaking bellow. Rendrik forced himself forward, unstable flames bursting from his hands as he ignited the ground beneath the Hollow's feet.

Then, the beast reacted, turning toward him—

Exactly as planned.

Arvin moved like a shadow. Silent. And precise. He darted beneath the Colossal's shifting weight in a zigzag motion, moving straight for its legs. Rendrik kept its focus on the beast, pushing his flames higher.

Driven by frustration, the Colossal lifted its foot, preparing to stomp him into the dirt. And, just in time, that's when Arvin struck.

With a single, precise motion, he slammed a modified explosive against the Hollow's exposed knee joint. Then, he ran.

He had barely gotten a few meters away, befor the blast tore through the joint. And the Colossal let out a deep, rumbling—laugh.

It was laughing. And for a while too horrifyingly long.

Rendrik's blood ran cold as the rumbling from the laughter reached his core.

"What—"

The Hollow didn't fall. It didn't even stagger. Instead, its maw unhinged. And from the depths of its throat, something stirred.

A swarm.

In seconds, Lesser Hollows began pouring from the abyss inside it, spilling into the wasteland like a flood of teeth and hunger.

Rendrik's heart and mind stopped, all at once. So did Arvin's.

It wasn't just one. It was dozens. Maybe hundreds. His limbs felt cold. His mind went blank. And then, the pain hit. Suddenly, Rendrik staggered, feeling his knees buckle.

The wound from earlier—the one he'd ignored—finally tore open. And blood poured down his side, causing his vision to blur. His body refused to move. His flames even died in his hands. And then, he fell.

Arvin whipped around.

"Kid!"

But it was too late.

The Hollows surged forward, while the Colossal watched in eerie amusement with those large murderous eyes glowing just above the lowest clouds.

And Arvin?

Arvin was alone. Him versus an army.