Brink of Death

Notification

User energy is at critically low levels.

Notification

Danger! The user is at risk of energy exhaustion. 

"Shit! Fuck! Not now!"

I tried to stand up, but my body was almost completely drained of energy. The injuries I sustained from being flung through the forest like a rag doll were almost enough to kill me; my body was burning energy to just keep me breathing. With a great deal of effort, I got to my feet and assessed my condition.

"My energy is only enough to squeeze out one big hit… I don't think I can do this…"

I watched as the pissed-off Verdant Leviathan tore through the forest in my direction. Its eyes were filled with malice that was solely directed at me.

"Damn it, that thing doesn't even look injured!"

The monster was already on top of me before I could react, swiping down at my location with its uninjured arm. I spun to the left and narrowly squeezed in between its clawed fingers, each of which was as large or larger than my entire body. Noticing that I was tucked away in that gap, the Verdant Leviathan swept its arm towards itself, collapsing its hand into a fist in an attempt to grab me.

I jumped straight up, exiting the hand just as it finished closing. Seeing that I was airborne again, the monster swung the same hand back towards me, connecting with my side and sending me in a spiral towards another clump of trees. My path put me in direct collision with a massive tree with a base that was as wide as I was tall. This time, the tree successfully resisted the blow, which caused my body to absorb the bulk of the kinetic force from the strike all at once.

I fell to the ground, coughing up blood in front of the tree. It was at this moment that I knew—I fucked up. There was no way that I was killing this thing, and I was a fool to think that it was something I could have handled at level 1. If I wasn't so greedy for achievements, I could have leveled a dozen or more times and come back here to kill it when my chances of success were better. Several unwelcome notifications popped into view.

Notification

Danger! The user's body is in a critical state.

Notification

User energy is at critically low levels.

Notification

Danger! The user is at risk of energy exhaustion.

I rolled up, coughing blood onto a nearby exposed root as I turned to face the boss monster again. At this point, there was no turning back. That thing was a mobile calamity right now, and I could only barely outrun it, even with my inflated agility stats.

"Shit, I guess I have no choice. I'm taking your arm with me if it's going to end this way."

I rushed towards the monster again, this time with more resolve than before. I already knew that there was no way that I was going to make it out of this fight alive, but if anything, I could at least make it easier to kill for humanity later on. There's a chance that disabling one of these arms will translate to several dozen lives saved, and each of those lives could end up increasing our survival chance in the fifth season. Maybe my return wasn't a waste; I was already on my second chance, which I didn't deserve anyway.

I gathered my energy into my machete, forcing every ounce of strength I had left into it. I knew that my heart was going to explode, so with the force of one solid hit coupled with my body exploding with a deadly amount of force, I expected the field boss to be critically wounded after this strike. It would return to the Faerie Glade and sink back into the pond until fate would have it discovered again on the last week by a human. At least, that was the best-case scenario.

As I drew close, the Verdant Leviathan lunged towards me, aiming to bite me. There was an opportunity to strike at its eyes, but I needed to go for a more guaranteed critical injury. The monster was too quick and perceptive, so chances were low that I could critically land my last attack on a small target like the eye. However, the injury to its arm was fresh and was my best opportunity for success given the current scenario.

I angled my body low and slid right underneath the monster's mouth as it bit down at me. I felt my heart grow warm and knew that my death was imminent. There was no way to stop the side effects of the burning heart energy circulation. I shifted my weight, dug my feet into the ground, and used the momentum of my slide to bring my body into a position where I could sprint. Flooding my legs with energy, I bolted out from underneath the Verdant Leviathan's body and jumped.

Already at its limit, my heart began to convulse. For the first time, I experienced what it felt like to be under the effects of energy exhaustion. In this moment, I realized that the energy that caused the violent explosion was caused by the user's life force. If my energy was exhausted, the circulation method demanded something to fill the void. My life force was rapidly drawn to my heart; I only had moments left before I would die. It was a good thing my last goal was right before me.

"I wish I gave Punisher better instructions in that fucking note!"

I had reached the Verdant Leviathan's wounded arm. Focusing on the new lifeforce energy that was flooding into my heart, I forced as much of it as possible to flow into the machete as I made a diagonal cut in the exact same place that I had struck before. My sword energy changed from a thin and controlled dark red to an erupting black energy that made me feel like I could cut through the world itself.