Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

Fight or flight

Yelling at the top of his lungs, Aaron forced the Ankylosaurus to take a sharp left and head towards the easternmost edge of the Zittorac Forest.

“We’re going the wrong way!” North Beach is that way!” Zach shouted, darting his fingers in the direction of the dried up coconut trees on the beach.

“I know!” Aaron shouted back. “We are never gonna make it to North Beach with this damn mutant chasing us!”

“And how the hell does going towards the forest help us? We might run into other predators over there!”

“We won’t! No creature on Solaris is crazy enough to lurk anywhere near a Zone Guardian.”

Zach still didn’t understand what Aaron’s plan was. Heading into the forest would only slow them down and take them further away from their current objective. The Bloodworm was still on their tail, tunnelling through the sand like a giant snake.

Aaron didn’t look back, but he could sense the vibrations growing. The Ankylosaurus barely had any energy left in its legs, but Aaron had no choice but to push it to its very limit. It kept going at full tilt, its legs trembling under the stress, till at last they reached the forest.

With its last ounce of strength, the dinosaur took them past the fig trees, before crashing head first into the dense undergrowth. There was only so much its heart could take.

“f**k! Not now!” Zach cursed as he hit the ground and rolled into a blueberry bush.

Aaron too took a tumble and crashed straight into a tangled mess of vines and creepers. Luckily, none of them had any thorns. Using his Fire Claw skill, he cut himself free and helped Zach get back up.

“You okay?”

“We don’t have time for this! Summon another mount!”

“I don’t have enough Sky Gems.”

“I do! Let me transfer some to you!” Zach was in such a panic that he tapped on the’ transfer all’ option, sending Aaron over 40000 Sky Gems. “It’s done, now buy another mount and get us the hell out of here!”

“You gotta hear me out, bro!” Aaron held Zach down and tried his best to calm him down.

“The Bloodworm is gonna swallow us whole! We have to flee!”

“This mutated Bloodworm has 0 EP. Do you know what that means?”

Zach stared Aaron blankly in the face, without an answer. All he knew was that they had to get the hell out of there.

“It means the Bloodworm is a stamina-focused build. None of our mounts can keep up with it. It will catch up to us eventually. This mutant can keep chasing us all day long, without getting tired,” Aaron answered of his own accord.

Zach suddenly caught a glimpse of a disturbance in the distance as something moved under the sand. His voice stuck in his throat as he tried to force out his words. “It’s...still chasing...us.”

“I know. The only way we can get rid of it, is by defeating it.” Aaron shifted his eyes towards the trees and continued. “We are inside the forest now. This is solid ground. The Bloodworm cannot tunnel under this. It has to come out.”

Just as Aaron had predicted, the mutated Bloodworm burst out from the sand, opening its enormous mouth filled with slime. It’s long red proboscis dangled loosely from inside, dripping acidic saliva all over the sand. What was truly horrifying about this mutant was that it could stand up straight, just like a cobra, despite lacking a spine. Only a portion of its tail remained on the ground as it stretched itself high up, reaching a length twice the size of an adult anaconda.

This mutant was far bigger than the Triceratops which Aaron had faced earlier. No wonder it had 20000 HP. Zach’s magic attacks were useless against it. And killing it with just physical attacks would take several hundred hits. They could rely on their skills which dealt pure elemental damage, but the higher tier skills required the user to channel his energy for a few seconds before casting.

The Bloodworm didn’t give them any chance to think of a strategy. It rushed straight at them, slithering through the vines.

“Watch out!”

Aaron’s warning came in the nick of time, as the Bloodworm spat out a large bolus of acid. Zach ducked under it at the very last moment. The slimy projectile splashed against a beech tree, burning a hole in its woody trunk.

“Summon Firelings!” Aaron sent out three groups of Firelings at the Bloodworm. As his summoned minions rushed at the mutant, he called out to Zach. “It’s got 20K HP. I have to use my tier 3 skill to deal any considerable damage to it. You need to buy me some time!”

Zach gulped nervously, staring at the mutant. Looking into its horrifying mouth reminded him of his childhood fears. He would rather take on a Mountain Troll at this point, rather than face a disgusting mutant dripping slime from all the little orifices on its body. This slime was not just nauseating to look at, but as corrosive as the acid in the Bloodworm’s stomach. The Firelings would only be able to distract it for a bit. After that, it would come straight for them.

What they really needed in such a situation was a durable warrior build to soak up the damage from the mutant’s attacks. However, they didn’t have a full-sized party. With a team of two players, taking down a Zone Guardian was always going to be difficult. On top of that, this was a newly introduced boss, whose strengths and weaknesses were completely unknown to them.

The attacking Firelings dealt very little damage to the Bloodworm, but it didn’t seem to resist the fire element. Aaron looked at Zach and stepped back to charge up his most powerful tier 3 skill.

“You got 5 minutes! Not a second more!” Channelling his aqua energy, Zach took point. “Activate Ability: Master of Illusion! Use Scroll: Greater Evasion! Skill: Stone Armour!”

The holographic clones which appeared before them had the same physical appearance as Zach and inherited both the evasion and defence buffs which he had just used. As the Bloodworm took out the last Fireling, Zach and his clones rushed at it.

“I won’t let you die this time!” Aaron lifted his right hand in the air and clenched his left fist tightly. “Channel tier 3 offensive skill: Immolating Spear!”