Crawler's nest II (solo)

The cavern echoed with the sound of battle, the clang of crystal on crystal. Strange thing was that there was only one person in the cavern. The only occupant was a gray hollow. In each of his hands he swung a crude blade made of crystal. His usual stone targets were gone, they had long since crumbed under his strength. The new targets were created out the very crystal he used for weapons. The substance was resilant enough to take hits. But it also created a near musical sound as he attacked and retreated. Although he had no formal instruction he felt he had improved in his amateurish swordplay. It wasn't elegant, but it worked. The green crystal hissed as with each sweep as it cleaved the air. A left swing hit the bottom of the crystal and he spun in place and cut diagonally with his right. The blows hammered the crystal and it hummed it's odd tune. It continued for what seemed like hours as he moved around from target to target striking. And then the symphony ended, the chimes stopped as he sat down to rest. A sheen of sweat covered his body as he huffed to catch his breath.
"Where the hell is everyone?" he gasped. Slowly he focused his senses to the area around him. Little by little he tried to filter out the various signals he felt. After some time he couldn't sense the familiar signals of Moldale. More searching revealed the twin headed snake was also absent. He sighed as he sat in the silence. Stratus was just about to retract his sense when something else moved into range then moved away. It was large, but it wasn't Ren or Roun. What else could it be then? Moldale had told him there were large hollows deeper in the caves, could it be one of them. But why was it so familiar? His brain ticked away as he tried the mystery ate at him. And then it donned on him; the strange creature whose lair he had invaded. Long ago he had gotten lost in the tunnels and found himself trapped by that monster. He remembered now, it had beaten him severely. It might have even killed him if he had not been rescued by Moldale. Already his blood boiled at the memory.
"So that piece of filth is still living?" he muttered. He stood up cracked his knuckles and popped his neck. "I think it's time I rectify that."

Using his sense he navigated through the tunnels. He normally didn't venture this deep into the caverns. When he had gotten lost was the first and last time. Now he had purpose, the target was the creature that lurked through the bigger caves and tunnels. In the darkness he looked for a monster which had bested him. Luck had saved him that day; Moldale and luck. By choice he choose a path that could mean his death. Back then he didn't know his left from his right. He'd gotten stronger, and faster. There would be no Moldale to save him. Stratus could feel his pace quicken despite the risk he was excited. Lately he'd made short work of such weaker opponents, not the prospect of facing something stronger or his equal made him quite giddy. The talons on his feet echoed off the stone floor as he made his way deeper into the twisting network of tunnels. The creature was close. It still hadn't moved. There was no way it couldn't sense him by now. The tunnel started to get wider and he entered into a large side cavern. There were traces of webbing similar to those he remembered in the other hollow's lair. Further he traveled the more the stench of death permeated the air. So close, he could feel it. Feel it? It was then he realized the monster’s signal was gone. That couldn’t be possible. How could something so big vanish so quickly? The tunnel opened to a cavern even larger than the last one. The area was so big he didn’t even see the walls. There were webs stretched from the floor to the unseen ceiling. There were hanging cocoons. There had to be hundreds of thousands of them.
“This must be the place.” he muttered. There was little doubt that each cocoon held a defeated hollow to be eaten at a later time by the spider like creature that had nearly killed him. There wasn’t a hit of it’s signal in the area. After entering the cavern he felt on edge, ready to fight. He couldn’t explain now, but he felt like he was being watched. It was probably hiding somewhere, waiting to ambush him. It was quiet, too quiet, once again the only sound was his claws against the stone floor.

There was motion from above! He dodged to the right as one of he hanging cocoons fell where he was previously standing. The ground cracked from the impact, it must have been heavy. Even as he thought this another cocoon dropped. As he leaped out of harms way another one fell. Like dominos they all started to fall. Stratus dodged for all he was worth. Left and right he jumped, slid, and rolled. Backward and forward he flipped, cart wheeled and somersaulted. Each large cocoon missing by a narrow margin. What are the odds? He wondered as he moved about. He wasn’t good at numbers or statistics, but he knew it was very low. The creature was toying with him, it had to be hanging from the unseen ceiling to drop all the large bundles on him. As he landed from dodging he swiftly created a crystal spear. As he move away from another dropped cocoon he threw the weapon upwards, There was a clang as it hit the rocks above.
“Not there?” He growled and made another spear and tossed it again. It was another miss. As he began making his third shot an idea hit him. He felt stupid for not noticing early. As the next cocoon fell to crush him Stratus simply hopped backwards into the last cocoon aimed at him. The gray hollow stood on top of the cocoon with arms crossed.
“I think we’re done with the warm up.” he shouted up at the unseen opponent. The response was laughter.
A cackling laugh that was dry and nasal. The source was from the ceiling and slowly drawing closer.
“Yes the warm up is over.” the creature came into view as it slowly descended. Each of it’s eight tentacles held a thick white thread as it lowered itself to the ground. “Now for the main course.” The vertical mouth spoke it’s eyes locked on him. His memory the hideous thing was quite accurate. It’s purple octopus arms began to wave back and forth around the egg shaped hollow head. It’s white mask made the head seem even more egg like. It looked bigger than before, but Stratus might have misjudged the size from before. He tried to recall everything from his previous encounter. It had used webs and black ink. There was not telling if he had other tricks at his disposal. Stratus himself had only his green ooze at that time. Keeping his eyes on the many arms would be tricky, but if he moved fast enough they’d be no problem. Stratus created a crystal sword in each hand
“Let’s go fatso!” He sprung forward and was met by two arms from the one left and one from the right. The first swing at him he ducked, as the second dove at him. A short hop took him over the tentacle as it smashed into the ground gouging a small hole I the stone. He would have to be careful. But it was already too late for that. Two more arms from the left another from the right, Stratus dove left as the two tentacles tried to spear him. He cut them both as he sidestepped the strike, and then jumped backwards to avoid the right tendril. But he forgot about the other left tentacle. The last one snaked forward and smacked him. He couldn’t raise his swords to defend. The blow sent him flying back further, knocking his weapon from his hands. He wasn’t worried he could make more, but the monster’s speed with it’s arms wasn’t to be underestimated. Stratus snickered as he saw the two arms missing their tops.
“Two down, six to go.” he grunted as the got back up. The monster started to cackle again. Yet another reason to kill the fat bastard; an annoying laugh.
“So you’re proud of getting two, eh?” It said with a snort. Apparently it had good ears. It let out a low moan and the cut limbs began to bubble. Within seconds they looked good as new. The hollow laughed again as it waved the restored tendrils in the air.

He knew that hollows could regenerate, his healed arm was proof of it. Seeing it now was quite discouraging. Any injury he might cause would heal, the large hollow would take forever to kill. It wasn't instant regeneration, but it could give him enough time to strike a fatal blow. He grinned. It wasn't like he expected an easy fight. Still he enjoyed the challenge. He created a new weapon as the tendrils resumed their attack. The renewed tendrils led the charge. One swept him off his feet as he grasped the new sword. Shifting his weight mid-air to land on his back and roll forward. Two arms slammed to the ground just behind him as he popped onto his feet and charged forward. He slashed widely, sure the arms regenerated, but the monster still felt pain. The emerald weapon cut into the flesh easily as he moved in. He had to keep moving before the three arms used surrounded him. Moving closer put him in much more danger. The fourth tendril pierced the ground before him. Stratus didn't stop running. His claws dug into the soft tissue and went up it's length with ease. The talons on his feet ripped into the monster as he moved. The large hollow's arm shook trying to throw him off and to the ground. He held on for dear life, until he saw the other arms coming at him. The arm shook more violently. Instead the shake threw him into the air and into the darkness the hit the ceiling. Mid-air he grasped something. A thick strand of some sort. It was too difficult to see in the darkness. The strand was more than enough to support his weight.
"You can't hide up there!" the voice below cackled. It was right, there wasn't much he could do above the creature. It was then he remember the cocoons. The strand he hung from was no doubt what supported the heavy objects. Weapon in hand he slashed the thick strand below his hand.

Below

No sooner had the words left it's mouth than a cocoon came falling down straight on it's arm. The limb was crushed instantly, the end of the tentacle waved rapidly. As the large hollow cried out in pain another cocoon came down. Unlike Stratus the hollow was a bigger target, with it's arm crushed it was even hard to dodge the falling objects. One of them glanced off it's head as another pinned another tentacle to the ground. Restoring a lost limb was easier than a healing a broken one. In this case the repeated strikes crushed the limbs and over and over again. The attack ended rather quickly as the number of cocoons above the creature was limited. Still the damage had been done. It struggled to move the broken arms as the gray hollow emerged from the shadows above. As he swung his green sword the large hollow raised it’s broken arm in defense. The limp tentacle was severed with ease and Stratus passed the bloody stump towards the head. With only a foot to go he was grabbed from behind by the newly restored arm. The tentacles snaked it’s way around the gray hollow and began to squeeze. The end of the arm tangled itself on his arm to prevent him from swinging. With a laugh the large hollow slammed Stratus head first into the ground. It could hear the smaller hollow’s arm snap as it impacted with the stone floor. The scream he made was music to it’s ears. Already it began to free it’s other trapped limbs laughing as they slowly restored themselves.

Every so often it would slam Stratus into the ground again. By the twelfth time, the gray hollow had stopped screaming. It’s white hair was now stained crimson with blood, it’s arm looked like a piece of raw meat.
“Well now, that was fun.” it laughed waving the completely restored tentacles. It smashed the prone body into the ground several more times for good measure. Finally it released it’s grip and let the bloodied form drop. It lay there still as a stone. Although faint the large hollow could feel only the faintest of energy from the broken body.
“Our fight has worked up quite an appetite for me.” It’s tendril grabbed a leg and held Stratus over it’s open mouth. “Thank you for the meal!” Stratus’ eyes snapped open and he expelled the slime he had build up in his body out of his mouth. The creature’s eyes were wide with shock it had definitely thought the smaller hollow was completely defeated. The stream of slime went into it’s mouth and covered it’s face. Just as suddenly as it started the slime stopped. But in this case it was now crystallized. Rather than sticky slime it was now hardened crystal. The large hollow wished it could laugh, but the strange gemstone kept it’s mouth sealed. He had seen the other hollow use the crystal as a weapon, but hadn’t thought he would use it that way as well. Still it wouldn’t take much to break the shell. It flexed it’s arms.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” the gray hollow coughed still dangling by it’s foot. “It’s best you don’t move at all.” he managed to gasp. It was then the large hollow noticed something strange about the crystal, it was glowing. As it focused it’s mind it could feel the energy pulsate through it.
“Not sure why, but that stuff packs abit of a punch.” he stated as he gather abit more slime into his mouth and shaped into a small crystal. “I doubt I’d survive being this close when it all goes.” with that he shot the tiny marble at the glowing mass. The there was a thunderous explosion as fire engulfed them both.

It couldn’t speak, it’s mouth was torn to shreds from the inside out. It’s body wasn’t too much better, but that didn’t stop the regeneration from trying. But at this point it was a lost cause. Already the large hollow could feel it’s power waning. While the explosion had done much damage to him, it was not what had killed it. It focused on the gray hollow with it’s single good eye, it’s only eye still intact but burned. No sooner had the fired died had the small creature attacked him. Without hesitating it ripped through him in seconds and begun to devour him. It was a slow and painful death as he was being eaten alive. But the healing was slowing down with it’s already fading power. The single eye closed as the now feral hollow’s claws finally bit into the white mask. The beast howled in victory.