The Colossus's footsteps made the entire cavern sob. The atmospheric pressure seemed to have doubled; the air was heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and death. That being wasn't just a Corrupted; it was a force of nature. A single direct hit wouldn't just be the end of the fight—it would be the end of our existences.
Músculo, the man whose ego was larger than his own body, stood static. For the first time, the stone of his skin seemed to crack from pure terror. The creature moved with a deceptive slowness, raising its colossal fist and delivering a downward blow. In a moment of absolute paralysis, Músculo did not react.
— FLASH STEP! — I screamed, feeling my muscle fibers burn.
My feet barely touched the ground as I threw myself against the leader's massive body, knocking him away milliseconds before impact. Where he had stood, the stone floor exploded in a shower of shrapnel. The Colossus didn't stop; it raised its foot to crush us, but DJ was faster. She raised a column of rock to block the attack, which shattered instantly, giving us the time needed to escape.
DJ tried to pull away, but the Colossus was relentless. It delivered a lateral punch that hit her dead on. She manipulated the terrain around her to cushion the blow, but the absolute force sent her flying like a ragdoll against the wall. She fell coughing blood; her chest rose and fell with extreme difficulty.
That's when "Gozo Humano" stepped up. He expelled his chemical milk with manic desperation, flooding the creature's feet and freezing them right after.
— RUN! NOW! I'LL HOLD IT WHILE YOU ESCAPE! — he bellowed.
We all heard his plea. As bizarre as he was, we cared about him. At least, I did. But Musculoso, in a final act of desperation and wounded ego, ignored the command. He lunged away from me with an explosive leap, jumping and trying to land a punch on the Colossus's chest. The impact was pathetic; it looked like a human punching a mountain. The Colossus didn't even flinch. Musculoso fell to the ground, and dread finally took hold of him. The creature simply looked down and kicked him through the air. He flew dozens of meters, crashing against the wall with a dry, horrible thud. The sound of his ribs snapping echoed through the tunnel, followed by a spray of blood expelled from his mouth. He collapsed on the ground, completely unconscious.
I watched it all, powerless. I approached Baixinha and DJ, who was trying to get up with a bloodied face.
— Let's listen to Magrelo and run! I need help carrying Musculoso. DJ, run ahead and clear the exit!
The two nodded and the plan began. I used FLASH STEP to grab Musculoso, feeling the dead weight of his body and the metallic tang of blood. Baixinha helped me support him as we ran toward DJ, who was already waiting for us at the path we came from. As we passed Magrelo, our eyes met. There was no sadness, only a heroic smile. He was holding back tears, not wanting his death to be a burden on us.
— They always told me I was a mistake, Arata... A useless support — he gave a short laugh, spitting a bit of blood. — But today, I am the only pillar keeping you alive. Don't look back. Survive... and make my death mean something! Thank you, Arata. You made me realize I could be someone important. I hope you survive...
I felt the knot in my throat, but I kept moving, tears already blurring my vision. We were almost reaching DJ when the Colossus, sensing our escape even with its feet trapped, delivered a thunderous punch to the cavern's side wall.
Time stopped. The entire structure gave way. I saw, with terrifying clarity, the exact moment a colossal boulder fell onto DJ. It wasn't the sound of stone hitting stone; it was the sound of something organic being obliterated. The impact crushed DJ instantly against the floor. The blood didn't just splatter; it exploded in a hot, viscous mist that covered my face, my chest, everything. It tasted of iron and death.
Baixinha let go of Musculoso's arm and collapsed to her knees, her trembling hands covered in the remains of her friend. I looked in terror at what was left of DJ under the boulder—just a scarlet pool expanding rapidly. I watched another person die in front of me. And I could do nothing. Nothing.
But it wasn't time for mourning. I wiped the blood from my eyes with the back of my hand, leaving red smears across my vision. I grabbed Baixinha's arm with force.
— GET UP NOW! — my voice came out as a desperate roar. — Can't you see we're going to die if we stay here?! Save the tears for later, let's get out of here alive first!
She looked at me in shock but helped me heave Musculoso up, who remained blacked out. With the exit completely blocked by the collapse and DJ's corpse, there was only one way: forward. But for that, we would have to pass through the Colossus.
We advanced at a frantic pace, crossing Magrelo's path once more. He was pale, his skin almost translucent from the effort of expelling his chemical compound nonstop.
— HOLD HIM A LITTLE LONGER, PLEASE! — I screamed, my voice failing.
He just nodded. The Colossus was submerged in that viscous substance up to its knees, but the creature's strength was absurd; every second, the sound of the solidified "milk" cracking echoed like cannon shots. Magrelo froze it again, sacrificing every drop of his vital energy to give us seconds.
We ran into the deep immensity of the cavern. Immense boulders plummeted from the ceiling due to the giant's spasms of fury. One grazed us; Baixinha faltered for a second, gripped by fear. In that instant, another boulder fell and obliterated Musculoso's right arm. Blood gushed like a burst hose, creating an instant scarlet pool on the uneven floor. Baixinha, in a surge of adrenaline, grabbed the leader's body by the abdomen, carrying the dead weight alone while I let go of the mangled arm to clear the way.
— ARATA, CLEAR THE PATH FOR US!! — she bellowed, her voice laden with despair.
I didn't stop to think. Tears washed away the blood of DJ that was still on my face. My legs acted on instinct. — FLASH STEP! FLASH STEP! FLASH STEP!
I was a blur of desperation, breaking stone shards with punches and dodges. Finally, we reached the end. However, a surprise drained our strength. To the left, the lair: a mountain of human bones mixed with immobile Corrupted cores. To the right, a narrow, dark crevice leading even deeper into the abyss. Why did this thing never invade the city? The Colossus had consciousness, had tactics. Was it waiting?
— ARATA, NOW WHAT?! — Baixinha screamed. — I... I don't know... — I replied, terror locking my throat.
Turning around, I saw Magrelo's body in the Colossus's hands. It brought him to its mouth and devoured him without a shred of mercy. The sound of organic chewing echoed off the walls. The silence that followed was the heaviest of my life. The System beeped: Emergency Mission. I needed to kill it. Before pushing the last two survivors into the small hole with a kick, I said:
— I... I will fight that thing alone. Please, if you survive... tell my uncle and Sid that I was grateful for the time with them...
Time seemed to dilate. I turned to the Colossus. Even though its face was a black vacuum, I felt it was smiling. It was amused by my smallness. The cavern was collapsing. I ran toward it, feeling only fear. It delivered its blow, striking the ground with a colossal hammer-fist. The ground fragmented, making me lose my balance as I floated in the chaos of rising rocks.
Before I could touch the ground, the second blow came, tearing through the air and seizing me with brutal force. The Colossus's fist squeezed me, crushing my ribs. In the middle of the dread, a ridiculous conversation with my uncle back on the couch months ago surfaced in my mind like a beacon:
— Uncle, it makes no sense... Why doesn't Ant-Man just crawl inside Thanos and expand? It would explode the villain from the inside out. It's basic physics; the internal pressure would obliterate the organs.
My uncle laughed at the time, but turned serious right after: — If the outer shell is indestructible, the pressure has nowhere to go. It will grind everything inside to a pulp. If the volume increases and the space doesn't, the structure collapses. The greatest weakness of a shielded monster, Arata, is the stomach itself.
I was interrupted by the Colossus's roar. I was close to its gaping maw. In a way, it was ridiculous that the giant had eaten the "Gozo Humano," but that wasn't the point. As it threw me inside, I unrolled the chains from my arm and threw them, hooking them into its throat. I used them as a harpoon and activated FLASH STEP to propel myself into its mouth, dodging the cubic teeth that slammed shut right behind me.
The stench was unbearable. I fell into the viscous stomach, surrounded by muscular walls trying to crush me. I took a deep breath and grabbed the chains. I didn't need to recreate something. I needed mass.
— RECREATE! — I shouted.
The chains decomposed and I used the system to multiply the matter, transforming them into a mass of raw, expansive metal that grew without stopping. I wasn't piercing the monster; I was occupying space. The mass grew exponentially, filling the stomach and stretching the muscular walls to the limit.
The Colossus's roar of triumph turned into a silent gag. Its belly began to swell bizarrely, the cubic skin becoming deformed spheres. The volume increased, but the space did not. I could hear the sound of organs being ground and bones collapsing. The Colossus staggered, black blood leaking from its eyes and ears from the internal rupture.
I felt the stomach walls give way. With a wet, terrifying sound of tearing flesh, the Colossus exploded from the inside out. An explosion of pure pressure. I fell onto the cavern floor, drenched in viscous blood and organic remains. Out of breath, exhausted, but alive. I had done it...
I stood up with my remaining strength. Seconds later, I heard footsteps. When I turned, it was unbelievable. A small figure, a black and cubic woman, was approaching. — No fucking way... the monster was married... — I thought.
The figure stopped, looking at me and at the Colossus's body. She was a bit taller than me, very thin, with hands that were sharp swords. I looked at her disfigured face and memory hit me. — No... it's not possible. It's the same Corrupted I was fighting in the hideout... How did she end up here?!
She moved rapidly, disappearing and reappearing. She stood still, but something was missing from me. I looked at my left side: my arm was gone from my body. The System's Eye sent an agonizing pain through me. When she advanced to tear off the other, the cavern finished collapsing. The floor broke. I saw the figure being trampled by a boulder as we fell into the abyss.
My vision blurred, but my will to survive was greater than my losing consciousness. I began to climb the boulders falling with me, hanging onto them in mid-air. I jumped and positioned myself on one. I saw a wall full of holes; I threw myself and rolled into one of them. My body was completely scratched. When I stood up, two figures approached me. They weren't human; they were shaped like mushrooms.
— Greetings, human. We are the people of the mushroom... we call ourselves the Mycelians.