Capítulo 26: The Colossal Creature
Within the confines of an unknown planet's seemingly endless narrow tunnel, Jay and Kara had been trekking for nearly ten minutes. Another turn revealed yet another stretch of monotonous corridor, prompting suspicion they might just be walking in circles.
Initially, they had flown, which was undoubtedly much faster than their current sluggish pace. But the red sun's radiation quickly sapped their strength, prompting a strategic decision to conserve energy for unforeseen circumstances.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally emerged into a vast circular pit with a diameter of over thirty feet and a depth that easily surpassed twenty. Metal plates lined the ground like an alien plaza.
They leaped down, their boots striking the steel with resounding clangs that echoed off the pit's walls. Jay tapped the ground, musing, "Sounds hollow beneath here. Our path likely continues below."
As his words hung in the air, a sharp, ear-piercing sound filled the pit. The opening they'd just descended from was sealed shut with iron slabs sliding from the corners, trapping them inside.
Before they could react to this development, the ground quaked beneath them. The steel they stood upon vibrated ominously, and a monstrous tentacle burst through, sweeping them off their feet with a surprising swipe.
Jay's back slammed against the wall, a blow that would've crushed a truck, yet the alien metal didn't even dent. This resilience only made their escape more daunting. A giant creature, with an eye the size of a person and a hide of uneven scarlet scales, rose from the ruptured metal plates, its long tentacles waving like wind-whipped branches, albeit far deadlier.
Its appearance was a grotesque amalgamation of an octopus and a jellyfish from Earth, magnified in size and grotesqueness.
Blocking their sole escape route was a tunnel entrance, inconveniently obscured by the creature's bulk.
The creature lashed out with its formidable tentacles. Jay narrowly dodged a strike that caused the wall behind him to reverberate with a bone-jarring thud. Kara, seizing an opportunity, pummeled its bare head with her fists, eliciting a muffled groan of pain from the beast. A tentacle whipped upward with surprising speed, catching her off guard. She braced her arms to block, but the impact sent her flying.
Despite the creature's overwhelming form, Jay guessed it had a keen awareness of its surroundings, as it deftly managed simultaneous attacks on both him and Kara. He dodged another tentacle that whistled as it crashed into the ground where he'd stood moments before.
Kara attempted her heat vision, but the creature's scales proved nearly impervious; her beams only scorched the surface without penetrating it, a testament to their diminished powers under the red sun. This futile effort seemed to enrage the creature further, and it thrashed its tentacles wildly, the air hissing with the force of each strike.
Surrounded by a furious ballet of tentacles, the pair relied on their remaining speed to evade. Jay's reflexes saved him several times until he was finally struck down. Struggling to rise, another tentacle loomed, and he impulsively grabbed it, his muscles bulging as he engaged in a tug-of-war with the colossal beast.
Under normal circumstances, he would have spun the creature like a top, but the red sun's radiation left him barely holding his own. A surprise blow to his back caused him to falter, and before he knew it, he was bound and suspended in mid-air by the creature's tentacles.
Kara shared his fate, ensnared and dangling helplessly, looking almost comically endearing in her predicament—an absurd notion amidst their desperate battle.
The creature, infuriated by the damage it had endured, tightened its grip, exerting pressure that would crush terrestrial metal. Jay felt a slight constriction in his chest, knowing his resilience wouldn't last indefinitely under the red sun's influence.
"Jay," Kara called out suddenly, "look below."
He engaged his infrared vision to peer beneath the surface. There lay a frigid substance, a cold vortex beneath the creature, like a hunter's snare concealed underfoot.
It was a risk, but they had little choice. They exchanged a glance, their resolve reflected in each other's eyes. Their heat vision converged on the creature's base, shattering it. An eruption of icy blue shot up, an extreme cold that overtook the space, obliterating the heat in an instant.
The creature cried out in panic, releasing its grip on its prey. Jay and Kara mustered their strength to hover above as the beast froze mid-scream, its once-agile tentacles turned to radiant ice crystals, immobile in the air.
Fortune seemed to favor them. Whatever entity had kept this creature for its purposes had left a mechanism to subdue it swiftly.
Kara sneezed, rubbing her nose, "It's getting too cold. Let's get out of here, shall we?"
With the creature incapacitated and their path clear, the duo moved towards freedom, the urgency of their escape amplified by the numbing cold and the promise of further challenges ahead.
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