The sound of the broken shield smashing down had barely spread when the Proliferative Lesion turned toward the right-hand branch.
[Berserk Behemoth] turned and ran.
He had handed his warhammer and valuable gear to his teammates, leaving him with only the battered shield he had picked up from the battlefield. The branch was not very deep. When he reached the end, he did not stop. He turned his shoulder and rammed forward, forcing a shallow hollow into the already-loosened flesh.
The Lesion squeezed in right after him. Its thick forelimbs braced apart the tissue on both sides, its dark red carapace nearly filling the entire branch.
[Berserk Behemoth] glanced back and shouted in the team channel, "I'm at the end. How are things on your side?"
[Shield Worth More Than a Person]'s roar came from the main passage. "Almost there! Keep stalling!"
"Easy for you to say!"
He raised his battered shield and smashed it into the Lesion's forelimb. The crack across its surface widened on the spot. The attack did not injure the target, but the impact and the living human right in front of it were enough to make the Lesion keep advancing. It raised its forelimb, and [Berserk Behemoth] immediately rolled aside. The first strike slammed down beside his feet, tearing open a huge swath of the ground tissue.
He had only just climbed back up when another forelimb swept toward him.
The battered shield snapped in half. The player was hurled into the end of the branch, his breastplate and chest collapsing together as he was embedded in the ruptured tissue. His health bar emptied instantly. His corpse remained where it fell, half of the shield pressed against his leg.
"The second one's dead too!" [Life Sage] glanced at the grayed-out teammate portrait. "It'll be back