Ur bared his teeth and drew in a breath.
Anger burned in his lungs. He inhaled the acrid haze filling his helmet and found that it was not as airless as he had believed.
It made the back of his throat revolt, tasting like highly concentrated syrup.
Ur straightened up, drew his blade above his head, and assumed a defensive stance. The blade lay parallel to the ground, its tip aimed directly at the nightmare thing atop the fountain.
"Shut your rotten mouth, mud. I'm here, and there ain't no boss."
The creature seemed to swell as it drew in a dozen tentacles.
"Ah, good. I do love whipping and stabbing, but it has been so long since I last saw bruised flesh."
"Hagrid."
Ur turned and shouted at the big lad trampling the heaps of flesh slurry nearby. He had no real certainty that he could fight this grotesque nightmare creature, but the precaution gave him some comfort.
"Send a message to that shiny silver git. We found Lingdong..."
"You say it!"
Hagrid shouted back.
"I can handle these by meself... damn it, why do they keep drilling into me arsehole?!"
"Follow orders, idiot."
Ur's words landed like a blow to the face. Hagrid shook off the tentacles wrapped around the roots of his thighs, stepped into the passage, and pulled out a brick-like communicator bound in masses of copper wire. Several Kommandoz followed him, firing in every direction as they moved.
The Weirdboy remained where he was, holding up his metal staff.
"The rest of you, follow me."
Ur roared.
"At least this bastard is mine."
The corrupted thing answered with a mocking laugh, its rippling muscles flowing amid its mass of tentacles.
The mirrored screens around them flickered. Stale faces melted away, new faces emerged, and the