Chapter 311 - Strategy.

As the walkway falls towards Afton he barely dodges it by hopping backwards. This doesn't achieve much however as Patient Zero simply swipes the walkway with its tentacles, managing to clip Afton and smashing him through one of the building's deteriorating walls. Almost falling down the cliff before luckily catching himself.

[Grit is in effect]​​

He shakes his head to rid the disorientation and gets to his feet, he coughs slightly from having the air forced from his lungs but regains his breath quickly.

*Thunk, Thunk, Thunk*

Every step Patient Zero makes sounds like a tree being felled and hitting the floor, its sheer weight making even blind creatures aware of when it's moving. Afton glances up and sees the monster slowly approaching, it's tentacles prepared to stab and grab at him.

He unconsciously shuffles back slightly but reaches the very end of the cliff, glancing backwards at the large drop that doesn't seem survivable in the least. Not having much other choice, he draws the LAER and starts firing a spray of tri-beam lasers at it.

Most lasers actually hit the target, but only seem to burn some of the bark instead of actually piercing deeper or doing any true damage. Patient Zero grunts slightly with each impact but doesn't seem injured at all.

Using VATS, he freezes time and looks around for anything he may be able to use against the monster. There isn't much up there in all honesty, aside from the building which is inhabited by Patient Zero and a number of Spore Plants. The only exit, the walkway, had been destroyed moments ago, making leaving rather difficult.

If Afton had a larger area to fight the monster, he was sure he'd be able to kill it fairly easily, but unfortunately, he was at risk of being torn limb from limb the longer he stayed within tentacle length of it.

After looking around for a while he finally spots some outcroppings where the walkway had been... Perhaps he could hop down and escape this place?

Resuming time, he dodges sideways to avoid some tentacles while drawing his Inversal axe, slicing cleanly through them and causing Patient Zero to growl in annoyance or maybe pain? He sprints towards the drop where the outcroppings were and attempts to jump... Only to find a tentacle wrapping around his ankle, pulling him into the air and slamming him against everything solid.

"FUUUUUCK!" Afton shouts as he's bashed against the canyon walls, the metal of the building, many of the roots around the place, and even the ground. He tries to escape the tentacles grip with strength alone, the damage he was taking boosting his [Grit], and in combination with [Solar Powered] he had around 16 Strength now.

Still, it wasn't enough to pry himself from its grasp, he attempted to cut away the tentacle with his Inversal axe but after cutting it, found another grabbing the same spot. After a few moments of being slammed around, Afton grabs a root and resists the tentacles pull, his muscles straining in the contest of strength.

He manages to wrap his legs around the root to keep hold while aiming his LAER at one of the Spore Plants around Patient Zero... He was quite a distance away, but he was willing to waste all of his ammunition on this task.

It's awkward to fire the rifle with one hand, but he's forced to regardless, he fires many, many shots towards them. Eventually clipping the stem of a Spore Plant.

*BOOM!*

Plasma explodes from the creature as [Meltdown] activates, incinerating it, and a few nearby Spore Plants, causing a chain reaction which envelopes Patient Zero entirely. The tentacle holding Afton's leg drop off lifelessly, and he quickly climbs down from where he was holding on for dear life.

He doesn't even take a second glance at the dust cloud caused by the explosion as he jumps down to the outcropping to reach the canyon passage below, hopefully never having to see Patient Zero again.

Once Afton reaches the canyon passage below, he falls into some deep foliage that'd somehow been growing down here, despite the lack of sunlight.

He unconsciously releases a deep growl at being caught in yet more plants. Activating his Inversal axe and slashing it all around him, destroying many saplings, bushes, and even some hidden enemies that'd been hiding.

After his short reign of destruction had ended, he huffed and sucked in air, glancing around at the small area cleared of plants. "I really, fucking hate plants..." he mutters.

*SMASH!*

Afton looks up to see what the sound is and noticed many stones falling from the cliff wall towards him. He avoids them and tries to see what'd caused it, grimacing when he spots tentacles thrashing around up where he'd left Patient Zero... Apparently, it wasn't as dead as he'd thought.

He bites the inside of his cheek and decides on a 'strategic retreat', when really meant, running away and coming back later with the biggest flamethrower he could find.

Despite his dislike of plants, his fear of Patient Zero allowed him to quickly make his way through the jungle-like canyon passage. He was forced to kill many creatures on the way, Spore Plants, Spore Carriers (presumably from unfortunately Lobotomites), and other mutated strains that'd infected plants. He even saw a mutated potato plant that shot rock-hard potatoes... Yeah, the Irish would love that thing, but not Afton.

Eventually, after much trouble, he made his way out of the fungus infested zone, inwardly celebrating at escaping in one piece, despite the injuries he'd sustained by Patient Zero... His ankle, back, neck, and arms were incredibly sore, though now that he was back in the sunlight they'd be slowly repairing themselves.

Just to make sure though, "Nyx, could you give me a stim to help my injures?"

"I'll begin treatment." Nyx says, speaking for the first time since he found himself in the fungus infested region. Perhaps she was upset at not being useful at all in the battle?