"Looks like Shed Guy caught on to us."
The Abomination dropped the ropes from its shoulders and grabbed its sickle. Its head was still looking at the ground, hiding its face.
Cullen commanded his crystals to fly out of his backpack. A barrage of gems flew in a circle around him, leaving no openings to attack.
'We don't know how strong it is, or what ability it has. It's important to be caref-'
Before he could finish thinking, Adam shot forward, closing the distance in a few seconds.
"Wait!"
The Shed Guy dashed backwards while raising his sickle, but was too slow to stop Adam. A beam of rock expanded and shot through its head, hitting and bouncing off the shed behind it.
Cullen struggled to catch up.
'He destroyed its skull with barely any effort, but the shed deflected the attack after that?'
It made no sense. If the core was protected in the shed, it may pose a challenge, but it's right there in the Abomination's chest. Maybe it's a fake?
The Shed Guy was unresponsive, aimlessly swinging its sickle in the air ahead of it. Adam punched through its rib cage and ripped out the core. By that time, Cullen had reached them.
"Take this," Adam handed the core to Cullen.
Cullen glanced at the core, but didn't reach for it.
"And do what?"
Adam looked strangely at Cullen.
"Use your ability? What else?"
Cullen sighed.
"We have no clue what that thing's ability is. How am I supposed to create something?"
The first time he broke a core was in the city when he fought Arthur. He obviously didn't know what would happen, but it turned into a dagger made of its skin. While that was beneficial for Cullen, if he had known about his ability and had as much practice as he does now, he could have made something much more substantial. It would be a waste to kill the Shed Guy without testing its ability.
"Fine," Adam scoffed, dropping the core to the ground. "I'll check out the shed."
He approached the shed and punched it immediately, but only his hand was affected.
"Ow."
He used his ability to attack it, but it was deflected the same as last time.
"Try the door!" Cullen shouted.
"This thing is unbreakable; there's no way the door will open!"
Adam reached for the handle and-
Woosh!
The door swung open, sucking Adam inside and closing right after.
'What the hell!?'
Cullen rushed over, but made sure not to get too close.
"Adam, can you hear me?"
There was nothing for a few seconds, but then a muffled voice came through.
"Yeah, but I can't see a thing!"
"…"
"Open the door! It's locked from the inside!"
"What?!" Cullen shouted.
'Is he insane?'
He looked behind him and even considered leaving Adam. But he decided not to. Only because he didn't know the way back.
"Cullen?"
He sighed.
"If I open it, it'll just suck me in!"
He wasn't about to get trapped in there along with Adam. But on the bright side, at least they had an idea of its ability.
Cullen glanced at the motionless body.
"Maybe if I put its core back in, it will open the Shed!"
"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said!"
Now that he thought about it, it was pretty dumb.
"How about I break the core!"
The shed was definitely a part of the Abomination, so it would turn into whatever Cullen created.
"What will happen to me in here?"
"Um…"
The truth was, Cullen didn't know. He almost died from The Island collapsing in on itself, and Adam was not in a good position if it did the same.
"Cullen, listen to me. If you open the door, I can blast out of here with my ability, and we'll both escape. But we only have one shot!"
'Damnit.'
Cullen didn't doubt Adam's survival skills, but he didn't want his life to end trapped in a shed with the worst person possible.
'Isn't there anything else I can do?'
He couldn't think of anything.
Cullen sighed, accepting his fate.
"Fine, I'll do it."
"Great! Just come over to the door."
Cullen slowly approached it.
"I shouldn't open until you touch the doorknob, so on the count of three, I want you to-"
Woosh!
Cullen did not touch the doorknob, but the door swung open on its own. He felt an unnatural wind suck his body into the darkness, then heard the door slam behind him.
"I told you not to touch it!" Adam screamed.
"I didn't, it opened on its own! Why didn't you escape?"
"I wasn't ready!"
Adam slammed the wall in anger, while Cullen struggled to stand. He couldn't see a thing, but feeling around, the size was the same as it looked on the outside.
"Fuck!" Adam kicked the wall.
Cullen finally felt the doorknob, but couldn't twist it with all his strength.
'If Adam can't escape with his strength, I definitely won't be able to. But what can I do?'
His crystals were all outside the shed, and his connection with them was severed. The vines didn't help at all because there was no immediate danger, and there wasn't any way to trigger them inside here. His knife wasn't strong enough to cut through the walls either. The only other ability he had was…
'The armband!'
He barely used it anymore and started to forget he was wearing it, but it was one of the only things useful enough to keep from The Island. And now, it may just save them.
"Adam, I have a way to open the door. Are you ready to blast us out?"
"How?"
"I have an armband that can reach through the walls, and I can open it from the outside."
But it would not be easy. He needed to slide the armband up to cover his hand, then back down to make contact with the doorknob. And once it opened, if he wasn't quick enough to cover it back up, he might lose his hand altogether.
"You've had that ability all this time? Damnit, Cullen!"
"That doesn't matter! Are you ready?"
"Yes," Adam responded after a few seconds.
"Okay."
Cullen covered his hand with the armband and activated its ability. He went to touch the door, but his whole limb went through.
"I don't know when it'll open, so be ready!"
Sweat dripped down his forehead.
Cullen slowly slipped the band down, making sure his hand and shoulder didn't touch the door. Once his hand was exposed, he reached for the doorknob.
Woosh!
He reacted immediately, pushing the armband back to cover his hand and pulling it inside.
BOOM!
At the same time, an explosion behind them threw Adam into Cullen. They fought against the wind, but the blast overpowered it and sent them flying out.
'It worked! And my hand is still attached!'
Cullen tumbled to the ground, followed by Adam. The door behind them slammed shut, and the shed somehow remained intact.
"Goddamn finally!" Adam stood up and brushed dust off himself. "Kill this thing already!"
Thud!
The ground below shook.
Thud!
Again, separated by a few seconds.
'What is this?'
"Cullen," Adam said carefully. "Hurry up so we can leave. Something's coming."
"I don't even know what to make with this ability!"
Thud.
"Then take the core with you!"
Thinking, Cullen stuffed it in his backpack.
Thud.
"Shit," Adam said.
Cullen glanced over at Adam, then noticed he was staring at something behind him. When Cullen turned, he almost dropped his backpack.
A towering Abomination was approaching them. It stood hundreds of meters tall, with thin, black limbs that moved slowly. But it only looked slow because of its size. Its body was almost human, but it had no features besides its charcoal skin. Its head was a candle, seemingly made of wax that was melting down its body. A bright blue flame lit the top, releasing more light than it should.
"What the hell is that?"
'More importantly,' Cullen thought, 'What the hell killed it?'
"Do we fight it?" he asked Adam.
They came down here to kill Abominations, but also need to be careful not to die. The problem was that, since Limbo's ability deteriorated everything here, there was no way to guess its strength based on appearance. It could be just as strong as when it was alive, or on the brink of death.
"I guess we should try," Adam said. "Stay here and I'll see if we can kill it."
Adam jumped forward, preparing to attack the Abomination. It didn't react to him, but Cullen had no idea how it fought anyway. Its ability was just as mysterious as its strength.
'Its core looks like it's in the candle, and also pretty big. The wax is actively melting, so it must replenish it somehow, and it must be stronger than normal wax. Maybe its lack of defense is why it got killed?'
Cullen knew that size didn't show an Abomination's strength, but it was hard to imagine this being weak.
All he had to go off of was Adam's attack, which was about to happen.