CREWSADERS - THE NOVELIZATION OF A GAME THAT DOESN'T EXIST

2-2:

Harvey's footsteps burrowed in the mud as he wheeled Nicha back in the woods. His face was red with the frustration of having to push a heavy rock while the ground was shaking so much. Had it always rumbled this hard? Was it because of the battle? Was his head just playing tricks on him?

"I told her we shouldn't have gone in there, but nooooo..!"

Regardless of whether or not he was going insane, his empty stomach wasn't doing any help. It's not like he's ever gone that much time without food in his home world, but unlike there, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to find any more systenance. Ever.

"How far do I have to walk for this to wear off, anyway? There doesn't even seem to be anything beyond this pla- AGH!"

https://youtu.be/mAk0dNzrPcE?si=kiu6V289EmeyjmW3

Harvey tumbled to the ground as the mud under his feet rose into a hill, leaving him to clutch onto the cart for his dear life until they met a stump on the way down. Harvey and Nicha were sent flying on the air and fell with a resounding 'THUD'. Harvey's shock was quickly broken by the muffled grumbling coming from a buried Nicha, who quickly pulled her head off the ground.

"I'm going to kill that woman," she fumed as she started stomping her way up the hill.
Harvey tried to hurry after her. "H-hey don't go back there!" Nicha was out of his view, he called again, "You'll- AGH!"
She came blasting back on her boots, scooped Harvey up, and continued speeding away. "You're right, let's hit the bricks," she agreed.
"You.. okay then! If that's what made you change your mind, I'll take it."
"It's not that," she said, repositioning Harvey so he could see what was behind them. A massive slug-like monster had risen out of the ground, covered in bushes and mud, constantly rising and growing in size, shifting every piece of land in the forest.

Wait.

Was it the forest!?

"WERE WE STANDING ON THAT THING!?" Harvey yelled.
"Looks like it," Nicha said as she just barely veered around a tree that was rising up to meet her. She needed to keep going if she wanted to live, yet the monster only got faster.

Nicha boosted as far as she could, using whatever hard surfaces she came across as the closest sort of stable positioning.. until her boots started emitting flames less and less...

And less...

And less...

Nicha and Harvey tumbled back into the monster. Nicha heroically landed on a broken piano as Harvey started sinking into the mud.

"What happened!?"
"My boots must've gotten clogged along the way," Nicha said, groaning as she tried to pull him out from the sludge.
"I should've just stayed in the phone booth.. "
Nicha hit an incoming tentacle emerging from the ground with her wrench. "Well, you can't give up now! I'll fight these things off, try not to sink, buddy."
"Uh yeah, not much else I can do," he agreed as the waves of sludge carried him away. "Not sure how I'll manage, though!"

As tricky as it was to maneuver the flood, Harvey managed to stay afloat the the most part.. and yet he screamed at the top his lungs he saw the dropoff that was soon approaching in the flow of his river of mud.
"NICHA," he yelled. "GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON'T THINK I CAN HANDLE FALLING FROM- Hold on, is that a flying fridge?"

It turned out it was, indeed, a fridge. And a wardrobe. And a table, and a bed, and a grand piano, and a whole wall, and so on and so forth. Each part fell from the top of the monster before they became engulfed in crystals and were sent flying back, blasting upwards like bullets.

The creature had reached the mansion.

Harvey held onto a drifting chair to catch his breath, but soon it too became covered in crystals.