Chapter 45 – The Elder Brain

The last group consisting of Hermione, Max, Cameron, Annabeth and Harley were also engaged in a furious battle. 

They had explored deeper underground as they followed a newly dug tunnel deep under the building they were in. 

As they entered  a large cave, they were discovered as they found themselves facing a levitating Elder Brain! An elder brain is the cumulative brains of the illithids that had expired and were the telepathic mind controlling all the illithids in the area in their hive mind. 

It looked like a huge floating brain that levitated above the ground, with gruesome tentacles hanging down, similar to a huge ugly jellyfish.  

Not only was the elder brain powerful on its own, it was protected by several brain golems. Brain golems were large golems made completely of brain matter and were formed by elder brains for defensive measures.

There were also several illithids there, serving the elder brain that were engaged in battle with the girls.

Cameron was being bashed into the ground by a brain golem. She continued trying to get up stubbornly, but the brain golem kept ground and pounding her so much so that her skin was flayed everywhere, revealing her terminator skeleton underneath. 

Annabeth's arm was stuck inside a brain golem. She had stabbed it with her magic knife, but her knife and her arm got stuck in the multiple folds of brain matter that made up the brain golem. 

Max was trying to help free her when she was grabbed by the leg by another brain golem and thrown around like a rag doll. 

Hermione was being battered, hiding behind a shield as one of the brain golems attacked her shield. 

Suddenly the Elder Brain attacked with a mind blast, causing all the familiars to lose control of their bodies as their minds were seared in pain. 

The brain golum trapping Annabeth's arm slammed her with its fists, then while her arm was still stuck in it, it jumped on her body, slamming her underneath its huge girth. Her bones in her arm cracked loudly from being bent the wrong direction as she screamed in pain as the overwhelming weight dropped on her body. 

The other brain golum that was holding Max's leg grabbed her other leg and pulled her legs apart. She screamed in pain as her crotch ripped in the middle, then her original leg that it held was ripped off. 

Hermione was incapacitated by the mind blast and her magic shield collapsed as the brain golem attacking her smashed her into the ground, smashing every bone in her body, killing her. 

It was that moment that Sam and the familiars in the Nexus appeared. 

Using the element of surprise, with guns blazing Mindy, Natasha, Lara, Selene, Alice, Violet and Aeon appeared at different locations, each standing behind a illithid and killing them at point blank range.  

Trix joined Faith, Yuriko and Buffy as they engaged with a brain golem each while Tauriel distracted the brain golems with her arrows. 

Sam brought Max and Annabeth into the Nexus and started healing them as the naked Hermione was resurrected in the Nexus and exited to do battle again. 

The six Samsara bodies also used their individual abilities to join the attack on the Elder Brain together with Sabrina, Alex, Melinda and Phoebe. 

However, the Elder Brain was not any easier to deal with than the ulitharid. It too had a impenetrable psionic shield protecting it from all harm.

As the Elder Brain seemed to be covered in some sort of liquid, Sabrina seemed to be unable to burn it, rendering her spell ineffective against it. 

With a simple area wide mind blast, all the familiars suddenly found themselves unable to move as brain golems smashed them with their superhuman strength. 

However, the familiars that died immediately resurrected naked in the Nexus, and instantly Sam sent them out to rejoin the battle. 

After a while, there were multiple naked dead copies of practically all the familiars in various positions of their deaths, all over the area as the brain golems crushed them. 

The cycle repeated itself over and over with the forces of the Elder Brain completely wiping out Sam's familiars and Samsara bodies, but the familiars kept respawning and reappearing while the Samsara bodies kept regenerating no matter how gruesomely they were destroyed.

They had tried to respawn next to the Elder Brain but somehow were unable to and were instantly mind blasted the moment they appeared out of the Nexus, as if it could sense the timing and direction of their appearance. 

Annabeth suddenly appeared from the Nexus and cast her Master Bolt at the Elder Brain as it mind blasted her. As the actual thunderbolt of Zeus, this was the most powerful attack she had. 

A huge thunderbolt struck the Elder Brain with a loud crash that blinded everyone for a few seconds,

The Elder Brain was protected by its' psionic shield, but the bolt was so powerful that even thought the shield managed to block part of the attack, it still managed to damage the Elder Brain. 

Silver blood spurted from several parts of the Elder Brain's body as it seemed deflated on one side and no longer levitated steadily. Instead it seemed lopsided. 

As it struggled, the attacks of the brain golems were less coordinated and more random as their hive mind seemed to be affected. 

However, although they were less coordinated, they seemed more berserk and attacked more frantically, making it difficult for the familiars to further attack the Elder Brain who now seemed to be trying to flee. 

"No! Don't let it get away" Sam ordered from inside the Nexus. 

The familiars started firing away at the Elder Brain, with bullets and arrows flying, energy bolts and plasma bolts all bouncing off the psionic shield it put up, rendering their attacks useless. 

It countered with a psionic blast again, causing the familiars who were attacking to collapse in pain, holding their heads. 

Suddenly, there was a nasally voice, not too loud, not too soft, singing the Mighty Mouse song:

"Here I come to save the day!" 

Something dropped from the cave ceiling, landing into the brainy goop that the Elder Brain was made up off.

Manic laughter could be heard as female arms seemed to be ripping out brain matter and smashing around inside the creature causing it to immediately stop levitating and crash to the ground. 

At the same time the momentum had turned as the familiars started getting the upper hand over the brain golums. Without the Elder Brain controlling them through their hive mind and also mind blasting the familiars and Samsara bodies, making them easy targets for the brain golums, the familiars now were able to coordinate and bring down the brain golems. 

Pathetic screams could be heard as silver blood sprayed everywhere and a silhouette of a sexy female could be seen amidst the carnage of what was the body of the Elder Brain, swinging what looked like a baseball bat.

She stopped when all the tentacles stopped moving and the whole thing looked like a deflated balloon with silver blood everywhere.

Harley walked out with a smile on her face and her bat over her shoulder. The fact that she still had clothes on showed that she didn't die and resurrect at all in this battle.

"Hi there! Miss me?" Harley asked with a crazy smile as she removed her top which was completely drenched in silver blood, exposing her breasts and wiping her face with her top. 

"Harley!" Selina yelled, wondering where she has been all this time.

[Killing the Elder Brain: 1 Karma Point]

Before Sam could react to getting another Karma Point, suddenly Harley grasped her throat, gasping for air and started levitating in the air as if someone was choking her.

Her head suddenly exploded as her limp body fell to the ground. 

From behind her, deeper in the cave came a figure standing on a Brainstealer Dragon, which was a dragon converted into an illithid, and accompanied by two mindwitnesses, which were beholders converted into illithids, which had the abilities of their original races, plus the abilities of an illithid!

It was the ulitharid, the same one they faced earlier due to to the burnt tentacles on its face. It had escaped earlier to get reinforcements. 

Sam watched from the Nexus, not knowing what to do. Just by itself, the ulitharid was so powerful. Now it came back with a dragon and two beyonders!