Name: Artaxion, the Shifting Titan
Type: Apex Floor Boss (Body-Reinforced / Adaptive Combat Predator)
Primordial Influence: Kaiser — Strength Beyond Flesh
Core Ability: Ligament Drift
Lore — Artaxion, the Shifting Titan
Long before the Tower of Flesh and Bone was forged, there were creatures designed to embody the extremes of strength and adaptability. Artaxion was one such creation — a being whose very frame could bend the laws of anatomy, muscles and ligaments flowing like liquid steel.
Legends whispered that it was once a guardian of a primordial battlefield, where warriors clashed for centuries. To survive, Artaxion developed Ligament Drift — the ability to detach its body from its own limitations. Over time, it became a predator of predators, feared not for raw power alone, but for the impossible angles and unpredictable strikes it delivered.
Now, bound to the fifth floor's domain, Artaxion waits for challengers. Its lattice of elastic muscles and adaptive ligaments has become the ultimate test: only those who can match precision, speed, and creativity may survive.
Floor Rule — "Never Misjudge"
Description: The challenger must not underestimate the opponent's reach or force.
Consequence of Breaking: Any miscalculated attack or movement (hesitation, overreach, or sloppy strike) causes a partial dislocation of Shojiro's joints — ligaments snap, bones shift painfully — resulting in near-instant critical damage that must be healed by Yggdrasil. This makes the fight extremely punishing without Vythra.
Narrative Purpose: Reinforces the floor's theme of precision and adaptive thinking; Shojiro can't rely on brute force alone and must fully master Muscle Reconfiguration and Ligament Drift observation to survive.
Appearance
Form: Humanoid but grotesquely elongated. Limbs can stretch several meters mid-combat without appearing broken.
Skin & Muscle: Semi-translucent, showing pulsing crimson ligaments beneath. Muscles shift visibly around its skeleton.
Hands & Feet: Long, almost spider-like fingers tipped with razor claws; can anchor or whip with precision.
Head & Face: Narrow skull, no eyes; sensory pits along the temples allow echolocation and vibration detection. Mouth wide, jaw reinforced with ligament-supported hinges for high bite force.
Torso: Armor-like muscle blocks shift constantly; chest has a faintly glowing orb-shaped heart similar to previous bosses, encased in ligament-reinforced muscle lattice.
Joints: Shoulders, elbows, knees visibly extendable; bones partially exposed but wrapped in elastic ligaments.
Behavior & Combat Style
Movement: Extremely unpredictable. Can leap, twist, and pivot mid-air using ligament recoil.
Fighting Approach: Uses joint extension to strike from impossible angles. Can "wrap" limbs around targets or objects, pulling them in.
Tactics:
1. Elastic Strikes: Punches, kicks, and slashes can extend unnaturally far.
2. Joint Redirection: Can redirect force from attacks through its body, making it hard to damage directly.
3. Muscle-Mass Reallocation: Shifts muscle tension to reinforce limbs mid-combat, dynamically adjusting armor vs. mobility.
Adaptive: Learns from Shojiro's muscle reconfiguration, changing attack patterns.
Special Mechanics
Heart Orb: Its life-point core is ligament-protected in the chest; must be destroyed to truly kill it.
Near-Death Threshold: If Shojiro gets too close to dying, the shard may allow recovery, but repeated mistakes punish Vythra flow.
Environmental Interaction: Can anchor limbs to walls, ceilings, or debris to create "elastic bridges" or swing attacks.
Visual Cues for Players/Reader
Ligaments pulse crimson when overextended or storing kinetic energy.
Limbs elongate unnaturally mid-strike, sometimes bending back toward its body like rubber bands.
When preparing a high-damage attack, the orb-heart's glow intensifies and the ligament lattice visibly hums with tension.
Personality / Intelligence
Tactical: Learns and adapts during battle; won't repeat obvious mistakes.
Predatory: Prefers to isolate Shojiro and attack from impossible angles.
Savage Efficiency: Minimal wasted movement; every strike is calculated for max damage or destabilization.