A minute's worth of poking reveals that the thing was a displacer beast while alive - though the fleshy tentacles seem to have decayed entirely, it is a six legged feline, of roughly the right size and shape. And, most notably, it seems to still retain its ability to not be where it appears to be. The shadows coiled around it don't help, either.
Your summoned earth elemental fills the corridor - overfills it, in fact, its form merging seemlessly into the tortured rock around it. A mighty fist slams downwards, seemingly from out of the ceiling itself... and whooshes unimpeded through the twisting shadows, to merge again into the stone floor.
The beast, now once again free to act, renews its assault on you; ignoring the elemental completely. One of its claws actually connects, this time. The physical injury is relatively minor, but you can feel it tearing directly at your life-force. No wonder so many prior adventurers fell to this thing - someone not so well armored as you are could easily have died from its initial attack.
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