RinoZ
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Chapter 1578 - Stench of Slug
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 01:04:55 +0000 UTCEvery now and again, another bomb is launched at the platform, forcing me to intervene by firing my own bomb to counter it. I canāt tell if they really expect to actually do some damage, or if theyāre just trying to wear me down.
It is tiring, having to constantly be ready. I need to keep mana in reserve at all times. Not even in reserve, I need to keep a bomb partially formed basically permanently. It occupies a chunk of my sub-brains, causes mental fatigue, and I canāt ever allow my gravitational construct to drop, which occupies even more of my mental resources.
Knowing the creatures of the fifth like I do, I suspect they feel very smug, confident that Iām getting tired, that my nerves are fraying, never knowing when the next bomb is going to come. I can almost picture them chuckling evilly to themselves, imagining my suffering.
Of course, Iām not tired, not even a little bit.
Goodness knows how many ants there are in the fortress, well over a million, and that Will flows in a neverending torrent, washing away my fatigue and keeping me as fresh as a daisy. The emotional burdenā¦ isnāt that bad, really. I mean, Iām already out here, constantly under attack. Having one more thing to keep an eye out for isnāt that much of an imposition.
I suppose it does mean I donāt get to take any more breaks, since I have to be on the platform without ever getting a rest. Itās not ideal, but I can manage.
However, thereās been another change out here. Itās subtle, there isnāt much to go on, but Iām getting a sniff of something a little different happening. The pressure, steadily rising as the wave has grown in intensity, has been ramping up a bit faster than I would have expected. The monsters are coming thicker and the mucus is more dense, more virulent than before. Roving packs of nasty parasites are sneaking about, diving at the defending ants from sneaky angles, acting far more cunning than before.
It stinks of slug. Reeks of Krath!
Those tricky slugs are back, pulling the strings and playing their little games. Iād hoped they wouldnāt show up during the wave, hoped weād be free of their meddling. Looks like it isnāt going to be that easy. I shouldnāt be surprised, nothing is coming easy down here.
They may have been behind the sludge bomb launching, but it appears they arenāt satisfied with that alone any more.
Chomping and blasting away, I do my best to take as much heat onto myself as I can, making life easier for the rest of the defenders, but despite my best efforts, itās a constant struggle. Ants go down, acid chewing through their mandibles, or they get globbed with mucus and need to be dragged away before the poison consumes them.
The attrition rate is still terrible.
Lousy slugs. Iām keeping my senses open for any sign of the sneaky, slithery scum. Krath are masters of disguise, able to conceal their presence and mask their mana expertly, they wouldnāt have survived down here without polishing those Skills until they gleamed. Howeverā¦ I think Iām starting to get better at spotting them.
For instanceā¦ that rock over there.
Itās part of the sheer wall that faces me, above and to the left of the tunnel exit in front of the platform. Iāve been looking at that rock, courtesy of my compound eyes, for weeks. I know that rock. I am one, with that rock.
And it isn't usually that wide.
If I were to guess, Iād say itāsā¦ maybe twenty to thirty centimetres thicker than it was before.
HA! You fools! You thought I wouldnāt notice? They donāt call me Anthony, the eagle-eyed for nothing!
I meanā¦ I canāt remember anyone actually calling me that, but they were thinking it!
As nonchalantly as one can play a screaming jet of super-enhanced fire around, I shift my target closer and closer to the suspicious rock. Then I drift it away again. Then closer again. Then away again.
Gweheheheh. Getting warm, suspicious rock? Feeling a little toasty?
Something about the Krath just brings out the worst in me.
Unwilling to wait any longer, I snap my focus and blast the rock directly, roasting the mucus around it in an instant. Ha! Did I get him? Itās not easy to see through the bubblings, steaming mucus but Iām pretty sure the rock has gone back to its regular size. The interloper has clearly fled, or been broiled.
Thatās what you get! Trying to be all sneaky.
Nowā¦ I wonder if there are any other suspicious lumps of sediment around here. Taking some time to train my eyes over the wall and really focus on the details, I try to spy more Krath, but Iām not seeing any other oddly sized rocks.
Maybeā¦ maybe that one?
To be honest, the colours are off more than the shapes, now that I really check. I can spot a dozen different outcroppings that arenāt looking quite right, the shades have changed a bit. I mean, that could just be the mucus oozing over the top of them, or perhaps theyāve started growing some mould or moss or something?
Just to be certain, I focus my external-mana sense, really drilling down on one of the oddly coloured sections of the wall, no larger than a curled up cat. Which was a mistake.
I barely have time to realise that I am, in fact, looking at a Krath, before dozens of nets are being launched from the wall, slicing into the blue mana and latching onto unsuspecting ants and even humans positioned close to the frontlines.
āKRATH!ā I roar with my pheromones. āCut the lines! Donāt let them take anyone!ā
If they actually manage to get someone out into the tunnels weāll never be able to get them back. Even I canāt survive out there, not anymore.
Comments
alt31415
Haven't you been saying that for a while now?
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
Grey Knight Lord
Ah, I am starting to really feel this arc is dragging on. Itās interesting, but itās a big grind of the same stuff each chapter.
BelligerentGnu
Man, I'm looking forward to the wave passing and the colony going on the offensive again.
alt31415
Hmm, speaking of logistics, I wonder if they've got a Gate in the 5th now? It was said that the toxicity of the 5th makes buildings gates to it impossible, but the Fortress is a big ol' Cleansed bubble.
DrDankness
What a messy fight. The logistics of the 5th make this place such a nightmare I wonder if we will ever get to the 6th safely.
alt31415
THE SINGING MUST STOP
Brandon14754
Or did maybe they move some of Theo's touch close to the base so they can do on site conversions?
Brandon14754
If Anthony can't survive out there anymore I'm surprised the nets can still keep the prisoners alive as they also have to keep out the corruption
