Chapter 1520 – Endless Sludge

I knew it was going to get bad, but sheesh, things are getting ridiculous out here.

The platform has been under constant assault since the wave broke, which is fine, that much was expected. What I didn’t expect was just how disgusting the fifth was going to get. The tunnel leading toward the platform I’m defending has turned into a kilometre-wide river of sludge and mucus. The walls are literally dripping with snot and slime that seeps together into a slow-moving torrent of goop. Since the platform and the rest of the fortress is disconnected from the tunnel by an empty gap, all of it just flows down and falls into the absurdly deep gap that runs the entire height of the fortress.

There must be an absolute ocean of the stuff forming down there. I hope the Colony constructed some sort of emergency overflow valve down there or something. I’m worried that if things keep going, it’ll pile up until this platform is ‘underwater’!

Now, I’m not affected by the mucus directly. It isn’t flying up and slapping me in the face, at least not yet. Does it contribute to the absurdly toxic atmosphere in here? Sure, but I don’t have to fight it!

However, this disgusting, noxious river of sludge seems to drive the monsters spawning around here into an absolute frenzy. It’s teeming with creepy slugs, crabs, weird sucker-fish things and plenty other things besides, all of them leaping out of the goop at the platform spewing out filth and trying to bite me.

It’s just… so icky.

Naturally, I don’t get much chance to rest, but thankfully, I don’t need one. I never venture out into the toxic mana anymore, remaining on the platform with the rest of the Colony and militia, using my abilities as best I can to help stem the tide.

Chomp!

“Attack on the left. Watch out!”

Chomp!

“Swarm incoming! Be careful of the parasites!”

Gravity Bomb!

HOOOOWWWWWWWWWLLLLL!!!

I hate the parasites.

“Eldest!”

Cho–whoa! That’s not for chomping!

“Bertran? What the heck are you sneaking up on me for!? There’s a battle going on!”

I concentrate, gather up the mana and fire off another gravity bomb. There isn’t much energy in it, but I empower it to provide the kick it needs to be effective. Considering just how dense the sludge and slime is out there, even gravity bombs aren’t super effective. They consume literal tons of slime over a few seconds and peter out. To create one large enough to do serious damage, I’d be risking the integrity of the platform itself.

At least I can still lob them at dense packs of monsters before they get too close. With a few seconds of breathing room, I turn my attention back to the templar.

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“Is everything alright? Is there a problem? Have we run out of salt?”

Bertran’s salt bombs have been way more effective than I thought they would be. The man has a remarkable talent for making the most out of not much. He even designed the salt lobbers we’ve started using. The carvers were miffed about the ‘inelegance’ of the design, but couldn’t argue with its effectiveness.

“No, nothing of the sort,” the older man replied, ducking his head in an awkward sort of half-bow half-nod thing that I’ve asked him not to do several times already. “The general wanted to speak to you and… uh… the other templar were hoping you’d have a… break.”

It isn’t hard for me to sense the other templar, and when I focus in that direction, I see the other five sitting down, looking intently in this direction. The kids too… cowards! They sent Bertran to try and get me to rest because they didn’t have the guts. Bah!

Wait a second.