Chapter 1555 – Reception of the Bulg

Zluth awoke with a start, thrashing and struggling against the ties that bound him. Had he been caught by a sletherpod? Or was he being digested inside a volun turtle? That was dire, but he could still escape so long as he hadn’t been here long. The gastric juices of the turtle were insidious, breaking down prey from the inside out. So long as it hadn’t penetrated too deep, he could still call on his magic to…

Wait… this wasn’t the stomach of a volun turtle, and he hadn’t been eaten by a sletherpod. Where was he?

The Krath scout stopped thrashing and began to examine his surroundings more closely. He was immersed in fluid, to be sure, but it wasn’t stomach acid, rather a nourishing form of mucus the tribes cultivated, called streth; he recognised the taste of it. He was tied down, to be sure, but when he stopped struggling wildly, it was easy to manipulate his body and slip loose from the bonds.

Breaking the surface of the fluid, Zluth sucked in a deep breath and found his wounds were much improved from what he recalled. That could only mean…

Twisting his eye-stalks, he saw another Krath looking down at him with a savage expression.

“What a delicious little morsel we have here,” she cackled. “Now that we’ve fixed you up, you’re ripe for the plate.”

Zluth didn’t take her words all that seriously, as this was a fairly typical welcome to a tribe that wasn’t your own. There was every chance they did intend to eat him, but the fact they’d healed him meant they had other business first.

“I am Zluth, Krath’lath of the Slee and Krath’sizz serving under Chozth of the Thuuz. I have a message for Ulliz, leader of your tribe.”

“Must be some message,” the Krath replied, “to send you sliding through the Dungeon during a wave.”

There was a grudging respect in her eyes, an acknowledgement of the incredible knowledge, skill and luck required to undertake such a journey.

“What did you do to land such a duty?” she asked, curious.

Zluth exposed his needle-pointed teeth.

“I volunteered,” he said.

Her eyes widened and she reached down to help him out of the healing pod.

“That must be some message.”

“I must speak to Ulliz. Urgently.”

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It would take time for him to properly heal, and the horrors of the journey would remain with him for a long time, along with the scars, but he had persevered and, somehow, survived. The Bulg must have found him somewhere in the tunnels, since he didn’t remember reaching their Slimeground at all.

The last he could recall, he was racing to eat an ooze-worm before it ate him first. Clearly, he’d won the contest, only to pass out. Shameful.

As Zluth continued to pull himself together, things were happening around him. The healer had fetched someone more important, who had done the same, until someone was sent to bring him before the Krath’lath. Sliding through the Slimeground of the mighty Bulg tribe was eye-opening to Zluth. The size was overwhelming to him; the sheer number of Krath was boggling. How did they feed so many mouths? Their farms must be huge, and their Blubbeasts hyper-efficient if they were able to maintain such a large population.