Chapter 1571 – Bombs Away

The monsters of the fifth are unique, as far as this scholar is aware, in both their unusual resilience, and also their irresistible offence. Other monsters might fight with claws, or magic, or fangs, and the monsters of the fifth do this also, but they don’t have to. Their very presence is a deadly weapon. Every touch has the power to kill.

The mana of the fifth is an almost flawless creation. Capable of consuming even other types of arcane energy, corrupting and shaping them to make more of itself. It is an infectious, unstoppable poison. Were it not for the density of energy that marks the boundaries between the strata, the entire world would have fallen prey to it by now.

If indeed this energy is the creation of the Ancient Theorazzn, as some theorise, then I would dearly love to speak to the monster. A mastery of energy this profound… what they have made may be foul, but it is also perfect.

– From the writings of the Unnamed Heretic.

I’m tired. I’m so tired.

These monsters never stop! The mana never stops! The mucus never stops! Honestly. I’ve seen so much mucus during this wave that I’m starting to forget what the world looks like when reality doesn’t have a serious cold.

Starcrusher!

BOOM!

My jaws slam shut and detonate the sphere that forms between my jaws, sending shockwaves of fire before me, burning away the slime and monsters that tried to draw near. Thanks to my new armour, I don’t suffer major burns anymore, the explosion no longer searing my precious carapace. Unfortunately, my eyes are still exposed, so I’m blinded, but hey, this is still a massive improvement.

Seriously, I cannot wait to evolve, just so I can reforge my eyes into an unfathomably hard substance. At the very least, I want to coat them in some clear layer that’ll protect them. If I have that, then I won’t have to suffer so much from my own abilities, and even the mana of the fifth won’t be so intolerable since it won’t have this soft and squishy point to attack.

I pull back a little to let my eyes heal. Not being able to see is a bit of a pain in the neck, but it doesn’t stop me from engaging with what’s going on around me. My mana sense is alive and well, and I use it to sweep the tunnel ahead, along with the space to my sides, above and below. I’m on high alert after what happened before. A bomb formed of hyper-dense fifth stratum mana? That was terrifying! Caught unawares, I was barely able to stop it from destroying the entire platform, but I didn’t prevent it from doing significant damage to the fortress.

Whoever cast it… they’re asking for a singularity right to the face. Only problem is, they displayed pretty darn high level magic Skills with that cast. I couldn’t sense them forming the bomb at all, only detecting it after it was released. Without the Altar, I never would have been able to summon a bomb of my own strong enough to compete in the short amount of time I had to respond.

It’s obviously easier to hide a bomb formed of fifth mana while out there in the fifth during a wave, but holy moly, that was a seriously dense ball of goop. Had it landed on the platform, it might have just eaten through and destroyed the entire thing, me and everyone else here along with it.

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With the ability to conceal spells like that, I’m unlikely to sense this individual before they decide to reveal themselves, which has me jumpy, to say the least. I’ve passed word to all the other platforms so they can take countermeasures, of course, but none of them have reported anything similar happening. It’s a relief in a sense, but raises questions at the same time. Why only target this platform? Just because I’m here?

There’s no reason for the monsters of the fifth to like me, certainly, but I don’t think they have a reason to be particularly angry at me either. I’m just chilling here on the platform, not hurting anyone! Well, I’m hurting thousands upon thousands of monsters, but most of them are days old at best.

Gradually, my sight returns, and I push my way back to the front, taking my place in the centre of the line. The wave continues to intensify, as these things do, and I’m getting worried about what it’s going to look like at its peak. If the mucus flows more thickly, it might actually bridge the gap between the tunnel and the platform, flowing out onto the surface. If that happens, it’s game over for us, no question. Even having to build a wall to keep it out would be a massive problem, since the wall would start to disintegrate the moment it was actually needed.