Chapter 1628 – Lose the Core of Who You Are

The Krath were losing. No matter how many times they beat back the armoured ants, they kept coming back, climbing up the walls, throwing themselves recklessly forward, as if they didn’t care if they lived or died. Even when they seemed like they were about to fall, even when it seemed like they couldn’t take any more, they started… burning, catching fire from within, and then they were fine. And then they came again.

Even that was better than the bigger ones, with the mushrooms. They were dead, Zluth was sure they were, he’d seen them. They were burned, or cut, or contaminated, but it didn’t seem to matter. Regardless of how badly they were damaged, they pulled themselves back together, their bodies rewoven, and then… they just kept going.

He was no fool. There were hundreds of monsters in the fifth with unnatural endurance, and all of them were beaten the same way: overwhelming offence. It was just, no matter how they tried, the Krath hadn’t been able to inflict enough damage on the ants for it to overcome whatever was holding them together.

And the shadows… the shadows were everywhere.

The huge gorilla beast roared in savage defiance. Lighting cracked and thunder boomed. He was getting closer and closer. Soon, those massive fists and the explosive light that came from them would be in range. Zluth did not want to see what would happen once he was in range.

The writhing tentacles, an entire forest of them, lashed and consumed everything they could touch. Zluth had seen what happened once they touched something. He never wanted to see it again.

Detonations rang out nearby, manifesting in midair. The concussive force pressed the slug against the wall of the heart. To be honest, it was a stretch to say he was even on the wall anymore, this was the roof of the chamber! They’d run out of room.

Nearby, Soluzz worked to rally his tribe against the invasion. Radiating with fury, the powerful Krath’lath hissed, spat and bellowed at the invaders, drawing on his magic time and time again to push the invaders back. No matter how successful he was, it simply didn’t matter. The blue mana continued to draw closer and closer as the flow erupting from the vents continued without pause.

Zluth was only now starting to come to grips with just how long the ants had been planning this: from the very beginning. The entire invasion had been orchestrated to create this moment, here and now. Even the wave, which had seemed like the perfect opportunity to destroy the invaders, had been necessary for this plan.

The cursed platforms, sucking in all of that mana for those days and weeks, he’d assumed it was just enough to maintain the fortress against the fifth, but he had been very, very wrong.

Zluth looked around carefully. The shadows were still a constant threat, and he refused to allow himself to be caught unawares. More and more, he was starting to think that this battle wasn’t one they could win. If that was true, then this entire section of the fifth wouldn’t be safe for long.

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The Krath around the Dungeon needed to be warned. The sooner all of the tribes were able to rally against this threat, the better. If they stayed divided, the ants would pick them off, one heart at a time. They would only learn the true extent of the danger if a survivor told them about it, someone who had been there to see it with their own eyes.

If a slug was needed to do this, then why not Zluth? It would be incredibly difficult, traversing unknown sections of Dungeon, never knowing when the deadly blue mana might overtake him, but he had made a habit of performing impossible feats lately.

He didn’t mind his chances.

“Hit them!” Soluzz roared. “Everything you have! Melt their bones. Give them pain!”

He continued to exhort the others, and the Zissth responded. Zluth had to give it to them, they were a powerful and united tribe. It wouldn’t be enough, but he did admire them for that. Had the Krath been able to properly prepare for this fight, he had no doubt they would have won it, but it wasn’t to be.