Chapter 1740 – What Could’ve Been Done?

Well… this could’ve gone better. It was going well right up until that idiot Priest charged in. I was trying to wear down the troops so they wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight, but the… let’s go with enthusiasm displayed means a heck of a lot more people than I hoped ended up getting hurt.

Is some of that to blame on me for unleashing a few Starcrushers? Maybe. In my defence, they forced me to… sort of. A giant sword of light appeared over me like I was hanging out with Damocles, for goodness’ sake! I had to do something!

Perhaps I should have restrained my more… explosive instincts, but what’s done is done.

And what’s done is this battle.

With two battalions of troops from the Colony charging in, alongside Tiny, Crinis and Invidia, things come to a rather swift and generally anti-climactic end. Soldiers from the Church seem to want to fight to the bitter end, despite their rapidly worsening situation, but they’re the most tired and drained of everyone present. Some of them are looking straight up dessicated, which makes me think they might need to hydrate a little more.

The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is lacking moisture.

When it comes to the troops who sallied forth out of Green Mountain, they see the writing on the wall a lot more quickly and lay down their arms. Once we reach that stage, it takes another half hour to round everyone up, get things organised, administer medical care and all the other menial tasks that come with winding up a battle.

Which gives me an opportunity to sit and rest a little. After getting the absolute snot beaten out of me for an extended period of time, my system is still flooded with regeneration fluid. All of the superficial wounds are closed over in record time, but some things take a little longer than others. Out of all of my injuries, my carapace takes the longest to repair, given the dense nature of the material it’s composed of.

Right now, I’m covered in a mass of cracks, dings and splits. Some of the blows I suffered were enough to get all the way through, leaving deep rents that are still being healed from the inside out. Even with the absurd abundance of healing fluid and the support of my inner carapace plating, the amount of damage I sustained is still a little worrying.

Then again, I did let ten thousand people try and beat me up without fighting back, so… everything is relative, I suppose.

Despite the depth and breadth of the injuries, the regeneration network is going to take care of them before long. As far as stress tests for the power of this particular organ, things couldn’t have gone better. Mutating it to +15 has made the thing even more ridiculous. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like at +40.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Gweheheheh, will I ever be defeated?!

Well, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. If I took a Singularity to the face, I’m pretty sure I’d be cooked there and then. Since I can cast something that powerful, it would be stupid to assume that nobody else can.

“Eldest, are you alright?”

Victor emerges from the bustle around me and skitters up to my side, apparently having come down to take over for Sloan. She’s in her element organising things on occasions like this, putting everything in its place and ensuring things are running smoothly.

“I’m fine,” I tell her. “Surprisingly fine. Things could have gone better, but I can’t complain on my end.”

“I must apologise for the way things went, Eldest. We should have anticipated that some might become too enthusiastic and break ranks.”