The monstrous fiend got in a fifth lunge before a massive shock wave knocked it backwards into the lake, sending another large wave out in all directions.

“Something’s happening!” Heath hissed, clutching his shield tightly as if he was in the midst of the battle himself. As the serpent rose out of the lake again, a multicolored barrage of different attacks struck its side and sent in reeling back into the water.

Instead of coming up immediately, this time the water began to churn violently, the subtle whirl of a maelstrom quickly forming in the middle of the lake. As the vortex rapidly grew in size, smaller monsters began to emerge all along the lake shore, much further up than they had been able to prepare for. The low-ranking Awakened were already stretched thin as it was.

Immediately ahead of them numerous green slimes wobbled up the beach, moving much faster than one might have expected of piles of snot. The other monsters seemed to avoid the nasty goo balls, landing much further up. Although there was still a good distance between them, being the outermost team, the monsters that emerged beyond the scope of the perimeter would eventually head for them.

“We can’t handle that many!” Heath shouted, backing briskly away, making sure that he was always between his friends and the approaching horde. “We have to pull back and join up with the other teams!”

As the slimes came within range one by one they began to reach for Heath and his shield with gooey, disgusting tentacles slithering out from the main body. The big man cut cleanly through one of the arms but it simply dropped to the ground where it flattened and pooled. Two more limbs swiftly grew out to take its place and when the slime oozed across the lost arm it naturally absorbed it back into itself.

Sonja put a couple of arrows in a slime, but when that did even less than Heath’s sword had, she drew her own blade instead and darted in to do what she could to squash the slimes’ attempts at Heath. They kept backing away toward the closest other team, but it was slow going.

Michael’s Bind skill was about as effective in restraining the oozing creatures as installing windshield wipers on a submarine, the glowing cords passing right through the undulating mass. Tentatively, he waved his mace half-heartedly, but he quickly lost his nerve and retreated to the back line.

Eik was displeased to see that Michael was still so passive despite the scare they had during the encounter with the Moon Will Swallow cult, where they were all almost murdered by a single, weakened man. That the young healer still didn’t seek to actively fulfill his role, but would rather wait for the injuries instead of helping to prevent them, was disappointing to see.

Michael had only used his barrier ability Single Protection twice since they set off for the Great Raid, and both were at Sonja and Eik’s requests. Even now he could have put one on Heath, but forgot, the ability being little more than a waste of a valuable skill choice as it stood.

They would have to speak with him later.

Eik himself was slashing at the slimes left and right with Viper Fang. The blade itself did no better than Heath and Sonja’s, but anywhere the Profound Toxin splashed onto the undulating muck the smooth surface of the slime clotted and turned into granular chunks that it shed as quickly as it could. The slimes tried to avoid Eik once their vulnerability became apparent, but he flitted about with Movement Boost, far surpassing their speed, and cut grooves in their mushy skin to get the poison in as deeply as he could.

With one of the constantly probing tentacles, a slime finally managed to get a proper hold of Heath’s large tower shield. Several of the other blobs immediately rushed in to merge their masses, creating a much larger single individual within a second and deploying half of its volume to rip the shield forcefully from the big man. Unfortunately, he was firmly hooked into the reinforced monster leather arm straps and was pulled along toward the slime, his arm instantly swallowed up to the bicep by the bouncy body.

At once the rest of the slimes joined up into a main body that reached almost five meters of super powered jelly death. Movement Boost carrying him to Heath’s side in the blink of an eye, Eik gripped his tank by the forearm with one hand and popped one of his homemade clumps of poison with the other.

“Eik, I can’t catch my balance!” Heath yelled, panic in his voice. “I can’t get out! Help me!”

As Eik pulled, the effects of his Noxious Invigoration skill kicked in response to the poison he ingested, but it wasn’t enough.

“I’m trying! This thing is strong!” he gasped. “And you’re already way too heavy!”

Heath glared as he tried to keep his head from being swallowed as well. “Big bones! I’m not fat, I have big bones!”

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"I know that! That's what I meant!"

With every second, Heath was drawn further and further into the monster, the entire left side of his body already enveloped completely. Once Sonja and Michael made it to them and added their strength to the rescue effort, Eik could concentrate on slicing Viper Fang along the edges of the slime, the hardened gel slouching off in globules.

Even then, the rate at which Heath was being sucked in was too fast. The small pieces Eik was able to shave off just weren’t doing it against a monster of such size, and when Heath’s head was finally gobbled up it became a matter of moments before it’d be too late.

With a grunt, Eik buried the knife up to his elbow as the Profound Toxin jetted directly into the gigantic monster. It wobbled and churned almost as if in thought, and then it spat out Heath with force, sending him stumbling to his knees. The hole left in the slime’s body after the big man’s exit suddenly expanded and stretched to pull Eik into its embrace. The movement was so rapid that he didn’t have a chance to react.

Viper Fang was ripped from his fingers the moment he entered the jelly mountain. Panic struck immediately. Eik’s fearful struggle was made impossible within the living prison. It could just as well have been a solid block of concrete for the freedom of movement in offered him.

He tried to scream when the slime began to invade his nostrils and ears but all it did was allow it to get into his mouth as well. Eik’s mind was a torrent of brain-melting terror as his breath was stolen and his body was arrested into a stasis-like stillness.

Vaguely, through slitted eyes, he could see the distorted shapes of his friends desperately slashing and bashing at the outer layer of goo, fighting to get him out. While the gesture was lovely and all, Eik knew that it was a losing battle.

As his consciousness began to fade and the dull thuds of the attacks outside grew faint, a cool clarity replaced the panic that had dominated his mind. That clarity granted the ability to recognize the way out—a painfully obvious solution.

It started from his fingers and continued down his hands and arms. He didn’t have to be able to move even a single muscle to be able to use his deadliest weapon. Eik released more Profound Toxin than he ever had before, the luminescent substance coloring his hair blue as it flowed from his face and scalp, out of his eyes like tears, and from his stomach, back, legs and feet.

The slime trembled and stiffened, the poison eradicating and destroying all tissue from the inside out. As it hardened and turned into chunks grooves opened throughout the now porous flesh, allowing the Profound Toxin to flow all the way out and seep out into the grass.

Heath used his fingers to rip the gel away with the giant strokes of a swimmer, digging his was into the middle where Eik hung suspended within. Once his head was excavated, Eik could at long last vomit up the slime that had now congealed and died in his throat and nose. The chunks were painful to expel, but up they needed to go.

As he hurled up clump after clump into the grass, another deafening explosion echoed across the gigantic lake, the sound bouncing back and forth several times. Eik risked a glance toward the main fight.

The top of a purple, domed barrier was barely visible above the ravaged crowns of the trees in the distance. Another, smaller barrier provided an extra layer of protection beneath it. That must have been what allowed the high-rankers to survive the initial onslaught by the lake serpent.

Transparent, supersonic blades of air flew up from the beach in rapid succession and pelleted the titanic beast. Following closely, two shock waves and the screaming bolt of Travis Lockwood’s Lightning Judgment of Tyrannical Ruination slammed into its lengthy abdomen, throwing it back toward the island in the middle of the lake and revealing even more of the mist-covered land.

The fog reached the clouds above, but on further towards the center of the island, the earth appeared to rise steeply into the air. That’s where the visibility ended, but if a mountain or something like that was hidden completely from view, then there was no telling what else might be in there as well. It was a frightening thought. If the lake serpent was only one of many monsters of that level of power, then humanity would stand no chance in a direct confrontation.

“Eik!” Eik tore his eyes away from the overpowered spectacle and focused on Heath who put a hand on his shoulder. “Can you walk?” the large man asked, a look of concern painted on his face. “The monsters will overrun us soon! We need to join up with the other teams to deal with this!”

Eik stared for a moment before he spoke. “Your skin… It’s red and swelling.”

Heath winced. “I think some of the poison from your Toxic ability got on me when I freed your from that ball of jelly. It hurts all over.”

“Hold on then,” Eik said and put his hands on Heath’s arms. “I think I can get it out of you. Just give me a second.” He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate despite the constant clamor of battle all around them.

“Eik, I’m not sure we have the time for that right not,” the tank said with urgency in his voice. “We really do have to run.”

“You want to die?” Eik snapped, fully aware of the time pressure. “Let me do this or the Pr—, poison will probably wreck havoc on your insides. So shut up and let me concentrate for two seconds.”

Since his evolution to Acolyte of Toxin, Eik had felt an almost spiritual connection to the Profound Toxin that he produced. Anytime he touched it he could feel its presence, and with proper concentration he could will it to obey simple wishes, such as returning to his body. With his hands on Heath’s skin, he could tell that the Profound Toxin had already invaded his system, albeit in small amounts only, doing its terrible work on friend as eagerly as it would on foe.

With a hiss, Eik requested it to come back to him. He felt it hear. He felt it listen. And he felt it refuse and continue to ravage his friend’s body. Again he tried, pulling on the Profound Toxin with his mind, ordering it to obey and retreat.

Anger welled up in him, white and hot, and he clenched his teeth in tense focus. This damned thing, whatever it was, was not going to dominate him like an unruly dog. Eik would stomp out even the smallest iota of defiance.