I sipped at my steaming tea. Herbal, in case you were wondering. I’d also ordered another round of tarts, this time blueberry. I turned to the job at hand.
Confirm [Summon]?
“Roger!”
Choose Species:
[Ice Elemental] (Elemental) - The Frost withers all, in time.
Lemon-Maw (Tart) - The land is its own keeper, and a hungry one at that.
Frost Devil (Evil) - Sadistic enough to terrify the stoutest of creatures.
Deathtouch Strangler (Wild) - Beware the hangman’s noose.
The choice was obvious, was it not?
Confirm Species [Lemon-Maw]?
“Roger!”
A blue light blinked at the center of the board. I peered, and the board I was looking at expanded until I could make out wrinkles in the snow. The light pulsed. Brighter. Brighter! Brighter still! And died.
Bugger.
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Invasion in 00:09...00:08...00:07…
I conjured a mountain of tarts and hoped for the best.
---
Squeedle dropped through a rip in the space-time continuum. Squeedle moved Squeedle’s eyestalks back and forth. Nothing but snow and biting wind. Squeedle oozed a circle into the snow. As a [Paragon of Justice] and [Savior of Snailkin], it was Squeedle’s duty to make sure the new World wasn’t a dire threat to Squeedle’s people. The slimy circle complete, Squeedle used the skill [Taste the Earth]. A stone spike shot up from the circle’s center. Squeedle rubbed its gelatin body against it, getting a feel for the strange World. It tasted oddly sour.
Skill: [Taste the Earth]
World Level: 0
Species: 1
Flavor: Lemon
Squeedle burped. A new World, hm? Perhaps one Squeedle could claim as its own. The Snailkin would be pleased. Their army would come en mass, dissolving whatever weak species inhabited this wasteland. Squeedle would come too, putting Squeedle’s [Impenetrable Ooze] to good use. It had been weeks since Squeedle had seen the thick of battle. The pleased Snailkin began the oozing of another circle. Yellow flashed beneath ice. Squeedle paused. Eyestalks whipped left and right. Nothing. Squeedle oozed forward, a tad slower than before.
What was that! Something had most definitely moved beneath the ice. Squeedle took a moment to cover Squeedle in a fresh layer of [Impenetrable Ooze]. Nothing in this World should be high enough level to overcome Squeedle’s special Trait, Squeedle thought. It had vaulted Squeedle to the top of the Snailkin hierarchy, prompting visions sent from the Divine Snailking itself.
Still, Squeedle was uneasy. A couple things nagged at the back of Squeedle’s mind. Like the World’s flavor. Squeedle was unfamiliar with the concept of “Lemon”, and Squeedle had tasted its fair share of Worlds.
There! Most definitely movement. But how? There was nothing below the ice except rock. It should have been impossible. But Squeedle had seen it three times now, the Yellow Flash. Squeedle oozed at top speed. The circle was halfway complete. Squeedle began burbling the first part of the sequence that would rip a wormhole to Squeedle’s own World.
Below the thick snow that hid it from from, something moved. It was large and round, thick as a bus and twice as long. It’s skin was was made up of the same stuff that composed the World’s hidden, bottom layer, which sustained it. The Lemon Maw coiled, tensed, and leapt.
Squeedle squealed as the earth exploded. Jaws as large as Squeedle descended. Squeedle saw dripping yellow teeth, then darkness yawned. For a moment, Squeedle’s ooze held.
Then Squeedle felt it. The excruciating, all-encompassing burn. Squeedle passed out to the scent of lemon.
The Maw wriggled and gulped. It rolled its body over the almost-circle in the snow, wiping out the last of the prisoner’s escape attempt. Then burrowed its way beneath the snow.