We rushed it.
The urgency to rescue Tasha had made us settle for a straightforward plan: Grizmar would act as bait, holding off the enemies while Fennel got Tasha, and the rest of us stayed ready to help if needed. It felt solid enough at the time—simple, clear roles, no room for confusion.
But now, watching Grizmar struggle against the unexpected webbing assault, it was painfully clear how naive we’d been.
In the heat of the moment, we’d overlooked the details. The cracks in our hastily done strategy were impossible to ignore.
We’d planned for a fight. We’d prepared for an overwhelming swarm. What we hadn’t prepared for was the spiders being smart. They weren’t just operating on instinct—they were quick to adapt. And Grizmar was paying the price for our oversight.
My eyes drifted to the brood mother, a flicker of doubt creeping in. Maybe she was the reason the hatchlings suddenly switched to a more strategic approach.
The webbing clung to Grizmar’s boots, slowing him down. He quickly started hacking at the strands with the edge of his tower shield, cutting himself free the moment he noticed the problem. The slice worked for a moment, but more webs shot at him from every direction, sticking to his arms, his shield, and even his shoulders.
“Damn it!” he roared, yanking one leg out of the sticky mess. But the spiders weren’t letting up. They adjusted fast, doubling down on their efforts to trap him again.
Beside me, Kael crouched low. “We should’ve planned this better... This—this isn’t how it was supposed to go,” he said, his voice heavy with guilt.
"The enemy doesn’t break plans, they expose their flaws," I said, voice tight with self-reproach.
It wasn’t aimed at him. it was aimed at myself. "We didn’t account for the worst-case scenario."
The spiders had adapted, and their relentless assault on Grizmar wasn’t about taking him down directly—it was about immobilizing him.
If they could trap him in place, it wouldn’t matter how much damage they could or couldn’t deal. All they needed to do was outlast him. And the terrifying part? It was working.
Fennel, still sprinting toward us with Tasha in his arms, glanced over his shoulder and shouted, “Grizmar! Don’t you dare let those bastards pin you down! Once I drop off Tasha, I’m coming back to pull you out of this mess!”
"We've gotta do something. If they totally immobilize him, it's over," Kael said, itching to jump in and help. But he knew all too well that if he did, things would just get worse.
I nodded, my mind racing. Grizmar wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer.
Fennel was closing the gap fast. My mind raced as I watched him barrel toward us. Grizmar wasn’t going to hold out much longer either, not with that webbing creeping higher and higher up his body.
Jumping in wasn’t an option—not without the boots I’d loaned Grizmar. Fennel was almost here, but there was no way I’d let him just drop Tasha off and charge back into that chaos. The whole point of this was to get every one out safely, not having him running right back into it.
I thought of my slimes. They could fire bolts, but they were too far away to make accurate shots. And even if I sent them forward, they were too slow. The moment they revealed themselves, the spiders would overwhelm them.
Four slimes wouldn’t be enough to make a difference against the hundreds of spiders bearing down on Grizmar. What could I do? My mind was spinning, desperate for an answer.
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“Grizmar, hold on!” Fennel shouted as he finally reached us. He skidded to a stop, carefully placing Tasha on the ground next to Kael and me. “Take her and go! I’m going back to help him.”
“What?!” Kael exclaimed, turning to him as he started to move back toward the chaos. “You can’t! You barely made it out alive the first time!”
Fennel didn’t even glance back at him. “Doesn’t matter. I’m not leaving him behind. Even if I have to leap to my death, I’ll get him out of there!”
'Leap to my death…?!'
That line lit a spark in my brain, just a flicker of an idea. My eyes jumped from my slimes to Fennel’s retreating back. Hold on… leap. That’s it!
“Wait!” I yelled, grabbing Fennel’s arm before he could take another step.
He spun around, his face twisted with anger and desperation. His hands tightened on my shoulders as he locked eyes with me. “Let me go, Leon! He needs me!”
"Hold on a second!" I snapped, locking eyes with his intense glare. "I’ve got a plan, but you need to hear me out."
He clenched his hands tighter for a moment before letting out a sharp breath. "What’s the plan?" he asked, his voice quieter but still loaded with urgency. His gaze drilled into me, desperate for any ideas that could save Grizmar
I took a breath, my mind racing. “Okay, listen. I need you to grab my slimes and hurl them at Grizmar. I can’t throw them that far—my physical stat’s too low. But you? You’ve got the strength for it. Your stat’s probably on par with Grizmar’s, so you can get them to him without any difficulty.”
Fennel blinked at me, the confusion obvious on his face. “And what’s that supposed to do? You really think four blobs of goo are going to scare off a hundred spiders?”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “No, they’re not bait—they’re tools.”
His expression didn’t budge, but before I could spell it out for him, Kael’s voice sliced through the tension. “Grizmar’s almost completely webbed up! We don’t have time for this!”
I grabbed Fennel by the arm, urgency lacing my voice. “No more questions. Just trust me. Throw them to him. Now!”
Fennel hesitated for only a second crouching down and scooping up all four slimes in his arms like they were oversized jelly babies.
The slimes wiggled and jiggled in his arms, their gelatinous bodies squishing against each other and making faint sloshing noises.
"Alright, you slimy weirdos," Fennel muttered, his usual smirk tugging at his lips despite the tense situation. "Time to listen to your father."
He adjusted his grip, tucking all four slimes securely under his right arm. His muscles tensed as he stepped back, bracing himself for the throw.
"Hope you're ready for liftoff!" he called out, mostly for show.
He swung his arm forward with surprising force, launching the slimes off.
"Stick the landing!" Fennel shouted.
The slimes flew through the air, flipping and tumbling in perfect arcs.
Fennel's throw was flawless, each slime on a direct course for Grizmar.
But watching them fly, a pang of guilt hit me. It felt like every time things went sideways, the solution was to use my slimes as sacrifices—whether as bait or tools.
It wasn’t fair to them, but it wasn’t like I had any other options right now. “I’m sorry, guys,” I muttered under my breath. “Just one more time, okay?”
Grizmar was almost completely trapped in the thick, ever-growing webbing. Only his face was free, while the rest of him was locked in the cocoon, unable to move.
Struggling, he glanced upward, his muscles straining against the bindings. His eyes narrowed as he spotted four blobs streaking through the air straight toward him.
Mid-air, their bodies started to ripple and change. The crossbows they carried melted smoothly into their gooey forms, replaced by something way more intimidating.
From their cores, hilts began to push through, quickly followed by long, jagged blades extending outward. In seconds, they had fully transformed into their Soldier forms, now armed with massive greatswords.
Each slime now looked like a pint-sized warrior in freefall. The sight was almost comical—four tiny, squishy beings, each clutching a weapon nearly as big as they were, dropping from the sky.
Grizmar, still trapped in the cocoon of webbing, looked up as the slimes closed in. His eyes went wide, flickering between confusion and awe. “What the—?”
"Now! Cut him free!" I roared.
He didn’t get a chance to finish. The slimes hit their mark perfectly, their greatswords slicing through the thick webbing as they dropped, landing in a triangle formation around Grizmar. The blades tore cleanly through the spiders that were wrapping him up and cutting the web strands that had nearly turned him into a cocoon.
[Your slime defeated a Weblurker. EXP +2.]
[Your slime defeated a Weblurker. EXP +2.]
[Your slime defeated a Weblurker. EXP +2.]
The cocoon shuddered under the force, the thick silk strands breaking apart into useless shreds.