Mike eyed the back of the creature trying to enter the rift, wondering how he could force his way through and escape the vengeful beast behind him. Casting his eyes about, he noticed Pupach eyeing him warily.
“Mike, there is something you should know. I can’t come with you. I thought I could but the risk of entering back into the System’s domain is too great for me if you fail.” The words were spoken meekly, as if expecting retribution.
“I understand.” he responded, fighting between dismay at losing the only intelligent being he had talked to in months and relief that it would be easier to get back through the tear with only himself. Unflinching Meteor could protect him, and it had really been Pupach he had been worried about. “So you will just stay here forever?”
“I was hoping I could give you my tracker. If you defeat the integration, come find me.” Pupach said as they pulled a small, metallic device from their suit and placed it in Mike’s hand.
Mike closed his hand around the interesting shape, feeling a greater sense of loss than he had anticipated. “Of course, Pupach. Good luck!”
Pupach nodded before turning and sprinting as fast as they could towards their shared den, Mike watched for a few moments before he realized that the Tier 3 splurgslime had closed the distance to only 100 yards. By now it was almost the size of a small house, and though creatures fled in every direction from it, tendrils of flesh chased them, more often than not, catching the retreating beasts and dragging them towards the center of mass where they would be consumed and grow the splurgeslime further. Time was running out, it was now or never.
Removing a bucket of Blasting Stone from his spatial storage bag, he placed it on the ground in front of him, his movements precise and fluid despite the rampaging monster bearing down on him.
“There’s gotta be a better way of doing this.” he thought with some chagrin as he lined up the Quantum Tear to his rear and the Blasting Stone in front of him.
Forming a pickaxe of Quicksilver, he raised it high above his head before bringing it in front of him in a great looping motion. Though it looked awkward, the movement allowed him to almost hug the large pile of explosives, his body arcing around its shape as the pickax aimed for the backside. Right before contact, he activated Unflinching Meteor.
Light exploded in front of him as his body was blasted backwards.
If only Creenchez could see me now. He thought, remembering fondly his first flight through the air as he escaped the collapsed tunnel in his valley. Then the pressure around him mounted and he was forced to focus solely on pumping his Unflinching Meteor skill with energy.
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Brent sucked in the squealing hobgoblin with ease, his level dozens above that of his foes. Sharp jabs where metal weapons impaled his body reminded him that he needed to move locations if he wanted to heal fully–it is hard to heal when impaled even with a healing skill.
It had taken consuming three more parties, but eventually he had the presence of mind to extract information before eating them. The ten parties after that were just bonuses, as each party was far too weak to come close to competing with his prowess.
Having finally found the valley, he had been making his way to the entrance when he came upon a light snack–or at least he had thought so upon first engagement. As it turned out, the small green creatures were much better at fighting than any of the 13 parties he had beaten thus far. Their attacks were coordinated, as was their retreat.
It mattered little to him if a few made it back to the valley–all that meant was that hopefully Mike would come to him and he wouldn't have to walk as far.
His thoughts were interrupted as he finally broke through the treeline and was momentarily blinded by the shining, metallic walls in front of him. What once had been a wooden gate between walls of stone was now a solid wall of metal. He wouldn’t have thought it opened at all except for the hole that formed around one of the fleeing hobgoblins when it reached the shimmering surface.
Wishing he had some water to go with the amount of metal he was about to consume, he began making his way up the slope to the valley’s wall. He had only gone a few dozen steps when a loud explosion sounded, followed by a large ball of metal flying at him. Sucking grotesquely, the missile was pulled off course and into his awaiting jaws.
More cannons erupted soon after, and while most of the cannonballs were consumed a few rammed into his body, breaking bones and causing him to wonder if he should have invested more of his stat points into Toughness. He hadn’t thought through a scenario where he couldn’t just eat a few enemies to regenerate.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Turning back towards the forest, he ignored the cry of triumph coming from the walls as he went in search of a healing tonic, Tonic? No. What was the word? Oh, squirrel, yes, that is what the creature was called. Although really any living organism would do.
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Creenchez hurried to plant the next tree. Usually she simply directed the throngs, but when the alarm had been sounded, she had gathered the most ardent followers and ran to the groves. Her mate was adorable, but dense sometimes. From the report she had heard, the valley was dealing with a foe that they couldn’t beat alone. Though initially crushed when she lost connection to Big Bossy Boss, her faith that he would once again save them burned brightly. She just needed to finish planting the trees as she had been commanded. Luckily, there were only a few thousand left before they finished the Quest.
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The pressure endured far longer than it had in the past, and Mike could only assume it was because he wasn’t being sucked through the tear with space-warping speed, but was instead only launching his way through at a few thousand feet per second.
In addition to the pressure, his soul space was being assaulted by a constant injection of System-riddled cosmic energy. He briefly thought of closing of his Energy Sucking fractals, but knew that that would only result in him running out of power before he reached the other side. Instead, he focused on pushing the energy through his filtration fractal. With concentration, he was able to keep his channels clear, but he found himself wishing that he had created multiple filtration fractals.
After what seemed like minutes but was likely only 20 seconds, the pressure decreased dramatically before vanishing entirely and he opened his eyes to see the sky shining above him, where several ships were flying, shooting lasers into the rift.
Suddenly, large, pink, fleshy spears impaled a few of the ships, alerting him even before Damage Premonition did that the splurgeslime was following him through to earth, and he jumped backwards before activating Footsteps of the Wind to put some space between himself and the battle.
Damage premonition warned him of the incoming attack and he jumped sideways to avoid the incoming laser. Pivoting, he took blasting stone from his spatial storage bag and threw it at the incoming vessel. The impact was enough to set off the explosive, and the ship’s pilot, momentarily blinded by the explosion, was unable to correct the vessel in time. The ground shook with the force of the impact and Mike felt it even as he sprinted away.
When the skill was finally running out, he turned around ready to fight any other pursuers, but to his surprise, he saw that all of the other vessels were busy fighting the splurgeslime, and as far as he could tell, they were losing. He briefly wondered if he should go help, but remembered what Pupach had told him about the vessel’s cannon and decided to let them handle it. Turning from the scene, he ran, hoping to lose himself in the kerfuffle despite the speck of System influence he could once again sense in his periphery.
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“You’re sure?” Sector Assimilator asked through the channel.
“Positive. The anomaly exited the Quantum Tear moments ago and is running away from it.” Junior Administrator replied.
“Excellent. Does it appear aware of our monitoring?”
“Negative, Sector Assimilator. It simply appears to be running….”
Sector Assimilator lost track of the conversation as they dodged the incoming tentacles of the Tier 3 splurgeslime. They navigated it easily, but the Strike Team wasn’t as lucky.
“Have Acting Strike Leader pull forces from the front and activate the cannon.” Sector Assimilator ordered.
“Relaying message.”
Mere seconds later, the 20 remaining vessels pulled away, Sector Assimilator among them. The force was barely a token of the nearly 100 ships that had engaged the monster less than 3 minutes prior. A large beam descended from the heavens, blasting into the resilient creature. For a few moments nothing happened and Sector Assimilator began to worry, which turned to dismay as the splurgeslime began forcing its way through the tear despite the ship’s cannon.
“Engage full power!” They ordered crisply, and the burning laser visibly changed as the intensity increased. It was a costly maneuver, but not as bad as allowing the creature to enter the integration domain.
A moment later, the creature exploded into hundreds of pieces.
“Enemy vanquished.” Junior Administrator reported.
“Very good. Beam up the others.”
“What about you, Senior Cousin?”
“Direct me to the target and then turn off monitoring” Sector Assimlator said before turning off their communication arrays. They would need to do this next part on their own to avoid any kind of formal retribution for their actions. It is time to harvest.
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*Squish*
*Squish*
*Slurp*
A small morsel of the splurgeslime twitched slowly before it began to move. It was far smaller than its previous form and had lost much of its strength, but it remembered the being who had imprisoned it.