Chrysalis Chapter 1777 - Shocked Slugs

“What does it take to kill this wretched ant?!”

“No idea! I’ve been hurling contamination at it for hours now. It just won’t show any effect!”

Fluzzl was enduring a miserable ordeal. The ant’s death was absolutely vital, completely essential. A direct order from Theorazzn had come down, demanding strict obedience! Worse still, if this ant survived and punched through the Krath defenses nearby, calamity would engulf countless tribes over a massive Dungeon expanse!

How had they plummeted from dominating the fifth stratum to desperately clinging to life in such a brief period?! It made zero sense!

With so much hanging in the balance, she at least faced a straightforward goal: eliminate the ant. If only the blasted creature would perish!

“Any contamination showing yet?” she snarled, her skin crackling and bubbling from her seething fury within.

“None that I spot,” her deputy replied, cowering under her fierce stare.

“How is that possible?!” she bellowed. “We’ve assaulted it nonstop for a full day! You saying our acid doesn’t burn anymore? That the fifth stratum’s contagion is gone?!”

“Of, of course not,” he bubbled nervously.

He bore no blame for this, the sole reason she hadn’t devoured him yet. She couldn’t demand Thooza unravel the mystery when it baffled her completely. Still, that truth failed to cool her burning anger. Had the ant displayed smarts or guile, she might’ve respected it more, but no—this fool stumbled blindly into traps, dashed about haphazardly, and jumped without a glance.

The harder they struck, the quicker it recovered, emerging pristine and gleaming as her slugs wore themselves out failing to scratch the infernal beast. Hours back, she’d alerted the Krath’lath, and reinforcements had to be en route, yet until they came, what options remained?

“Where do you reckon it’ll head next?” she grumbled, mostly to herself.

Numerous routes lay ahead, every one rigged with traps—though she no longer trusted them to work.

“I’d wager the branch to the right,” Thooza ventured.

The pair observed the ant pause briefly before bounding rightward, ignoring the meaty tongues that thrust from the walls and pierced its shell.

The two Krath hurried after, navigating the secret fissures and concealed paths their tribe had carved into these tunnels over millennia.

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“How’d you predict that?”

Thooza gurgled in bewilderment.

“Wasn’t certain, but the ant’s been trending this way awhile. Toward the Sludgeway, that is.”

It… had it really?!

“Why hold back that info?!” she thundered, lunging at the lesser slug and burying her claws deep in his body. “If it hits the Sludgeway… know the havoc it could unleash?!”

“Couldn’t be sure!” Thooza pleaded frantically. “How would it even know the Sludgeway exists, much less its location? No ants ever reached this depth.”

It seemed utterly impossible, yet… She let go of Thooza and dashed to trail the ant. Not every junction saw it choose right, but most did. As time dragged on, certainty grew. No clue how or why, but the ant steadily advanced on the Sludgeway.

“Dispatch a message to Slimeground at once,” she ordered Thooza. “Use our swiftest, elite scouts. We need reinforcements now.”

“Can’t it wait?” Thooza suggested. “Slizzl dwells in the Sludgeway. It’ll handle the ant if we fail.”

Fluzzl barely stopped herself from gobbling her underling for maybe the twentieth time today. Breathe, Fluzzl, just breathe, she commanded inwardly.

“We must take down that accursed thing!” she stressed, gesturing at the ant flailing through a toxic spore pit as scores of Krath drenched it in acid and vile spells. “Nothing alters, it’ll reach its goal, and if Slizzl falls short, then what?”

“Then… I’ll hurry those scouts along,” Thooza swallowed, flinching from her scorching red eyes looming on their stalks above him.

“The Ancient demands its death, so ensure it happens,” she declared. “Failure isn’t an option.”

While Thooza slithered away to muster the slugs and relay word to the Krath’lath, she refocused on the ant. A vulnerability had to exist; it simply had to. Immunity to the fifth’s corruption defied nature’s laws—that much was certain. If such resistance were possible, why hadn’t it emerged across all history until now? Utterly unnatural!

The ant showed no effects from the fifth corruption, yet it managed to resist and endure it somehow. Its healing speed was staggeringly quick; every wound they inflicted vanished in seconds, its carapace mending right before her eyes.

That idea she had before? The harder they struck it, the quicker it recovered? It appeared accurate from her view. When their assaults grew fiercer, the healing rate accelerated even more.

A sudden realization hit her.

‘Cease your attacks! Spread the word!’ she gurgled.

Initially, the Krath she commanded stared at her like she had gone mad, but she simply glared until they complied.

They weren’t making progress regardless, so they ought to test if her hunch held true. All attacks led by the Krath on the monster halted, greatly lessening the barrage it faced.

Now they only needed to wait and… Fluzzl went rigid, stunned.

The ant had swiveled its head, staring straight at her. It snapped its mandibles once, twice—sharp, echoing clacks that rang through the tunnels like taunting laughs. Then it turned back and pressed onward.

‘Right,’ it was telling her.

Fury ignited in her blood. Every scrap of knowledge proved useful, possibly the key to destroying this beast. She reined in her rage and glided after it.

If steady damage and corruption failed to stick, they would simply have to swamp it all together.