The sli downpour continues to hit us from several directions. Green and red spurts co off the surrounding walls at unpredictable timings, making it extrely difficult to evade, both because the attackers can’t be seen and because the timing isn’t constant.
“Fuck… Why did they have to co out now of all tis?”
I’ve just spent all my MP killing the two giant blue slis! Why can’t they give a break!?
At first glance, it seems like the attackers are the walls themselves, but when you pay closer attention, there are HP bars embedded inside them, revealing the real attackers. This should make it easy to find and kill the attackers, but there’s a tiny, insignificant problem…
…a problem called ‘Average Central Position’. Don’t search it, I just made the term up.
You see, to help players find their targets and always know how close the enemies are to death, the HP bars automatically place themselves slightly above the monster’s head, in what you could call the average central position of that unit’s 3D model. They also resize themselves according to the monster’s size, to avoid situations where a giant monster obstructs it with its arms and wings, for example, or a swarm of small monsters with HP bars that cover the monsters themselves.
In general, this is a great approach. But as always, there are caveats…
Especially in situations like now, where you can ‘see’ the monster, as in its body is right in front of you, but said monster is, in fact, ‘invisible’ to you. And it’s even worse when the monster can freely change its body shape like the slis do.
How can I know where to attack if the sli’s HP bars are floating and moving erratically at a faster speed than the slis should be able to move? This is a sign that the slis are quickly changing shapes, and the HP bar is constantly trying to keep up with those changes.
What’s worse: what if the sli takes a donut shape and I aim at the hole? Won’t I look like a fool?
I’ve also seen this happen when fighting water elentals underwater.
A groan escapes my lips. “Aargh… We can’t fight like this…” Luckily, how to approach this fight quickly cos to . “Alright! Everyone, ruuuun! We’re retreating!”
I’ll make it clear so you don’t misunderstand. We aren’t running away. We’re strategically retreating so we can more easily kill them later. Until I recover enough MP to cast spells, fighting the impossible-to-see slis would be a waste of ti and effort.
There’s absolutely no way those puny slis could ever defeat and my support monsters and force us to run away, after all. Definitely not!
Taking the lead, I use the minimap to choose the path, and the three Good Followers follow after instead of engaging the slis in a fight. Hahaha, having units with high Intelligence, higher than the Stitched at least, always pays off in situations like this.
Although we run at maximum speed, the sli’s slowing effect makes us move slower than usual, and by the ti we get out of their reach, all of us are covered in sli goo of the three colors.
We look as if we ca out of a paintball ga, one with three teams, where everyone ignored all the rules and just shot at anything that moved. The Good Followers' ‘base canvas’ is blue with green and red splotches, and I’m green with red.
Well, I’ve looked worse than this... Both in the ga and in real life.
“Oh, no! Not this again…!”
As soon as I turn around the corner, I realize trouble awaits us. Not far along this passage, there are the sa green and red patches of cave that contained the spitting slis that covered us in goo. Only that this ti, we’re on the other side of the wall.
I turn the minimap around and open the bigger, 3D map to check the path. “Yeah… I didn’t make a mistake. This is the only revealed path to Cyam’s position.”
Could there be another safer path than this one? Yes, but I haven’t revealed it yet.
Could we cross the walls to avoid this path? Sure, but nobody can guarantee it’ll be safer than this one.
I suddenly look at my support minions and adopt a serious pose.
“Everyone, listen well because I will explain the complicated tactics we’ll use to cross this passage safely.” I follow the introduction with a fake cough, turning around and lowering my upper body. “Chaaarge! Iyaaaaaaa∼h!”
With the weirdest shout I can co up with, I spring ahead, covering my head with both arms and hands, and ignoring the flying sli splashing all over my body. My HP bar starts to fall again, and the slowing effect kicks in, but I mindlessly run forward.
I just hope that my minions, RGB, RGB Two, and RGB Three, can keep up with and don’t die.
“Iyaaaaa– Huh?” I suddenly stop and interrupt my shout when, not long after crossing the treacherous ‘sniping wall’, I find a blue wall in front of , fully blocking the way forward. “Another giant sl– Gufu!?”
The Good Followers chasing after don’t stop in ti, bumping into my back and sending flying straight into the blue sli. The sli, as if I were a tasty treat, gladly swallows whole and starts sliding sideways, slowly diving into the blue wall next to us.
But instead of helping, the three Good Followers just stare at being dissolved in the sli’s acid.
“Don’t just look at and attack the fucking sli, bastards!”
To prevent them from attacking random slis and diving into the walls, I had to disable their engagent range, but now they do nothing unless I give the order or they themselves are attacked first.
Sigh… this AI, although smarter than the Stitched’s AI, still needs lots of improvent.
“I told you to attack the sli! Attack, I said! ATTACK!”
Finally, after frantically pointing at the sli swallowing , they start moving. Sigh… Damn AI.
“...What the hell is this? Is this what you feel when you go inside dusa’s lair?” I say as soon as I reach the place where I left Cyam. “No, did Christmas co earlier this year?” If so, it’s about half a year earlier.
Cyam, unexpectedly, is fine. He’s staring ahead, his sight lost, gazing at who knows what. But him being alive isn’t what surprises – well, of course it does, but you know what I an.
In a cone in front of him, there’s a sea of statues. Slis. Gray sli statues of all sizes and shapes. They’re mostly buried inside the walls, but there are a few of them found in the passages too.
When I say ‘a sea’, I truly an it. Since the walls and even the ceilings are made out of that translucent mucus that allows sight to pass through, Cyam’s Petrifying Eyes have been turning every enemy within a cone in front of him into a stone statue.
I can’t even see the end of it from here!
“Fufufu! Hahaha! It’s Christmas! The Christmas presents are here, half a year earlier than they should be!”
Oh, my god. How many sli statues are there? Ten, twenty, thirty…? No, at least sixty or seventy from what I can see…
“Hahaha…!”
Drool starts falling from my open mouth, just imagining the sheer amount of slis I can freely capture. There are even giant slis like the blue ones that ate and the Good Followers whole!
It’s even better because, after being turned into stone, they beco visible, even through the walls, making it very easy for to go and capture them!
Before leaving, I gave Cyam two orders: capture the stunned slis I left near him, and stand still. This is why he didn’t capture any of the petrified slis, but at the sa ti, it’s the reason the sea of statues ca to be. If Cyam had turned his head even a single ti, all the slis would have imdiately been freed from the petrification.
“Hahaha! I guess having see-through walls isn’t as good as you thought, dungeon owner!”
There are always skills to exploit everything. I just didn’t think Cyam would be so amazing in this dungeon in particular. Not until now.
“Alright, guys…” I excitedly approach the three Good Followers while licking my lips. “It’s harvest season! Go! Go and pick anything ripe for the harvest! Hahaha!”
Even now and then, you can see a sli statue suddenly becoming visible. Probably those slis who got unlucky, ¡wandered into the ‘petrifying cone of instant death’, and triggered the small chance to turn into stone.
Although the chance to turn to stone is small, and even lower the higher the unit’s stats, having nowhere to hide and being exposed to it continuously will eventually trigger it.
“Cyam, don’t even dare to blink!” I remind him before leaving the area, rushing towards the sea of statues. “From now on, I’ll promote you. You’re no longer my kidnapper. You’re my capture-seeking radar!”
I rush inside the wall in front of Cyam and start ‘harvesting’ every statue I find.
So what if it’s disgusting and I can feel the sli coming inside my mouth when I laugh? There’s no danger because most slis have turned into stone, and I don’t care anymore since I’m already covered in sli.
“I’ll have to save this dungeon to the favorites list for the future… Fufufu! Hahaha!”
Oh, slis, slis. Oh, poor slis… You’re mine now. You’re mine, and I’ll do whatever I please with you!
“Tremble and shake your squishy bodies, because here I co– Oh, right, they can’t. They’re turned to stone! Hahaha!”
Finally, everything goes as it should. Everything goes the way Mad Rat wishes.
“Aaand another one! Hahaha, free captures, yummy!”
When I calm down, an unknown amount of ti has passed.
The sea of statues has almost disappeared, reduced to a few stragglers at the furthest points from Cyam. I calmly walk back, ordering the Good Followers, whom I find on the way back, to follow after .
I don’t know how many slis I captured today, but it certainly is way over the limit I can bring back with after a single Dungeon Invasion. There’s no reason to keep wasting ti capturing the few that remain, nor is there any reason to stay here anymore.
“It’s ti to go back. Good job, everyone. Especially you, Cyam!” I lift Cyam’s weird body, part chicken, part reptile, part spider, up in the air and spin while holding him. “Today’s MPV is you! The ugliest of all my monsters in this place! Who’s an ugly cutie∼? You’re an ugly cutie!”
I then open the dungeon nu and choose the surrender option. I could go back to the entrance to get more cp, but there’s no need. The bodies I’ll get either way will be the sa.
Revenge? Boss and dungeon core? None of that matters. I ca here to capture slis, and capture slis I did.
Now, I’ll just have to wait for another ti when I can use the slis I got today and finish the Waste Disposal Unit… Which won’t be tomorrow or any ti soon, because Marta’s training is waiting for .
“Today was extrely profitable, hahaha! See you another day, slis!”
I wave my hand around until the teleport light whisks away, and the screen to choose which ‘bodies’ I want to bring with , up to the current limit of thirty, appears in front of .
It’s a sha I can’t bring them all with . A sha indeed.
“Amorphous
Difficulty: Hard
Special Characteristics: Malleability
What type of sli it is, nobody except their creator knows until inspected. Being the kings of changing shapes, the slis can not only alter their bodies to suit their battle needs but also hold onto any surface, allowing them to move unimpeded regardless of gravity or friction. Although not all of them, slis can also have any color in existence, which, paired with the size changes and shapes, makes it very hard to predict what they can do.
There’s sothing you can know for sure, though. Their lack of speed and high HP pools are common on all of them. But this doesn’t make them any less dangerous, as they can appear from the tiniest of holes, hang on the ceiling right above your head, and hold any innate skill. The possibilities are as endless as the colors and shapes they hold.”
- From ‘A brief introduction to all factions’.
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