The Enormous Tar Sludge had dragged Ruwen over two hundred feet deep, but his Gold Fortified lungs resisted the pressure and allowed him to breathe. The sludge hurtled toward him and he accelerated as well, maxing Scrub at twenty Energy per second.
Ruwen never felt a collision. Instead, he passed through the sludge, creating a hole as he passed, like a spear through wet paper. Quickly turning, he struck the sludge again, angling to strike the creature from the side and maximize the time he spent in contact with it.
When Ruwen turned to attack again. His overlay showed the creature had flipped on its side and it looked like a gigantic oval twenty feet in front of him. He wondered if he’d killed it. A moment later his overlay turned completely yellow as thousands of the worm like tubes launched from the sludge’s underbelly and struck him, surrounding him like a net of snakes.
The black inkiness just outside his Fresh Air spell turned yellowish and his skin felt hot. The worms were exuding some sort of acid and he felt his clothes dissolving. An intense vibration on his right hip made him look down. The Fastidious Blade’s sheath had dissolved, and when the oil touched it, it had reacted violently.
With Stone Echo, Ruwen watched the dagger slice through the worm net on his right side and then drop away. He held out his right hand and cast Retrieve. His Mana dropped by fifty, but the dagger floated back toward him. Not trusting himself to hold the violently shaking dagger, he used some Energy and a thought to open his Void Band.
Scrub had kept his hands free from the worm net, and with another thought and some Energy he enlarged the Void Band, pulling the dagger into his Inventory. His belt had dissolved and only the worm net around his waist kept his Baton of a Thousand Uses there. He dissolved the stringy worms holding his baton, and it dropped into his Inventory as well.
Ruwen’s cloak, Bracer of Freedom, and jewelry were the only things that had survived. Even his Feather Boots of Grasping had dissolved in the intense acid. He caught a glimpse of the creature’s stats.
Health: 596
Mana: 0
Energy: 431
Spirit: 0
Armor Class: 504
Each of Ruwen’s attacks had caused around forty damage. The creature was just too large to fight any other way. But his attacks had been effective, and that’s what mattered. Unlike the sludge’s normal prey, he could stay down here and pick away at the sludge until it died.
It had also lost two-thirds of its Energy. That meant either the quick pace it kept had cost it Energy or this acid attack did. Either way, Ruwen would soon have an even easier time.
Ruwen channeled ten Energy to Scrub and ripped through the remaining tendrils holding him. He broke free from the sludge’s net and began dropping again. As he fell he noticed something odd at the very edge of Stone Echo, five hundred feet below him, and seven hundred feet from the surface.
It looked like a tunnel.
Chapter 17
The Enormous Tar Sludge withdrew its thin tentacles as Ruwen dropped out of the acid. The acid must be incredibly powerful to disintegrate his clothes so quickly, and he felt bad for losing his boots and Clapper armor. The boots he’d gotten from Bliz at the Worker’s Lodge on his Ascendancy Day, and the Clapper armor had been some of his best loot from Blapy.
Ruwen’s high Resistances and his Gold Fortified body had kept him safe, however. Opening his Void Band, he stopped channeling Scrub and pulled a pair of underwear from his Inventory. Regardless of his body’s strengths, fighting naked, or mostly naked if you counted his cloak and bracer, didn’t appeal to him, and he pulled on the underwear. He knew it was stupid as the cotton cloth had no Armor Class, but it made him feel less vulnerable.
The sludge used Ruwen’s clothing issues to attack. From Survey’s overlay, it looked like the sludge had rolled itself into a cone. He channeled twenty Energy to Scrub just as the tip of the cone struck him. The creature had hardened the end into something like a spear tip, and it used its momentum to push and then smash him into the wall.
Ruwen felt the stone crack behind him, and the sludge’s spear tip collapsed against his chest. He lowered his left arm, channeled ten Energy into propulsion, and shot forward with his right hand extended.
The sludge had decreased its surface area by rolling into a cone, and Scrub did massive damage to the compacted creature. The sludge lost one hundred thirty-eight Health, bringing it down to four hundred fifty-eight, and its Energy had dropped to zero. It tried to swim away, but Ruwen easily outpaced it.
Striking from behind, Ruwen slowed his momentum and waved his hand around as he passed through the sludge. He must have critically injured it as it stopped moving, and with two more passes the sludge died.
Ruwen glanced at his log to make sure.
An Enormous Tar Sludge (Level 24) has died!
You have gained 17,760 experience (14,800*(1.2 Tutor Modifier))!
Even though Ruwen shared a group with Sift, his log didn’t contain a group modifier. He had received one hundred percent of the experience. That seemed fair since Sift hadn’t done anything.
Ruwen channeled one Energy through his Void Band to keep himself floating near the destroyed sludge. The map overlay from Survey showed many floating chunks of the dead tar sludge. He channeled fifty Energy into Sixth Sense. That was the spell's maximum and would provide the most detail in the thousand feet around him. Three chunks of sludge pulsed on his overlay, as well as many distant nodes deep inside the rock walls.
Ruwen gathered the items near him.
Tring!
You have earned…
Name: Enormous Acid Gland
Quantity: 10 gallons
Quality: Uncommon
Weight: 84.5 lbs.
Description: Alchemy component. Yellow orange
