Chapter 185: Chapter 184 – Violently Neutral

Lily picks herself up from the roots of the tree she just slammed into and jumps out of the way of another charge. The changed redeath rose slug bashes the tree but doesn’t seem fazed by it and continues its rage filled assault. A few quick hops gets Lily the distance she needs to stabilize even though the slug doesn’t let up on the attack.

Another charge from the slug and Lily is backed up against a tree but this time she planned it that way. A quick hop up and she slams her feet into the tree which sends her off at an angle. The slug tries to compensate for this sudden change but another tree allows her to stop and then fly off in another direction.

She lands behind the slug which tries to turn around but the scales on that side get in the way. Lily goes in with a charge of her own and bites deep into the slug's underbelly. She isn’t able to take another chunk out because of how far her teeth penetrated the slug, but when she pulls back a new situation develops.

At first the wound bleeds off yellow ooze, but that is soon replaced with a black globby substance that shatters away and falls sideways into the nearby tree. Courtney hisses through her clenched teeth at the sight. “Lily must have punched through to the stomach somehow. That black stuff should be the undigested undeath.”

Lily isn’t happy about the stuff either as a few of the gloopy shards are on her teeth. With great haste she hops back and chews on a clump of grass to wipe it off. While the stuff doesn’t wipe off the grass seems to absorb it much more readily than her teeth and it is soon gone.

The slug on the other hand is freaking out. Instead of chasing her, it spasms back and forth as more of the blackness escapes. It only stops when it twitches into one of the remaining spots of pink fog. While the wound doesn’t seal, it starts to just bleed the yellow ooze.

With that, the slug continues its rampage and charges after Lily again. She is ready for it though and dodges to the side and takes another swipe with her back leg. This time though she hits one of the scales and can barely leave scuff marks on it. The slug in turn sends a tentacle back and makes a grab for her leg.

It almost gets a grip on her but she jumps away before it can tighten up. Lily doesn’t take damage from this but the move clearly hurt and caused some sort of status effect as she now moves with a limp. The slug is hot on her tail to take advantage of this but all her agility isn’t for nothing. Even with just three able legs she can dodge the slugs brash charges.

This is especially true as the damage seems to be catching up with the slug as it becomes slower. It’s vital fluids pumping out of the wound on its belly, kept raw from being dragged across the ground.

Then Lily pulls one last trick out of her hat. With an effort she pushes off with her front feet as if to tumble backwards. The slug right behind her braces to hammer into her but at the last moment Lily pumps her back legs and goes into backflip. She lands right behind the slug but her injured leg can’t quite keep her up but it is enough.

As the slug slows down to turn back and attack, she pounces on it. Her claws dig into the flabby flesh as she sinks another disastrous bite into the monster’s flank. A ghastly howl vibrates through the slug but she stays clung on until a large hunk of gelatinous flesh is dragged out by her teeth. At that point her claws alone can no longer keep her anchored, but as they rake through the slug, it is enough.

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The ghastly white redeath rose slug rears up one final time and releases a noise half between a cry and the sound of a balloon having the air let out. Then it falls forward and the clay smooth flesh flakes away as if petals dropping from a flower. All that is left behind is a small organ-like sack made of pulsing roots that almost seem to be sewn through translucent petals. There is a scar across the lower side where petals appear to have been torn and then glued back together. Though this fix seems shoddy.

Inside the sack the group can just make out more of that black gloopy undeath that had leaked from the belly wound the slug had suffered. It seems to struggle against being confined as it bubbled and seethes about, though the gloop is unable to even move the sack. Only the damaged area even shows signs of being affected by it.

Then everyone’s attention is drawn away from the sickening sight as lily lets out a shriek. When they turn to her though it becomes obvious that it was a sound of relief. Around her there is a white glow as she evolves from hitting level ten. The group stands there for a good half hour before Rosha coughs, “so I think this might take a while? Maybe we should do something with that organic sack of evil?”

Courtney shrugs, “I wouldn’t call it evil? Violently neutral, maybe. While many undead tend towards being aggressive and the sapient ones skew towards evil, it isn’t. Unnatural definitely, but that doesn’t cause it to side with a moral standpoint. The angels every good pantheon has on tap could be seen as being just as unnatural. Anything from outside this dimensional space is.”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “fine, can we deal with the organic sack of neutral?”

Jason laughs, “we really should do something about it. I don’t personally want to carry that around even though it is Lilly’s boss loot. We can probably empty it out and keep the sack itself.”

Courtney nods, “that should work. Though we need to be careful where we empty it. I don’t know how potent that mess is but that tree over there that got some on it looks sicker now than it did before the fight.”

Rosha just points at the pile of skeletons, “if the slugs eat it in the first place we can just empty it over there. They shouldn’t have a problem dealing with it.”

No one else has a better idea, so Jason gingerly picks the sack up and brings it over to the other slugs. To not make any more holes, he pries open the healed scar and pours it over the skeletons.