Chapter 7 Architecture & Slime Extermination (Part 6/7)

Waiting there in a half kneeling position, I acutely felt the hard stone on my right knee and rivulets of sweat forming across my face as the intensity of the situation was making itself apparent. I hadn't been this hyper vigilant the first time I had fired this tube, but at that time, the others of the group had appeared very lackadaisical. Here and now though, they all appeared very serious and eager.

As if by an unknown signal, the leader raised his shielding bracelet and screamed. "Fire!"

Again, a loud yet somewhat scattered *Fwooomp!!!* rang out as each soldier triggered their charge and released a thick spray of massed salt at the towering mountain of slimes in the distance.

Due to the distance, the details seen from prior assaults upon the slimes couldn't be seen as clearly. However, what could be seen, appeared like a mountain releasing an avalanche of colored gelatinous stones. Despite the distance, a fair amount of slime still splashed against the raised shields.

At the moment that the last of the major splashing occurred, the leader called out. "Switch!"

Immediately the front and back groups rushed to swap positions. Just as we got settled in to the place by the salt wheel barrow, the leader called out once again. "Front lines, fire at will!"

*Fwooomp!!!* *Fwooomp!!!* *Fwooomp!!!* The triggers this time were more scattered as each triggered their canisters as soon as they were each ready.

The tumbling slimes that survived the onslaught had begun to encroach upon our area despite the distance that they had started from. After the next switch leaving Tillamook and I at the front again, I lowered my tube to strike the approaching slimes. Immediately the leader stuck out his hand to cover my trigger point. "Maintain aim at center mass! We can take care of these with the next wave!"

Looking fearfully at the slimes getting closer, I swallowed the dryness of my throat and corrected my aim to continue firing at the center mass. Some of my lower spray still hit the approaching slimes, but that barely put a dent in their imminent assault.

Once again, we awaited the slime splatter to ease before swapping with the back ranks. Upon switching and moving to reload, the leader gave another order. "Left side focus on approaching slimes, right side, continue assault at main mass."

Then upon rotating again, he swapped the roles of each side. This continued to happen until the slimes approaching had pretty much dragged to a far slower pace and reduced amount.

At that point, he yelled out again. "Close distance!" Leading the way, we followed him till we reached the same distance we normally took when facing the prior groups of slimes. Calling to a halt we once again began our assault.

I honestly couldn't tell if there were any remaining slimes, but I suspected that there were. My mind had begun to grow a bit hazy while my body reflexively followed the barked instructions of the leader. Finally, as I was about to trigger my umpteenth charge, the wolf-man called out again. "HOLD! Reload And Rest!"

My chaos addled mind did not know how to translate that, except to not keep firing. Taking a careful look around, I could see several of the convicts almost sprawled on the ground in exhaustion. Only then, did my body also slump somewhat to the ground as my eyes took in the destructive results of our many assaults.

The wolf-man remained sharp and attentive even as we rested. He appeared to be waiting and watching for the movement among the decimated slimes, as if trying to distinguish between the natural shifting of dissolving remains verses still living slimes beneath the surface. Although my sense of time perception had all but fled, it felt like he had us wait almost a full 15 minutes before once again calling out to resume firing. The mounds had become much reduced at this point and shattered remains of slimes reigned at the top of the piles. 

He stopped us again once we were down to just one single charge apiece. At that point he had us stop, ordering us to maintain one full charge for a possible emergency extraction. By this point, the wheel barrow of rock salt had been scraped near clean of all traces. The group on the opposite side of the central groove had at one point crossed over to refill their bag of salt, and they too appeared to be low once again.

We continued to hold our position in a far more relaxed manner as we waited for the scattered remains of the slimes to dissolve due to their natural breakdown of now dead tissue.

About a full 30 minutes likely passed as we waited. Several of the convicts and a few soldiers had taken to leaning their backs against the nearest wall while passively watching on as the pile of torn membranes and shattered cores slowly melted in front of their eyes. Barely anyone spoke, and when they did, it was done with low voices and hushed tones, as if they were afraid to awaken some great terror from within the shrinking pile.

Finally, it seemed that the vast majority of dead slimes had been reduced to clear liquid which disappeared into the distance, flowing along the guided channel in the stone ground.

No further movement stirred within the few masses that could be seen close to the bottom of the central canal. This appeared to be the triggering scene that prompted the leader to speak up again. "Attention!" The soldiers and convicts stood upright with brisk readiness. My worn-out body too responded quite a bit less enthusiastically. Tillamook himself appeared to have passed out on the floor as he didn't respond to the vocal stimulus.

The wolf-man went over to his body and pressed two of his fingers against the side of Tillamook's neck. Then he quietly counted and watched as his chest rose and fall with breathing. "He is simply exhausted. Reacher!" He called out to the soldier. "Bring him back to the planned exit point and get him awake enough to extract him from the sewer." With a strict nod and shouted "Yes Sir!" Reacher went about his assigned duty with the help of his accompanying convict. The convict threw back several forlorn looks at the plentiful bounty awaiting harvest.

Situated at the base of what had originally been the overwhelming mound of slimes, lay a shimmering field of light blue and purple spheres. All that remained were the complete cores laying atop several bumpy mounds.

"Approach, but with caution." The leader called out. With unashamed greed, several of the convicts rushed forward, heedless of the order from the wolf-man. The soldiers maintained their steady and paced approach, matching the progress of the leader himself. I followed along behind the wolf-man a couple of meters away with salt canister at the ready.

The convicts had already begun digging through the array of plentiful nuclei. Two of them actually dug beneath the top layer of cores to reach what was propping them up underneath.

Suddenly one of those convicts staggered back, bent over, and began heaving out his guts. The other seeming to not mind what he saw, began dragging something out from the cores. A couple of the other convicts who also appeared to be undisturbed by the discovery, joined in with the extraction. Soon, what was revealed by the pushed away cores, was a series of six bodies in various states of breakdown or degradation.

Feeling my own gorge rise up as it struggled to repel the horrendous site in front of me, I barely got it under control. Were it not for the cleansing effects of the mask, I would have joined the first convict that just now appeared to have finished emptying his stomach. He was now sitting a fair distance away from the grisly scene in the bottom of the groove. It was a very gruesome sight to behold. 

"This, men" The leader spoke up pointing to the bodies, "is what can happen to any of you, if you are caught within a slime attack. Even the strongest of reinforced bodies will eventually break down under a long enough exposure to a slime's acid."

Having gotten my nausea under better control, I mentally fought with myself to clinically observe the six bodies and their level of dissolution. Four of the bodies had been worn down to a bare skeleton. Those were quickly moved out of the way, as it was obvious that they had nothing of value left over on them.

The last two bodies were saved for last as the convicts argued among themselves regarding who got what, if anything of value was to be found. Finally, a heavy set bristly haired, and tusked convict appeared to have won the argument as he grabbed one of the bodies and began moving it out of the pile.

It was at that moment, that all Hell broke loose.

A dark maroon shadow slipped out from underneath the body being moved and leaped upon the nearest convict, which so happened to be the tusk guy.

"A. . . Advanced Slime!" The cry went up and everyone scattered. This apparently triggered another similar colored slime to slip out from underneath the other somewhat preserved body. The initial slime practically engulfed the tusked convict, slamming their joined mass to the ground with a sickening thud!

The wolf-man instantly engaged with the other maroon slime, wielding his metal stave, that I had yet to see him utilize for more than a demonstration with, till now.

I didn't want to accidentally shoot the leader and so I turned my attention to the other slime who was dissolving the convict. Silent screams that I could only imagine due to the sealing of his face, shone out from the terrified and agonized face of the tusked man. I raised up my slat filled canister, took careful aim, and let loose near point blank at the slime enclosed man. *Fwooomp!* *Pahh* The high velocity rock salt harmlessly struck against the slime. Several ripples formed across its surface as the pressure was dispersed with no piercing or tearing to be seen. This maroon slime's membrane was far too tough for the salt to pierce it.

Now weaponless and at a loss of what to do next, I mead a hasty retreat. I noticed that none of the other fleeing solders and convicts attempted to free their fellow battle mate. All I saw was resigned sorrow and fear.

The leader was still engaging the 2nd slime as they performed an odd dance of sorts. He would make as if to stab it with the stave in his right arm, and the slime would rapidly withdraw its gelatinous mass from his range. Then it would counter with a rush at his other seemingly unprotected side. This was met by the transparent shield that formed from the bracelet on his left wrist. This pattered repeated several times, before, as if growing tired of the repeating moves, the Wolf-man leapt over the top of the slime and rotated a 180 to face the opposite side of before. He practically landed on the slime but, as he did so, he brought down the sharp end of the stave, pressing deep into the gelatinous flesh. His thumb clicked twice at the trigger, releasing two rushes of rock salt in the slime. Huh, I guess his weapon wasn't a single charge storage.

Immediately he flung himself free of the now spasming slime, and cowered close to the floor with his shield forming above him, to protect everything with the help of the ground at his back.

I dove behind a nearby shield that a soldier and convict pair were hiding behind. *Splush!!* The force of the slimes internal explosion physically repelled the convict back a couple of feet as he struggled to maintain his stance.

Next, while not even waiting for the remainder of the slime debris to finish clearing he air, Wolf-man rushed over to the still engulfed convict and stabbed the sharp stave into the deepest part of the slime he could find. Once again repeating his actions before of throwing himself to the ground, another wet explosion rocked the area.