Chapter 528 - 527: Desperate Situation

Chapter 528: Chapter 527: Desperate Situation

That was Ale’s Fireball Technique.

Amid the scorching firelight, the Aboleth turned its head toward one of the Chuul.

Wisps of blue light suddenly streamed from the two protruding eyes atop that Chuul’s head. The light drifted toward the Aboleth and floated around its body, and the scorched marks left by lightning and flames began to slowly fade.

With the sound of surging water, a massive wave came crashing in.

Colin once again plunged his Giant Sword into the ground, bracing himself for the impact, while Dorn instantly teleported to Kase’s side.

As the wave crashed down, the force of the water slamming into his face made Colin shut his eyes.

A tremendous force suddenly lashed the back of his right hand. His entire hand went numb in an instant, leaving only a tingling, electric pain throbbing from his wrist.

The water receded.

Colin looked down.

A vicious, bloody gash had been torn across the back of his hand, so deep he could almost see the fractured bone within the mangled flesh.

The wound was covered in a layer of the Aboleth’s transparent slime; it was clearly the handiwork of the creature’s tentacles.

Kase and Orelia each bore fresh, deep lacerations from the lashing. The blow had even torn a hole in the Tiefling’s Drow Scale Armor, and black-red blood slowly trickled from the wound.

"May the morning light of Lathander protect us, dispel our pain, and restore our bodies to wholeness and health..." Orelia slowly chanted the prayer.

Aside from the largely unharmed Dorn, a faint blue light began to flicker over the bodies of the others.

The Tier Three Divine Skill, Mass Healing Truth.

This Divine Art could heal up to six people at once, but its effect was limited; even after being healed, Colin’s injury wasn’t fully mended.

He first pulled out a weaker Healing Potion and drank it, then began Casting again.

A massive bolt of lightning erupted once more. The two Chuul had no time to dodge and were struck again, as arcs of electricity created countless black sparks across their bodies.

Just then, the water around the island began to gather once more.

Another black wave crashed down. The Aboleth moved unimpeded through the water, but this time, its target was Ale and the others.

None of them could stop the surging wave or the monster within it. They were utterly helpless against it.

The wave passed.

Langgrin could move again and brought his axe down on the chest of the Chuul before him.

Beside him, Donkexes clenched his right fist and threw a punch. In mid-air, a spectral Bigby’s Hand smashed into the Chuul in front of Langgrin.

At the same time, Ale chanted a Spell, and three Scorching Rays shot out at a clever angle, each striking one of the three remaining monsters.

"Nice one, Colin!"

Kase roared, raising his Giant Axe high as tendrils of frost crept down the Axe Blade.

The Chuul before him seemed to sense its fate.

After being bombarded by one spell after another and having its life force drained by its master, it clearly couldn’t hold on any longer.

The Giant Axe fell.

With a sharp CRACK, fragments burst outward.

The frosty Axe Blade shattered the Chuul’s raised pincer and buried itself in the creature’s head. The monster convulsed, let out a piercing shriek, and then collapsed limply to the ground.

Meanwhile, Langgrin’s Battle Axe pierced through the chest of the Chuul in front of him, and it fell to the ground, lifeless.

Donkexes then directed his Bigby’s Hand to fly to Orelia’s side, shielding her from the Chuul before her.

Then, three Scorching Rays shot out from Ale’s position, and the last Chuul was finished off.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Orelia took two steps back and began to chant another prayer.

"Don’t waste Spell Slots trying to remove the disease! The poison from the Aboleth’s tentacles can only be cured by a Tier Six or higher Divine Art," Colin shouted urgently. "It costs the creature nothing to poison us. We’re just wasting our resources for no reason."

Orelia nodded and began to chant a different prayer instead.

The next moment, a pale blue Spiritual Light emanated from the Leaf Hammer in her hand, and the hammer itself began to glow with a faint golden light.

Colin immediately felt a wave of warmth spread through his palm and abdomen.

The last of his injuries, which the Mass Healing Truth hadn’t been able to mend, began to heal.

’This must be the Tier Four Divine Technique, Life Radiance.’

It could heal any of the Caster’s allies within the Spiritual Light. Although the Divine Technique itself wasn’t that powerful, its healing was amplified by the Dawn Messenger, making the effect quite decent.

Watching Orelia’s body get scorched by the Spiritual Light, Colin felt a surge of complicated emotions.

Orelia didn’t stop.

She looked at Ale and the others standing nearby and cast several more Healing Truths to treat their wounds.

Just then, Kase, who was standing nearby, clutched his throat and began gasping for air.

He mumbled in a daze, "I... I don’t think... I can breathe..."

’Normally, with Kase’s constitution, the slime shouldn’t have taken effect so quickly. It’s probably because he was the only one fighting the Aboleth head-on.’

As he was thinking this, Colin shouted, "The Aboleth’s slime is taking effect! Soon we’ll only be able to breathe underwater...!"

Halfway through his sentence, he too was struck by a feeling of suffocation.

He glanced over and saw that Orelia, Kase, and he himself were all having trouble breathing.

The Aboleth had used the massive waves to expose them to its slime without them realizing it, inflicting them all with a "water lung disease" that would only allow them to breathe underwater.

Just then, a wooden door suddenly opened in the brick wall beside the reservoir.

One after another, Dwarves charged out of the doorway. At the same time, a floating bridge suddenly appeared on the water’s surface, and the Dwarves, with their short legs, charged directly across it toward the group.

’There must have always been a small door and a bridge there, just concealed by the Aboleth’s illusion,’ Colin thought. ’Now the illusion is using seemingly plausible events to trick our minds.’

GURGLE GURGLE—

Whirlpools appeared on the surface of the water around the island, and then the black water began to recede quickly.

’The Aboleth must have activated some kind of emergency drainage system,’ Colin thought. ’The creature’s plan was to inflict us with a disease and poison that makes us unable to survive out of water, then drain it all away and use those Dwarves to finish us off.’

’What a twistedly ironic plan.’

"Just great! Now we’re in real trouble!" Donkexes shouted.

"I’ll hold them off! For the forge of Moradin!"

Langgrin shouted, raising his Battle Axe high as he charged toward his distant kin.

As an Armorer, he was likely the most skilled at Defense among them all. He was the only one for the job.

Colin looked around.

By now, the water around the island had almost completely drained away, revealing the brick and stone walls below.

Already afflicted by the disease, Colin and the others couldn’t find any water to submerge themselves in. Over thirty fully armed Dwarves were brandishing Battle Axes as they charged the island—and this group of Dwarves had once been their comrades...