NOVEL SIMPLE 62 - Ranged Superiority
David angled his wings, homing in on the dry patch he’d noted on his return trip to fetch Claire, and settled on a raised hummock right at the borderline's edge. The vibrant greens and blues of the healthy marsh abruptly transitioned to a sickly gray blight, like all color had been leeched away.
Claire trod carefully, each heavy footfall sending ripples across the small viscous pools slicked with an oily sheen, scum wobbling on their surfaces in time with the spreading waves. Withered reeds and cattail husks crunched underfoot, their desiccated stalks crackling crisply with every step Claire took while she approached to join him from the healthy section of the marsh. The whole blighted area radiated an aura of danger and decay that set David's ears swiveling rapidly, the feral half of him hissing and spitting every few moments at the total lack of sound in the environment.
The reek of rot and chemical corruption wafted on the unnaturally still air, stinging David's nostrils while he fought the urge to sneeze. Not even the faintest breeze disturbed the dead waters, and the shallowest pools seemed to hold the highest concentrations of stench. He found himself unconsciously holding his breath, as if inhaling too deeply could toxify his lungs. Claire silently agreed with his assessment, if the way her nostrils pinched together while she took shallow distasteful breaths were any indication. She repeatedly clacked her jaws together as she leered out into the blighted area, eyes narrow, stance wary and aggressive.
The stark border between life and blight stretched in both directions, a festering scar marring the otherwise lush wetlands. Past the border, anything clinging to existence looked twisted and sickened, warped by the aura of rot saturating the stagnant waters and soil.
“Well I just love what they've done with the place." David chattered quietly as he sniffed with disgust at the dead half of the divide. His snout wrinkled almost immediately as the rancid smell hit his nose.
Claire hissed, “Oh yeah, I simply must have the name of their decorator. David, I don't like this, it smells bad the same way your Gloom smells bad, just… different somehow.”
"Well, at least we know I’ll get a useful Bloodline out of it then, huh?” David muttered, his tone distracted as he carefully directed a few Echolocation into the living half of the divide. After a few seconds his ears perked up and he pounced, sailing through the air like the world's ugliest fox before landing in a dense clump of reeds with a triumphant snarl.
Claire tilted her head curiously in his direction as he yanked his head back from the dense growth to reveal one of the small lizard-like creatures that swarmed in the marsh. It wriggled and snapped at him as he held its long paddle-shaped tail loosely in his jaws, smacking at it a few times with his wings until it got the message and dangled tamely, squeaking and gurgling with outrage. David grunted approvingly and carefully walked back towards the dead half of the divide before loping forward and flinging the creature unceremoniously into the putrid waters.
“David!” Claire rasped, her tone disapproving and a bit shocked.
David leaned forward to watch carefully as he quietly barked back, “You willing to go in there without knowing what would happen?"
Claire slammed her jaws shut and cut off her annoyed hiss with a grumpy noise that sounded like a rusty gate swinging to a halt before shaking her head.
I do actually feel kinda bad for the little guy, but it had to be done. No way in hell I'm setting foot in there without knowing what would happen. I've seen what Gloom does to things, it's the foundation of my entire strategy right now. No way am I letting something get me with my own trick.
The paddle lizard had sunk beneath the grimy waters with an almost offended look, but it broke the surface quickly. A squeaky hiss broke the stillness as it rapidly splashed away from him to the other side of the pool, crawling out of the rancid water and bouncing in place furiously as it barked at him. David smirked a bit, watching it rise and fall rapidly as every high-pitch snarl seemed to physically lift it off the ground in a way that reminded him of the most aggressive Chihuahua his mother had owned when he was a child. It continued to carry on for several seconds, and just before he was about to shrug and declare the water safe to enter for short periods, Claire’s snout wrinkled violently and she flung herself into a low aggressive stance, eyes wild while she glanced around frantically.
“Can you smell that?!" She rumbled as quietly as possible, concern clear in her voice as she obviously expected something terrible to happen at any second.
At first, David couldn't detect any unusual scents, but then his highly sensitive ears faintly picked up a wet sound at the very edge of his hearing range, the shape of the terrain funneling it just far enough to reach him. His subconscious instantly hurled the memory of Paul's corrosive spit forward as his instincts went ballistic, shrieking for him to be ready. He crouched aggressively, ears swiveling to lock onto the distant sound's origin.
In the next instant, a gallon of slimy liquid descended like the hammer of God, slamming the paddle lizard into the dried earth from above before David could react. The vile substance splashed with sickening wetness, pinning the thrashing reptile as it began to drag itself out of the glue-like substance. Claire’s eyes widened hugely, and she began to slowly edge away, backing carefully toward the living half of the marsh behind her before whirling and darting away across the scar and into the greenery. David shot a glance skyward and saw to his horror that two more blobs were already descending, though he hadn’t heard them being launched.
He leaped away, three huge bounding strides taking him across the divide into the dense growth outside the perimeter of blight as the shots impacted around the lizard twice more. David hurled himself into the air, flapping up onto Claire’s skull as he rapidly joined her at her position beside a small slough.
They put a little more distance between themselves and the tainted marsh border as Claire shuffled farther away, watching with revolted fascination as several more vile globs rained down to further saturate the area they'd just abandoned.
I think it's safe to say it knows we're here, definitely didn't like all the noise. I was expecting the water to be the issue, sorry little lizard dude. I totally miscalculated that, good thing it can't really leave. Shit.
David's muscles remained tensed, his senses on high alert as he scanned the gnarled treeline for any movement, ready to take flight again at the first sign of danger.
Another splatter of thick liquid exploded nearby, closer this time. Claire flinched and began to retreat again, quickly hurrying her lumbering stride, putting more ground between them and the blight's perimeter. David clung on tightly, wings mantled as his head swiveled, straining to pinpoint the unseen assailant's location behind them through the miasma-choked tree branches in the dead zone.
A wet noise so faint it barely managed to carry over the sound of Claire’s footfalls was their only warning before another arcing salvo soared overhead. This volley landing only a couple yards in front of Claire's path, the noxious ooze splattering her forelimbs. She recoiled with a pained bellow as the liquid immediately began to soak into her hide.
"Go! Get clear!" David shouted over the pained roars, beating his wings hard to gain lift as he surged into the air before he was thrown loose by the frantic motion of her head.
Claire didn't need to be told twice. She bore down and fled at maximum speed, crashing through the underbrush and water with reckless abandon, and a sudden log simply exploded into debris as she plowed through it carelessly. Glancing back, David saw more of the vile globs raining down in their wake, the unseen assailant blanketing the area with its barrage, sickly gray-brown stains beginning to spread from every impact site.
Finally, they managed to put enough distance between them and the Boss Territory that the mortars stopped falling. Claire collapsed into the shallow marsh water, submerging her scorched limbs with a grunt of relief as the wetness helped neutralize the painful gel-like coating that had begun to shrivel her thick hide, scales withering and falling free of her body to reveal reddened flesh below.
David landed beside her, wincing at the sore patches where a few droplets had struck his body. "That was too close. I couldn't even figure out where it was coming from..."
"Up, then down.” Claire snarled sarcastically.