Chapter 32

Carl and his party encounter Claude Sludgington the Fourth, a massive Level 65 Borough Boss amphibian that Samantha accidentally teleports to their location. In a chaotic thirty-second fight, the group struggles to defeat the lightning-throwing creature, eventually exposing its stomach and incinerating it from within, though the battle results in casualties and severe injuries.

Samantha attempts to bite Claude Sludgington the Fourth, a Level 65 Eryops Gigantis amphibian boss dwelling in Fort Freedom's throne room, but accidentally teleports the enormous truck-sized creature directly onto the party. The impact scatters everyone—Donut and Mongo disappear into trees, Areson falls with a howl, Carl slides down the slope into Miss Nadine the giant caterpillar, and Samantha and beaver-form Holger are ejected from the monster's mouth, with Holger knocked unconscious. The creature fires lightning bolts indiscriminately as Carl reads its description: a notoriously difficult-to-kill amphibian with a 10X constitution bonus when rooted in place. Miss Nadine charges the boss while Areson climbs atop its head, but Carl realizes they can only damage its stomach. As the creature swallows Holger and Samantha again, Carl orders Areson to dismount so he can execute his strategy. When he casts Protective Shell too close, the force launches Claude straight upward instead of sideways. Donut and Mongo arrive on the scene, and as the boss falls back down, Donut launches a fireball into its pink stomach, igniting the creature and leaving it wedged on the shield. The monster fires lightning in all directions as gore rains down. Before the spell expires, Mongo dives into the open stomach wound, using the monster's impending collapse to his advantage. Claude falls directly onto Carl, forcing him into the corpse cavity where Mongo's back claws rake him severely while the dinosaur eats his way out through the back. Carl survives with healing magic and potions, covered in gore, and pulls himself free as the boss's body convulses in death. Within moments of Claude's death, the supernatural cohesion fails and the corpse explodes into gore. Miss Nadine has been killed by lightning, and the bush elf is dead in pieces, while Areson sits rubbing his head. Samantha, soaked in gore, sits on Carl's lap claiming victory.