Chapter 7 - Growth

The next day the trio returned to the woods, already on the hunt for more slimes. Two suitable targets were easily found thanks to Clint’s observational skills. It seemed the twins had woken up refreshed as both approached the slimes with newfound confidence.

First up was Sol. He spun his sword a few times in his hands, before settling in a position. Instead of the edge facing the slime, it was now the flat of the blade. “I figured it out how to fix my problem. See, the issue was that I can’t accurately hit such a small core.” Sol explained, flourishing his sword as he explained to his captive audience. “Now, ideally, I’d just want a bigger target, but I can’t increase the size of the core. So instead…” he brought the steel down on the slime, splatting it across the forest floor into a thin pancake. “I made the weapon bigger!” The earth cracked slightly from the sheer power of the swing, the force distributed throughout the earth. “How’s that?” He asked with a bow and a smile.

“It was a good idea but…” Luna started, pointing at the reforming slime behind Sol. “Slimes are extremely good at resisting crushing attacks due to their gelatinous bodies. Too big of a surface area spreads the force out, leaving you unable to hit the core hard enough to kill it. ”

Sol groaned and threw up his hands, leaving his slime behind. It was his turn to spectate now as Luna stepped up to hers.

“Unlike Sol, I focused on what you said about precision. Unfortunately, I simply cannot be precise about my power output. Because of my mana pool, when I start channeling I always output at 100%. It’s like a flood gate being opened, all the water comes through at once. With that being the case, the best way for me to achieve minimal power is to only open the floodgate for one… split…second!” A small flash of a Munditia burst forth from her staff, barely a whisper, it zipped straight into the slime, burying itself inside and quickly bursting it to tiny fragments of sludge.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t penetrated deep enough to rupture the core, the orb of mana was so small it wasn’t able to maintain itself for long enough to reach the slime’s weak point. After a moment, the globs left behind began to reform.

“Another failure. Seems like you’re just too strong, Luna.” Sol shrugged, patting his sister on the shoulder.

“Evidently not.” She grumbled, turning and pacing away from the slime’s remains.

“Not bad.” Clint shrugged, “You two’re smarter than I took you for.” Despite his complimentary words he was already looking past the siblings and refocusing on their respective slimes. They seemed to have a different goal than their typical indiscriminate kamikaze attacks. They were approaching one another, inching closer, bounce by bounce until…

They collided, forming into one like cells dividing in reverse. It was so instantaneous, so natural, every square inch of their bodies had been programmed to do exactly this. The end result was outwardly unspectacular, just a larger slime, but there was a clear difference in its movement as it made its way once again toward the party.

It was exponentially faster, its slow and laboured hopping now replaced with a much livelier bounding. It still wasn’t fast or particularly threatening, but it was clear its capabilities had grown far beyond a mere two slimes.

“Hell just happened?” Clint asked.

“This is why we keep their population down” Luna sighed. “If a slime population goes unchecked, they’ll start merging, creating bigger and stronger slimes.” The slime, as if on cue, illustrated her point with a mad dash toward her. She quickly sidestepped. “Luckily a fusion of only two slimes is just barely less pathetic than one.” Despite her earlier complaints about using it, she jabbed at the slime with her staff, piercing its core instantly.

“Told ya to use the stick”. Clint remarked nonchalantly.

“It’s not a stick!” Luna whined.

As the others spoke, Sol’s mind was working. He was on the edge of a terrible, terrible realisation.

Clint just barely beat him to it. “If this place was all abandoned for a couple months because of that Helldog-” he began.

Sol finished his thought “Then the slime population hasn’t been culled for months.” he said grimly.

Perhaps by chance, or by cruel decision of fate; Sol’s fears were instantly illustrated. Behind them, lurking in the treeline was a creature of immense size, somehow unnoticed until now. A gigantic slime that bulged with power, disturbing the treetops as it pulled itself like an enormous slug toward the three.

It barreled through, bending the boughs of the trees and parting them like mere blades of grass. Its speed was absurd for its size, its hefty weight allowing it to easily build momentum as it came like a landslide toward the three.

Clint, of course, reacted first. Leaping into a roll that evaded the slimes' destructive path. Luna was not as lucky. She was already mid-incantation. She figured she’d be able to cast the spell before it arrived, but before she realised it, it was already upon her. She was like a doe, freezing wide-eyed on the tracks as a train came barreling towards her.

Her brother came to her rescue, boldly stepping between the lurching behemoth and his sister. The slimy mountain crashed upon him with all of its crushing immensity. He steeled his muscles, every vein and fibre working to their maximum capacity to hold back its assault.

Despite his immense physical power he was still being pushed back. His feet carved treads into the earth as the creature attempted to barge straight through him. Sol was used to immense weights, he had been lifting boulders since he was a child. But this creature was no boulder, the harsh edges of a stone were much simpler matter than the living being he now had to contend with; He had only stopped part of it, holding its central mass in place, but leaving the rest of its gelatinous form to creep around him; An iron maiden that would soon become his tomb if left unattended.

Just as he had expected though, his sister was not wasting the time he had bought her. Luna’s staff was already raised, a huge crackling orb of dancing cerulean plasma floating in the air above it, buzzing and sparking with power.

It took only a look for the siblings to communicate everything that needed to be said. A glance where blue and red eyes met, exchanging tomes worth of information in milliseconds. The orb vibrated the air itself as it began to descend like a second sun setting over the mountainous slime.

As soon as the descent began, Sol leapt back to his sister’s side, narrowly escaping the clutches of the slime's monstrous tendrils. Their timing was perfect, Sol was in the clear just as the Munditia orb struck the slime. The shining ball of mana buried itself into the enemy, burning through and cauterising its amorphous not-flesh. It lashed and popped as it grew more and more unstable, the slime fighting to push more of its mass between it and its vulnerable core.

Sol took a position in front of his sister, both of them aware of what would happen next. Clint had also figured it out, finding cover behind a tree, but keeping a close eye on the slime as it…

Exploded.

The remains of the once great slime rained down in sizable globs. They splattered rhythmically against the forest floor, burst on tree branches, tumbled through leaves. The great monster they had just encountered was easily slain by the siblings just as quickly as it arrived. Sol's immense strength and Luna’s magical potency made easy work of a beast that would be certain death for lesser adventurers.

But slimes do not die. As surely as the sun sets and the grass grows slimes will live. It was even said that at the end of the world it will be the slimes who inherit the earth. And from that earth that they were perhaps destined to inherit, thousands of slimes began to reform, staining the verdant forest landscape with their paler, sicklier green. While slaying the giant slime was of course an unparalleled feat, it was one without reward, as now countless more enemies began to swarm the trio…

Current Party: Clint Morgans, Sol Dragoneart, Luna Dragoneart

Bullets Remaining: 5