Slime

"WHOAAAAA!!" Aki yelled, sliding down a long tunnel, holding tightly to his backpack, with Shrimpy chirping loudly.

The pair continued travelling downward at immense speed for a few seconds, entering a large,  frozen, open underground cave, and began accelerating faster toward an ice wall. Aki began to brace for impact, realizing that at the speed they were going, it was certain death.

*THUMMPPPP*

"OUCH!!!" Aki cried, while upside down, with his back feeling something soft. "What was that?" he questioned, fixing his posture and pulling something sticky & gelatinous off his back.

The splatter gelatinous blob began to gather itself up and return into a round ball.

"A Slime? Why is a Slime here?" Aki muttered, staring at the blue bouncing monster in front of him. The Slime began to extend a fluid-like tentacle, pointing at a large ice column, and attempted to pull Aki behind it. "Okay, okay, I'm coming," he answered, attempting to stand up on the slippery ice surface, and proceeded to hide. 

A minute passed by, and a wounded Rock Lizard entered the frozen, open underground cave through the same opening Aki arrived in. The Rock Lizard dug its sharp claws into the slippery surface, managing to stop its momentum, and started looking around, with its long purple tongue flicking into the air. 

Suddenly, a large gust of cold air filled the large frozen cave as a large sky blue bird descended from a hole in the ceiling, immediately grabbing hold of the Rock Lizard with its razor-sharp talons, and proceeding to rip apart its flesh. 

"What t-the h-hell is t-that??!?!" Aki stuttered in fear, Appraisal

Ice Hawk lvl: 289 / S-Rank Monster

Ice Hawks, also known as King of the Sky, are often found on top of snowy mountain caps.

Ice Hawks naturally radiate a cold aura that can freeze lakes in a matter of seconds upon contact. 

Ice Hawks are aggressive hunters with extremely sharp talons that can pierce through mithril armor. 

Labyrinth Hellhound lvl: 75 / A-Rank Monster

Labyrinth Hellhounds are a subspecies of Hellhounds that can only be found in Labyrinths. 

Hellhounds can expel high-temperature fire from their mouth, which can melt steel equipment instantly. Hellhounds also possess razor-sharp, poison claws that can tear through chainmail and lead to a bleeding debuff.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?!?" Aki quietly screamed, "I didn't want to become an Explorer to avoid entering a Labyrinth Dungeon, so why the hell are there Labyrinth monsters in front of me?!?!?", watching closely as the fight between the two monsters began. 

The Ice Hawk opened its wing, and a gust of frigid air flew forward toward the Hellhounds, encasing two wolves in solid ice. The Hellhounds began to open their mouths and released a wave of purple fireballs towards the Ice Hawk, who proceeded to wrap its body with its large sky blue wings, withstanding the purple flames. The Ice Hawk proceeded to reopen its wings, releasing a burst of icy breath onto the pack, freezing them one by one as it moved around, leaving only five behind. The remaining pack started to dash forward, shuffling side to side, dodging a wave of icicle attacks coming from the Ice Hawk as it flapped its large wings swiftly. The HellHounds began to jump onto the Ice Hawk's body and started to claw into the sky blue body, with the feather turning dark blue as blood oozed out from its wounds. The Ice Hawk began to fly upward, before diving back down, and entered a spiraling downward dive, sending all the wolves crashing into the ice-covered surface, killing them. The Ice Hawk began to scan the area for any remaining prey before returning to the frozen ground, watching the Hellhounds' corpses evaporate into thin air, leaving behind a large purple mana stone. The Ice Hawk proceeded to pick up a few mana stones with its beak and swallow them whole, completing its meal. The Ice Hawk flapped its wings and started to fly up the open hole it descended from and returned to an opening within the icy wall. 

"HOLY FUCK!" Aki muttered softly, sitting down on the frozen ground. "If it wasn't for my special equipment, I would be freezing right now from the sheer intensity of those attacks," he realized with Shrimpy safely stuck inside. Aki suddenly felt something cold and slimy entering his coat jacket as the Slime attempted to stay warm. "Yes, yes, come on in," he welcomed the Slime. 

"Do you wish to tame the Elder Slime? Yes / No"

A window appeared in front of Aki as the Slime snuggled itself next to Shrimpy. 

"Elder Slime?" Aki thought, "For now, let's tame it so yes." he pressed the option, followed by another window requesting a name. 

"A name, huh?" Aki pondered, "I honestly don't have a good naming sense....which is why Shrimpy was given its name......." staring down at the blue slime. "Let's go with Ao!" he stated, as he completed taming the Slime. 

"Now then, what should we do?" Aki pondered, "The biggest issue is finding a way out without getting caught by the bird." He started to assess the situation. "I can't exactly climb up the opening I came from, especially if something might also slide down from it," thinking back to how the Rock Lizard also fell through it. 

"Hmmmm...the only option is the Labyrinth," Aki gulped. 

Aki began to carefully tread across the icy floor, collecting the HellHound fangs and fur pelts left behind by the Ice Hawk, storing them in his item box, and finally reaching the opening where they appeared from.

"*SIGH*" Aki sighed heavily, standing in front of a layer-bricked entrance, "I really didn't want to do this, but I have no choice," he stated, taking a step forward and immediately stepping on a floor trap. The floor began to part open, revealing a pitfall filled with large, sharp spikes. Luckily for Aki, Ao had attached itself to the wall, acting like a lifeline as he dangled freely. "Thank you, Ao!" he said, with the floor closing back up as he was slowly reeled back in. 

*Orb of Light*, a floating, white soccer ball-sized orb appeared, illuminating the dark tunnel as Aki started walking forward, repeatedly using his appraisal skill to identify traps.

After travelling for fifteen minutes, Aki received a pop-up: *Skill: Trap Detection Unlocked*

"THANK FUCKING GOD!!" Aki cried internally, trying his best not to scream inside the dark tunnel and alert anything else inside the single tunnel passageway. 

*Trap Detection*, parts of the dark tunnel began to illuminate with an orange color hue, signaling where a trap was located. 

After walking down the long tunnel for another ten minutes, Aki reached a poorly lit room with magic lanterns placed around six large stone pillars that extended into the ceiling. On the left & right sides of the room, three dark passageways could be seen with a single heavy metal grey door placed directly at the center wall. 

"Something tells me that the boss's room isn't it?" Aki stared directly at the large grey metal door, taking a step forward before falling directly to the ground. "What the hell was that?!?!" he yelled, sending his light up towards the ceiling and expanding the size to a large basketball. 

On the ground, dozens of torn clothing, rusted armors, broken weapons, and bags were scattered without a single skeletal remains being seen. 

"Damn, this is like a gravesite," Aki stated, treading carefully and beginning to collect the remaining equipment into a pile. "Where did all the remains disappear to? If the Hellhounds ate the remains, why were the equipment left mostly intact?" he questioned, seeing no bite marks on the metal armor, only large openings with blood stains. "First of all, why hasn't the dungeon consumed all the scattered equipment? According to that pervert prince, Labyrinth Dungeon is a living entity, so anything left inside would eventually be consumed to act like nourishment. Why did it get selective to only eat the remains?" with more questions appearing. 

*Bong* Bong*  Ao could be heard as it bounced up and down, attempting to call Aki over.

"I'm coming," Aki yelled, walking toward the sound of Ao's bouncing body, heading to the right corner of the room to see a small skeleton curled up. The skeleton was wearing a dark navy blue magician's robe, holding a locket in its right hand, and was protected in a thick layer of gelatinous membrane. 

Aki crouched down, and Ao quickly reabsorbed the membrane back into its body, allowing him to touch the remains. Aki immediately spots a large opening on the bottom right side of the abdomen area that was heavily torn and stained with blood. He proceeded to reach down towards the locket, revealing a deteriorated hand-drawn family portrait of a tall lady with blond hair, and sitting in front was a blond little girl holding a Slime in her hands. 

"Was this your master?" Aki asked Ao as it shook its body up and down, followed by small tears dripping down its side. "I see," Aki answered softly, patting Ao on his head with Shrimpy, leaving its cage and landing softly on its gelatinous body.

At that moment, a sharp pain struck Aki in his head as he collapsed onto the ground, and images began to appear.