The Slime Hallway

Claire rushed forward, a dark glow swirling in her hand as she drew her arm back. A shadow formed a point before she launched it. The dark weapon struck the core of the middle slime, killing it. The spear pulsed before exploding and killing the remaining five slimes with little trouble.

The dark user spun on her heel, holding up a victory sign with a huge smile. “What do you guys think of my new spell? Doesn’t it look great!”

Gwen clapped her hands together. “Other than the long cast time, I think Shadow Spear was a great spell for you to learn! It’ll be very helpful in future job requests.”

“Meh, I’ve seen cooler.” Kira shrugged.

“Compared to Gwen, it is a little lackluster.”

“Oh, come on, she didn’t do any worse than I—” Gwen paused at the glare Claire sent.

“Your humility ‌is very frustrating.”

“I think you did amazing!” Chris ran forward, and before Claire could stop him, he scooped her up in a hug. “My little sister is growing up so strong!”

“Ugh, put me down, you big oaf!”

It was always a joy having those two around, even more so now that they’re coming out of their shells. A smile formed on Gwen’s lips as she looked at the siblings.

It was finally good to have some decent things happen for once. Just getting into the dungeon today required Beth to interfere and place a guard to make sure she didn’t sneak off to the second floor. In the guild’s defense, drops like magic stones are supposed to be rare, and she gets them almost all the time.

Shaking the negative thoughts off her mind, Gwen walked forward. “Alright, you two, cut it out! We have a lot of ground to cover before we set up camp.”

Chris glanced at Gwen, then reluctantly placed Claire on the ground. She took the chance to put some space between them, glaring heavily.

“Stop hugging me all the time!” she growled.

“Yeah, yeah!”

“Chris, take point and start marching forward!” Gwen demanded, quickly stepping in before a round of arguing started.

He gave a firm nod, drew his sword, and led the group forward. His sister didn’t need prompting to follow behind him, daggers in hand. Gwen let out a deep breath, following next once Kira finished picking up slime drops.

The party moved with the Karate Rabbit, now named Bun Li or Li for short, sitting on Kira’s head. Its little legs swung back and forth, looking bored. The rabbit probably didn’t find the slimes worthy opponents.

By the time they reached a wider section of the hallway, Gwen could feel exhaustion settling into her body. On the bright side, they did receive plenty of drops, which will net plenty of silver, pending the guild reopening and the investigation.

“I think now is a good time to rest for the day,” Gwen suggested, panting.

“Oh, thank Catis!” Kira shouted, plopping down on the ground. “I thought I was going to pass out before we finally stopped.”

“You need to work on your stamina for our next overnight dungeon exploration.”

“I don’t wanna!”

“We could just get the big oaf over here to carry her,” Claire suggested, flicking her thumb at Chris.

“Hmm, that might not be a bad idea, but as the shielder, I should remain up front as the first line of defense.”

“Good point,” Gwen said, turning to beast kin. “Kira, grab the firewood and tents from the bag so the siblings can start setting them up. Li, you’re with me.” Bun Li quickly settled onto Gwen’s shoulder with little fanfare.

“What are you going to be doing, then?” Kira scowled while pulling the stuff out of the bag.

“I’m going to explore more,” Gwen called out over her shoulder.

“Do you want one of us to come with you?” Chris asked

“Nah, I’ll be okay.”

“If you’re not back within the hour, we are coming to look for you!” Claire told her, leaving no room for arguments.

Gwen gave a small wave and kept walking, not seeing the nervous glance the siblings shared with each other.

***

Each step forward filled Gwen with giddy excitement. The shaking of her hand, the smile on her face… it was why she became an adventurer. Not only the need to get stronger, but being able to explore new things—to go places not seen by others.

That’s what made adventuring so exciting.

The old dirty gray bricks had transformed into black stone that reflected the light from the ceiling. Even the stale smell of blood and sweat had faded, replaced by fresher air.

The slimes were different… stronger.

They were bigger and moved faster than before. Unlike the light blue slimes from earlier, these were dark green, yellow, and brown. Their acid was even strong enough to stop Gwen’s earth spikes from reaching the core.

With a flick of her wrist, a fire arrow shot forth, killing the slime. The sizzling of liquid and the smell of sewage filled the air, making Gwen want to gag.

“I have to use stronger magic to turn them to ash,” she observed, watching the slimes burn before finally lying still. Strangely, these new slimes dropped actual magic stones, about the same size as the monsters on floor two.

A shiver ran down Gwen’s spine as the sound of a hiss filled the air.

On instinct, she jumped backwards, putting space between her and the green mist that began to fill the air. Lifting her arm upwards, a stone wall appeared, blocking the green cloud. The mist began to melt the stone, reminiscent of the arak boss’s acid.

Okay, not to self, don’t let the weird mist touch my skin.

Ideas raced through her mind as she backpedaled away from the green cloud.

An old lecture from chemistry popped into her mind: high heat destroys compounds. If she could make her fire hot enough, destabilize the cloud. Pouring a vast amount of energy into the spell, a flame appeared in her hand.

She threw the ball into the middle of the cloud and closed her fist.

Boom!

The blast pushed Gwen back slightly, but cleared the air of the green cloud. Small smoke covered the area, but it was better than being melted down.

“I wonder if that mist would’ve attacked us at the camp if I didn’t come this way.” She wiped the sweat from her brow.

Bun Li shrugged in response.

“Right, I don’t know either.”

Gwen took a deep breath and turned around. The best bet was to tell everyone what was going on and regroup for the night. Hopefully, they could rest without an attack, then figure out what was going on tomorrow.

She placed one foot down when suddenly a barrier popped up in front of her, blocking her way. Hesitantly, she touched it and instantly recoiled. The damn barrier had zapped her, making her arm go numb.

Bun Li started making a bunch of squeaking noises from her shoulder. It seemed to be going frantic, scared of something.

“Yeah, I don’t know how to get past this barrier either!” Gwen said, guessing at what Li was trying to say.

All she got from their bond was a sense of worry and unease.

A laugh echoed from around them, bouncing off the walls. It was loud enough to make Gwen clench her ears. “I think your little rabbit companion there was trying to warn you about me.” A feminine voice said from behind.

Gwen, ignoring the ringing in her ears, spun around. In front of her was an adventurer with a sword on her hip, long amber colored hair, and dressed in armor similar to a knight’s that showed off her curves.

Yet something still felt off.

Looking closer, the eyes looked weird. Instead of regular human eyes, they were small and black. Similar to the slimes she had been killing. The female adventurer smiled, something that sent shivers down Gwen’s spine.

“Take in this glorious form while you have the chance! I’m going to kill you for all of my children you’ve harmed today, including the last time you were in the dungeon!”

“What children are you talking about?”

The female adventurer responded by thrusting her fist out. Much to Gwen’s shock, her arm turned a deep red and stretched toward her.