“Ugh, what the frick is this?” I muttered to myself as I landed with a loud squelching sound in a barely lit, but visibly slime-covered cave tunnel. “Gross.”
“Enjoy your landing?” Bobbie said in a playful tone. “Welcome to your very first dungeon… well almost.”
She was gesturing broadly with her hands behind her at the very large, currently opened, stone doorway.
“Is all this slime part of the dungeon? If that doorway is the entrance, is this stuff leaking out all the way over here a bad sign?” I said while slowly making my way towards Bobbie’s position in front of the entryway.
“It is and your observation is an astute one, Ms. Morrow.” The voice of Knowles said from a short way behind me. “The quote ‘leaking slime’ is one indicator that this dungeon poses a danger to the public, but the other obvious sign is the doorway over there remaining open at all times. This is a strong indicator of the dungeon's hostile intent or lack of concern for what happens to those beyond itself.”
“In any case, it means we need to stop it. Which in this case, yes, most likely means kill it.” Gunderson said from Knowles's side as the two of them walked toward me.
“Wait, hold up.” I said, while my mind processed the implications of what Gunderson had said. “You’re talking like the dungeon is a living, thinking being.”
“That is because it very likely is.” Knowles studiously replied.
“Maybe.” Gunderson corrected.
“Highly probable.” Knowles shot back.
“Doesn’t matter either way, our orders are to dispose of it regardless.” Said the voice of Sheffield as he too joined us down in the dark dank cavern we had gathered in.
“It might, if its intelligence was high enough that negotiations were possible.” Gunderson responded.
“Gunny is right, some of the smarter dungeons still mindlessly try to kill you to the bitter end. Others will be desperate to save themselves, and be willing to make a deal that ensures their survival.” Bobbie responded.
“So again, the question is how smart is the one before us now.” Knowles emphasized.
“It’s new, and it's just spewing out not just monsters but also random amounts of slime everywhere in front of it. I dunno, it seems pretty dumb to me.” Bobbie said with a bored shrug.
“Is it… trying to expand somehow?” I guessed while looking at the slime-covered floor and walls around the cave we were in.
“A good guess, but probably not. It might make it easier to grow larger in already affected areas down the line, but it won’t help it grow its body larger any time soon.” Knowles explained.
“So, young and dumb then.” Gunderson concluded.
“Seems like.” Bobbie agreed before turning to look at me with a playful smile on her face. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
“Hey!” I said while giving Bobbie a sufficiently menacing glare that only caused her smirk to grow even larger.
“Enough playing around.” Gunderson chided. “Let’s get moving or we’ll be here all night.”
As the group walked forward and through the opened stone entryway, a new textbox opened itself for me once I had finally stepped into the dungeon proper.
New Quest!
- Clear the Nascent Slime Dungeon -
Clear the dungeon of any and all hostile monsters you encounter and eliminate the dungeon core to prevent any future threats from emerging.
Reward: 1000 Exp + Additional Exp for each defeated monster
“So, you guys think clearing the dungeon will take until nighttime?” I asked casually as our party moved further in. “How big is this dungeon exactly?”
“For you, very likely, and it's a pretty small dungeon compared to how big some can get.” Bobbie explained while looking back at me.
“How big is that?” I asked while returning her look.
“Bigger than the entire surface of the planet.” She said with a bold and manic grin on her face.
“W-what, but that's crazy.” I said in sincere disbelief.
“It’s mostly true.” Knowles corrected somewhat. “There are no current hostile dungeons of that size with entrances on the surface. The Akashic Record would never allow it.”
“Neither would the IDPA.” Sheffield added.
“But they do exist.” Bobbie said without any diminishment to her enthusiastic expression.
“Yes, but as tamed, dead, or neutered dungeon remnants.” Knowles again corrected but with a bit more force this time.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Look, we’ll have plenty of time to debate the nature and history of dungeons as we continue, but we should focus on why we’re here.” Gunderson said while looking in my direction. “To get Jenni here some much-needed experience. Both actual literal experience points, as well as the other kind.”
“Right, right.” Bobbie said while closing her eyes in obvious disappointment. “I’ve just been so used to being the one leading the way in these places that I’m not really used to following someone else. You should be upfront then, new girl.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” I said while my heart sank further and further down into my chest as the others waited and watched as I took point. “So, do I just keep walking forward or…?”
“For now. We’ll have to see what the layout is ahead of us.” Knowles instructed.
Bobbie came up to whisper into my ear. “If they really wanted to they could have produced a map of this place, but they wanted you to have the experience of dealing with a dungeon without one.”
“Of course.” I said grumpily while my feet continued to loudly stomp and squelch the viscous material lining the floor that we were walking on. “So is there anything else useful you guys can tell me about what’s ahead before I have to actually face it.”
“You’ll have to fight some monsters.” Bobbie replied sagely.
“Great, and what kind of monsters?” I said with only a bare hint of annoyance in my voice, a feat I was feeling rather proud of at that moment.
“Slimes.” Bobbie said simply.
“Slimes?” I replied equally eloquently.
“Slimes.” Bobbie repeated.
Clearing his throat, Gunderson spoke up. “What she means is that the dungeon name and obvious appearance show that the dungeon is likely dominated by slime monsters. How many varieties, and the quantity are still not known though.”
“The dungeon is young, and as we already established, not the brightest, so the variety is likely limited to less than a dozen. That said, given the look and texture of the slime residue we are all walking in, I would make an educated guess that only one species dominates, with other variants being more isolated and less numerous.”
“Wait, all this slime we’re walking in came from monsters?” I said while looking down at the disgusting material with new interest. “Still gross though.”
“Very.” Sheffield agreed.
“The most likely monster you’ll have to face is a basic poison slime.” Knowles said, likely trying to move back on topic. “Their level should be close to your own, additionally your abilities should be a good match-up for them. Hence, another reason you were selected to deal with this dungeon.”
“He means that slimes are usually resistant or even immune to physical attacks, but because of that tend to be extra vulnerable to magic ones.” Bobbie explained while walking a few paces behind me.
“I see, so a warrior or fighter of my level would have a much harder time with this dungeon then?” I guessed.
“For sure.” Gunderson agreed. “Barring any surprises, you shouldn’t have much trouble with any monsters you face in this little outing.”
“That’s somewhat reassuring.” I said while honestly feeling a bit better at his words.
They all seemed pretty confident that I could handle whatever monsters I might face here, so I guess my only option was to trust in their knowledge and experience on the matter.
“So how have you found reading the book I gave to you? I heard you even received a quest for it.” Knowles asked casually as we continued to trudge through loud squelching slime.
“Oh, uh, I did receive a quest related for it, related to an evolution of my study skill.” I said a bit more happily to be talking about something other than monsters and dungeons. Instead I was talking about something I knew and actually enjoyed, schoolwork.
“Nerd!” Shouted at me with an accompanying big shit-eating grin on her face.
“Rude.” I said while looking back to glare at her.
“Eyes forward.” Gunderson loudly ordered. “You’re still walking around in a place that would very much like to kill you.”
“S-sorry.” I said sheepishly. “But uh, yes I did read through and study the book you gave me as well as I could. The report I had to write for the quest is actually finished, I just haven’t had an opportunity to give it to you yet.”
“Ah well, assuming you didn’t bring it with you in the dungeon, you can hand it to me once we're back outside.” Knowles replied politely.
“Ah, cool.” I said back, somehow a bit less stressed than I was before.
I did realize then how weird it was that talking about studying and schoolwork put me at ease, but regardless, it did.
“I really learned a lot from reading from that book, but even so I felt like I was just looking at-” I started to explain but was interrupted by a fast-moving green object that quickly collided with my face, both blinding and suffocating me in the process.
“Graphshala.” I said unintelligibly as I desperately tried to use my fingers to dig the strongly adhesive object off my face. My effort proved completely ineffective though as whatever part I painfully managed to pull away, quickly returned as soon as I moved my hand to a different area.
“Hold still.” Said the calm voice of Bobbie from beside me. “Don’t flail around or I might nick you as well.”
Letting my body go limp and motionless, I put my trust in my senior supernatural, as I let her do her work.
I could feel a brief sense of wind and mana move in front of my face as, suddenly, I could see and breathe again.
Taking in deep gasping breaths, I backed away from where I had been standing and looked over what bits of the slime monster that had fallen onto the floor where I had been standing.
“Frick.” I said simply, a mild sense of shock flowing over my body at the newest harrowing experience I had just been through.
“That’s why I said eyes forward. Monsters are still dangerous even if you should have the advantage in this case.” Gunderson lectured.
“In this case, your eyes should have been looking up as well as forward.” Knowles added on. “This clever little slime took advantage of people’s common inability to bother looking up and waited on the ceiling to ambush whatever fool walked near it. In this case you.”
“Gee, thanks.” I said while I was slowly able to catch my breath.
“Eh, don’t let them give you too hard a time.” Bobbie said cheerfully while patting me on the shoulder with one hand while her fully extended spear was in the other. “Surviving an ambush is way more important than failing to notice one.”
“Both are important.” Knowles corrected.
“You are correct Agent Knowles, but that is why we are all here, yes? To assist and educate the young lady about situations exactly like this one.” Sheffield said while offering me a clean white towel that he somehow had.
“Oh uh, thanks.” I muttered before taking it and wiping off my face.
“Take this as well.” He said before offering me a vial of green liquid one of his men had handed to him. “That looked like a poison slime, so chances are you’ll be feeling its effects before long.”
“Tsk, another good chance to grind a resistance skill, but it's your choice in the end.” Bobbie said while walking away and shrinking her spear into its more compact form.
“Uh, thanks.” I said while quickly taking the vial and downing it. “If it makes you feel better, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve my poison resistance skill today if that slime was any indication.”
As if waiting for their cue a cluster of five more slimes started inching their forward from around a dark unlit corner and making their way toward us.
“Looks like you’re right.” Bobbie said while folding her arms to watch. “Let’s see how you handle these ones then.”