Atlas got ready to conquer the dungeon and lead his team in.
Or at least he ‘tried‘ to lead his team in. Atlas stopped at the edge of the hole and peered down. It was a sheer drop, easily twenty feet deep, with slick walls that sloped inward. No ladder, no handholds—just the occasional slime that slithered up the walls, oozing its way out.
"How the hell are we supposed to get down there?" Atlas thought, the frustration growing inside him. The slimes could crawl out easily, but there was no way he or his team could follow the same path.
The others crowded around him, peeking over the edge. Stu was the first to voice what they were all thinking. “Uh… yeah. We’re not fucking jumping down that.”
Atlas clenched his jaw. He had a hundred people standing by, ready to storm this dungeon, and now they were stuck at the entrance. The thought of looking like a fool, unable to even get inside, gnawed at him. He couldn’t believe it—he might end up being the biggest idiot in the wasteland, leading an army to a dead end.
He stood there, thinking quickly. "Okay, we need a solution," he muttered under his breath. He scanned the nearby area, hoping for something—anything—that could help. A rope, some kind of tool, maybe even...
"Ropes!" Isabella suddenly called out, reading his mind. “We’ve got plenty of rope in the supplies. We can anchor them to the trees and rappel down.”
Atlas blinked, snapping out of his frustration. Of course. "Good thinking, Isabella." He turned to the group. "Get the ropes. We’re going in the old-fashioned way."
Within minutes, the ropes were tied off securely to nearby trees. Atlas gave one a sharp tug to test its strength, and then, one by one, the team began to lower themselves into the dark depths of the slime dungeon. The descent was slow but steady, each member sliding down with careful precision, the chill of the dungeon’s depths creeping up to meet them.
Atlas was the last one down, his boots hitting the slimy floor with a dull thud. He scanned the cavern ahead, moist with gelatinous goo and twisting, with the faint glow of slime trails marking the way.
"All right," he said, drawing his twin swords. "Now we start the real fight."
The Slime dungeon stretched out before them, its walls pulsing with a sickening green glow. The entire place looked alive, as if it were some kind of creature itself. The walls, slick and translucent, appeared to be made of some sort of organic, gelatinous material. It was like stepping into the belly of a beast, the air thick with moisture and a faint, acidic tang.
Atlas wrinkled his nose. "Well, this is... disgusting," he muttered, his eyes scanning the pulsating green walls.
Wang Bo tapped the wall with his staff, watching as it jiggled slightly. "It’s like walking inside a giant slime," he said, shaking his head. "Weirdly fitting, but also not exactly what I expected."
Isabella glanced around, her hands gripping her swords tightly. "I hate to think what happens if this place decides to digest us."
Titus, of course, was less concerned. “This is awesome! It’s like being inside a gross jelly monster!”
Atlas kept his focus, his instincts already on high alert. The floor was slick beneath their boots, but they moved cautiously, avoiding the puddles of slime that dotted the ground. The further they went, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, the moist green walls casting a sickly hue on their armor and weapons.
“Stay close,” Atlas ordered. “We don’t know what kind of traps this dungeon might have.” He really missed Kingsley at this point. Not just for the rogue’s abilities but for his general snarkiness and enthusiasm.
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A low gurgling noise echoed through the hallway ahead, the sound of something large shifting in the darkness.
The sound coming from the dungeon resembled something from a batting cage.
FOOMF
FOOMF
FOOMF
Atlas and the Portal Crushers advanced cautiously through the gelatinous passages of the dungeon, the strange noise growing louder with every step. When they finally reached the source of the sound, they were met with a revolting sight.
Adult slimes were leaping one by one into what looked like a massive pool of gelatinous goo. The more that joined, the larger it grew, slowly pulsing as if it were alive.
"Fuck, it's forming a king pod slime," Atlas muttered, eyes narrowing. He had never seen one form before, but based on the size it had already reached, it wouldn’t take more than a couple of days to be fully formed. They had to act fast.
"Attack them!" he ordered, his voice sharp. Crossbows were drawn, and bolts flew into the mass.
THWIP!
THWIP!
THWIP!
The Portal Crushers had gotten much better with their crossbows since their training days in Calgary, Alberta. Bolts shot across the air, targeting the adult slimes, but the king pod slime, even in its incomplete form, began to exert control over the smaller slimes. Most of the bolts hit the king pod slime but were deflected before hitting a core, veering off course.
A high-pitched squeal, just barely perceptible, scraped at their ears. The king pod slime was commanding its underlings now. The adult slimes that had been leaping toward the pool suddenly turned and hurled themselves toward the Portal Crushers.
The assault began.
A wave of slimes rushed toward them, green goo raining down from all directions. Slimes launched themselves from every corner, filling the air with wet ‘plop, plop‘ sounds as they landed.
"Fuck!" Stu cursed as he watched the tanks get overwhelmed. One by one, the slimes started enveloping the tanks slowly dissolving their armor. Sure the new slime gambesons slowed them down as tested, but still slowly it did. Hank found himself trapped in the middle of one, using his two punch shields to hammer his way out, the acidic slime burning at his skin. He made it out alive, but barely—the red, angry welts covering his body told the story. The others, all in level two armor, were suffering the same fate.
Atlas's eyes narrowed at the scene. They needed to break through. Without hesitation, he dashed into the thick of the melee, twin swords drawn from the sheaths on his waist. With a fluid motion, he carved through the slimes' gelatinous bodies, targeting the cores with precision. His swords sliced through them with ease, each cut clean and swift like a master chef at a teppanyaki grill.
SHLISH!
SHLISH!
Seeing Atlas dive in, the rest of the Portal Crushers joined the fight with renewed vigor. John grinned, wielding his new broadsword with relish. The extra weight of it allowed him to crush through the gelatinous slimes with pure force. "That's what I’m talking about!" he shouted, swinging the sword like a hammer. "Not losing an arm this time!"
Isabella was a blur of motion, dashing and weaving between attacks. Her speed was unmatched as she darted from one slime to another, cutting them down before they could react.
They were holding their own, the Portal Crushers cutting through the slimes efficiently, but more slimes oozed out from the dungeon walls.
‘Plop, plop, plop.‘
The fight wasn't over—far from it.
Another wave hit them hard. One of the new recruits got too close to an adult slime, slipping into the viscous mass. His screams filled the air as the slime quickly enveloped him, muffling his cries until they faded completely.
The battle had been raging for nearly thirty minutes. Wang Bo’s once-enthusiastic shouts of ‘"Dog beating grass!"‘ as he crushed slime cores with his staff had grown quieter. His strikes were still effective, but the exhaustion was setting in. Alexander, swinging his great sword with all the strength he had left, grunted between breaths.
‘Time for a 7th inning stretch,‘ he thought.
"Dios mio! They just keep coming!" Wilfredo shouted, sweat pouring down his face.
One of the slimes that had swallowed a newbie earlier was now splitting in two, doubling its numbers. It had clearly fed enough. The sight of the multiplying slime was disheartening. Barbara glanced around, seeing the tired faces of the Portal Crushers as they struggled to keep the slimes at bay.
"We can’t keep this up," she muttered under her breath, her mind racing for a solution. She looked over at Atlas, who was cutting through another mass of slime, his twin swords slicing efficiently but unable to save everyone.
"Atlas, the next group's coming in approximately fifteen minutes!" Barbara called out.
"Good," Atlas replied, panting. "We need the help... Fuck, there’s another one!" He chopped through another adult slime, his armor holding up against the acid, but the sheer number of slimes was overwhelming. He couldn’t break through the wall of jelly-like goo to give his teammates the support they desperately needed.