The group quickly gathered their things and adopted their usual formation when facing slimes; Glade up front, Kedryn and Riya bringing up the rear.
Tracing the mental signatures down a narrow side passage, the group worked their way around large boulders strewn across their path. The smooth trail that identified the comings and goings of slimes ran along the ceiling, making it easy to follow.
As they rounded the last bend, Riya’s light revealed a vast underground lake a stone's throw from the cavern’s opening.
Violent thrashing along the lake's edge immediately drew their attention. Not knowing what to expect, Glade drew his pistol, his other hand gripping the slime catcher.
“Can you make out what that is?” Riya asked just before a massive fish leapt out of the water, thrashing about its gargantuan head before crashing back into the lake.
“Dinner,” Glade said.
The fish again leapt out of the water, giving them a brief look at what they were facing. It was easily three feet in length and had black scales edged in a harsh blue. It reminded Glade of a sturgeon, except it had two large dorsal fins along its spine and a long, whip-like tail. But what drew his immediate attention was the slime wrapped around its head.
The group watched, fascinated as both fish and slime landed back in the water, the struggle for survival already winding down.
From his initial scan, it was obvious the fish was losing.
Shadow Carp, Level 8
Attunements: Shadow ?%, Water?%
Health: 34/160
Mana: 20/20
Stamina: 5/275
Status: Mortally Wounded“Too bad the slime isn’t dissolving in the water,” Glade commented.
Slime, Level 7
Attunements: Pure 100%
Health: 70/70
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 100/100
“Do we attack?” Kedryn asked, fixated on the macabre scene.
“I don’t see how,” Riya replied. “The water will render your flame useless. And as much as I would like to see that fish served up on a bed of rice, I don’t see how we can safely pull it out without risking ourselves to the slime.”
Glade grunted in acknowledgement. He was hungry, but not desperate enough to risk the slime’s acidic attack. Best to play it safe.
Besides, where there is one fish, there would likely be more.
The group continued to watch in fascinated horror as the fish’s movement slowed, then stopped altogether, its face gradually melting before their eyes.
“Is it just me, or is the slime entirely too focused on its head?” Kedryn asked.
“You’re right,” Riya replied, her curiosity peaked. “Slimes typically expand to consume more organic material, not constrict itself into a tighter ball.”
In moments, the Carp’s head came free, the slime bobbing to the surface as it let the main body drift away. Something entirely contradictory from what they’d seen from previous encounters.
The remainder of the head dissolved quickly under the slime's concentrated pressure, until all that was left was a glowing dark blue stone hanging suspended within the floating ooze.
Glade didn’t hesitate, using Aura Sense on the stone.
You have discovered a mixed mana shard of Water (?%) and Shadow (?%)! Increase the skill Aura Sense to learn more.
Size: Unknown
Purity: Unknown
Charges: Unknown
Value: Unknown
“A mana shard?” Glade asked. “What does it want with a mana shard?”
Not wanting to risk losing out on a free meal, Glade stepped forward to snag the fish’s remains.
Riya grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Look what the slime is doing to the shard!”
Glade glanced back, immediately noticing what Riya was so excited about. The shard was changing color.
He activated Aura Sense again.
You have discovered a mixed mana shard of Water (?%), Shadow (?%), and Pure (?%)! Increase the skill Aura Sense to learn more.
Size: Unknown
Purity: Unknown
Charges: Unknown
Value: Unknown
“It looks to be purifying the shard instead of consuming it. Did you know it could do that?”
“No,” Riya said, staring at the slime with such intensity Glade thought she might paralyze it with her gaze alone.
“This is so awesome!” Kedryn called out. “My skill in Natural Lore just rose by two levels! That means this must be something important, right?”
“I don’t mean to be a killjoy, but isn’t that a bad thing?” Glade interjected. “Typically when a deadly predator wants to do something unusual, it turns out to be bad for the innocent bystanders dumb enough to watch.”
“Quickly,” Riya said, ignoring him completely while increasing the output of her lightspell. “I’d like to capture every detail we can as it purifies the shard. Kedryn, can you lift it out of the water? Captain Glade, can you use your mana manipulation spell and tell me what you see? Please be as detailed as possible. What I wouldn’t give for something to take notes with!”
“Hold on just a moment,” Glade said as he watched Kedryn set his staff on the ground, Riya’s smaller slime catcher at the ready as he prepared to wade out into the water. Seriously, what was wrong with these two? “I don’t see how any of this is pertinent to our current survival. Bringing it to shore makes sense, but then we should just fry it.”
Riya placed a calming hand on his arm.
“It will be alright,” Riya said, her eyes focused on the slime. “Kedryn is the best choice to pick up the slime. If it attacks, he can light it on fire as long as he’s out of the water. But I don’t think that will happen. What I’m really worried about is the paralyzing effects of the star silver. Hopefully, it won’t stop the slime from purifying the shard further.”
“This could be dangerous. Why is it even trying to purify the mana shard?” Glade asked.
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to find out!” Riya exclaimed, barely restrained excitement underpinning her every word. “The treatises I’ve read about slimes explained that their mana shards grow no larger than diminutive in size. In fact, most recorded slimes are not even above level 4. Yet, here we have a level 7 slime and it's purifying a minor sized shard. Any naturist would gladly give their left arm for a chance to study this!”
Glade sighed, giving Kedryn the go ahead. “Be ready to torch it the moment it does something it’s not supposed to.”
Riya rolled her eyes. “It’ll be fine,” she drawled. “Also, your ability to see mana flows is absolutely invaluable right now. Please tell me everything you see.”
Shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, Glade did a quick mental scan of their perimeter before casting mana manipulation.
Elemental auras saturated with water, earth, and shadow mana exploded into view, drawing him in with their cascading depths. It was difficult not to lose himself studying the intricate patterns, but a sharp elbow to the ribs from an impatient Riya reoriented his focus.
With effort, he turned his gaze to the slime. What he saw beggared the mind.
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Glade had never looked at a slime before while actively casting Manipulate Mana. The slime veritably glowed in translucent light, like rippling heat on a desert horizon.
For the first time, Glade caught sight of a living slime's mana shard. While slightly larger than others, it was still small. He watched in fascination as the slime was actively filtering the shadow and water mana from the much larger shard through its own.
“Don’t just stare at it!” Riya said, punching his arm. “Tell me what you see!”
“It’s purifying the shard,” Glade grunted.
“I can see that!” she fumed. “What I can’t see is how!”
How in the world was he supposed to describe this?
“Well, it looks like the slime’s, uhh… mana shard, which is slightly larger than normal, is attached to the larger mana shard…”
“How is it attached?” Riya interrupted, straining her eyes as if she could will herself to see the aura’s swirling about.
“I’m not sure. But from the looks of things, the two shards are now fused together.”
“Fascinating, what else?” Riya said.
“The slime appears to be filtering the shadow and water mana from the larger shard through the smaller shard. I think. Either way, the bottom of the larger shard is now pure.”
“How fast is it draining the carp’s shard? I can’t tell from here, but it looks to be almost halfway.” Riya said.
“It's happening rather quickly. I’d say another two minutes before the shard is completely changed,” Glade said, though that was an absolute guess.
Kedryn, now wading through waist deep water, first grabbed the remains of the fish by its tail and threw it onto the shore.
Glade grunted his approval.
After securing their meal, Kedryn turned back to the slime, carefully scooping the larger than normal ooze into the smaller of the three slime catchers.
It barely fit.
Wading back to shore, Kedryn let the water drain from the carapace before gently setting the catcher on the ground. No sooner had he completed that task, the Kid stepped back, two balls of fire appearing in his hands.
Glade grudgingly admitted the Kid was getting pretty good at casting those fire spells.
“Ready to fry the slime,” Kedryn said.
“Thank you Kedryn,” Riya replied, taking a step closer.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Glade said, resting a hand on Riya’s shoulder. “You can watch it purify the shard safely from back here.”
Riya flashed him an irritated look, but didn’t complain.
For good measure, he placed himself between the slime and Riya. He even had Kedryn take a couple of steps back.
“Now you’re just being condescending,” Riya said. “Nothing’s going to happen! The slime is paralyzed. We should be able to sit right next to it… Overseer’s Light!” She gasped.
A sudden flash of light pulled Glade’s attention back to the slime.
The water and shadow elements within the larger shard were completely gone. In its place was a single, translucent stone. And it was vibrating.
In Glade’s magically enhanced vision, the shard flashed again, as a loud crack reverberated throughout the cavern as the mana shard exploded within he slime. Waves of pure energy rolled out from the now shattered shard, illuminating the slime in ethereal light.
“Torch it!” Glade yelled.
“No! Wait! Riya screamed, causing Kedryn to hesitate with indecision.
In that moment of hesitation, the remnants of the mana shard were pulled apart by some unseen force as the slime separated itself into smaller versions, each taking a fraction of the broken shard with it.
13 small slimes formed, all piled one on top of the other where there had been one large slime before, the top half of the pile spilling out of the slime catcher onto the ground, already rippling.
“Watch out!” Glade yelled, raising his own catcher in time to block two of the slimes as they launched themselves toward him.
Pain erupted from his hand, one of the slimes grazing his exposed fingers.
Glade shifted his grip, ignoring the burning pain, and quickly took stock of their situation.
The majority of the small slimes remained paralyzed, stuck to the catcher on the ground.
Two next to the Kid were already burning, leaving three more. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem. They had faced worse odds in the tunnels. But this time, only he had a catcher ready, and the still mobile slimes were ignoring him entirely.
“Incredible!” Riya exclaimed, stepping around Glade to get a closer look. “There have been theories about slime reproduction. But that’s all they were, theories. It must be closely tied to their mana fusion abilities. We need to gather all the information we can…”
“Focus!” Glade roared, throwing his improvised star silver dagger at the slime readying to attack Riya. “Get back up to the tunnel!”
The blade sunk into the ground, three inches to the left of his intended target.
Riya shook herself out of her scholarly induced fugue as a slime launched itself in her direction. Glade tried to block with his catcher, but his damaged hand failed him. All he could do was stare in horror as the star silver carapace slipped through his fingers.
The slime landed on the hem of Riya’s dress, quickly burning through the thin fabric to latch onto her leg.
Riya screamed in agony, falling to the ground.
“No!” Kedryn yelled, flames springing to life in both hands as he ran toward Riya. He casually dodged one of the slimes attacking him, lighting it on fire as it passed.
Glade winced at Riya’s cries for help, but otherwise ignored her. He knew from experience the only way to save Riya was to burn the slime away, and Kedryn was already on his way to do just that. Which left one slime that was still a threat, and it had reoriented its focus to him.
A ripple passed through the slime.
Without hesitating, Glade threw himself to the side as the slime leapt, missing his face by inches.
Years of training took over as the veteran rolled out of the uncontrolled fall and into a kneeling position, pistol drawn.
Mana sight was still active, allowing Glade to orient his sights to the outline of the slime’s very visible mana shard.
Time slowed as the slime landed on the ground, already forecasting its intent to attack.
Sighting in on the pinpoint of light, Glade squeezed the trigger, filling the area with the echoing sound of a gunshot reverberating throughout the cavern.
The pinprick of light vanished as the bullet passed through the body, vaporizing the tiny shard into motes of light like dying embers.
The slime's body went rigged for an instant, then sagged, lifeless against the rocky ground.
“Riya, hold on!” Kedryn yelled, the girl's light winking out as she lost control of her spell.
Only the flicker of Kedryn’s flames lighted the area.
Ignoring the remainder of the slimes, Glade turned to where Riya lay on the ground, unconscious.
“Status!” He barked, causing Kedryn to jump.
Only then did he see how white Kedryn’s face looked, tears glistened in the flickering light of the fire he held above his head.
“She… she… fainted.” Kedryn stammered, a sob breaking through. “I can’t… I can’t do it.”
“Do what?” Glade asked, coming up beside him.
“Burn her…” he replied, ghostly white.
“What?” Glade asked, confused. Why would the Corporal fear burning her? Unless…
Glade grabbed Kedryn’s arm, the one holding their only source of light, yanking it down to inspect Riya’s leg.
The slime was still there. He immediately triggered Aura Sense.
Banished Elf Da’Riya Ab’Ki’Loshere, Level 5
Attunements: Light (??), Celestial (??)
Health: 95/110
Mana: 74/150
Stamina: 0/120
Status: Unconscious; Bleeding
Slime, Level 1
Attunements: Pure 100%
Health: 10/10
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 100/100
He couldn’t make out the damage to Riya’s leg, but by this point it had to be extensive.
Anger, fear, disbelief, sadness; a cacophony of emotions assaulted him. The Kid hadn’t had a problem lighting him on fire earlier. Why would killing a slime attached to Riya be any different?
Glade answered that question as soon as he thought of it. This wasn’t the same. Not to Kedryn.
Internally, Glade died a bit more inside. No one should have to make this kind of choice.
But in the end, it didn’t matter.
“Kid! Look at me!” Glade said, snapping his fingers to get Kedryn’s attention. “Finish it!”
“I… I can’t…” He stammered, pulling back against Glade’s ironclad grip.
“Corporal, she doesn’t have much time…”
“I SAID I CAN’T!” He screamed, trying desperately to pull away.
Glade’s conflicting emotions vanished in an instant, replaced with a cold fury.
He didn’t have time for this.
No, Riya didn’t have time for this. Maybe others from his team could have shaken the Kid out of his shock, but he didn’t have time for subtlety.
Without hesitation, Glade sunk his hand into the slime attached to Riya’s leg. Growling through the pain, he balled the hand into a fist, the acidic ooze wrapping around it, letting go of its grip on Riya.
Thrusting the slime into the Corporal’s face, Glade hissed through gritted teeth. “Finish. Your. Task!”
Kedryn stepped back, a look of horror on his face.
“THAT’S AN ORDER, CORPORAL!” He roared.
The kid looked as if he had been slapped.
In a daze, the Kid brought his flame to the slime, increasing the heat.
Glade’s eyes never wavered, his steely gaze never leaving Kedryn’s shocked face.
It was over sooner than he had anticipated, the remains of the slime slipping from his burning fingers.
“Now see to Riya, Kid,” he said through clenched teeth.
Kedryn flinched but did as he was told, quickly binding the massive wound on Riya’s leg.
Only after her wound had been cared for did Glade walk to the lakes edge, where he finally submerged his burned hand in its cool waters.