Unfortunately for us, the slime was fast.

It let out a shriek of terror as it zipped between cubicles. Zapper was hot on its heels, but with my lower speed I just kept falling further behind.

[Stop!] I yelled after it, [We just want to ask you a few questions!]

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, pig!” the slime called back to us, darting to the side to slip between two copier machines. Zapper let out a bark and followed, but I had to waste precious seconds squeezing my way through.

Pigs? Does it not realize we’re dogs? I shook my head in wonder. These monsters made no sense. I’d much prefer a normal fight to this murder-mystery nonsense.

[Zapper, slow him down!] I called out. They were almost out of sight now, zigzagging their way through the warren of cubicle walls. If I lost either of them, it was game over.

[Got it, Boss!] A second later, I saw the slime stagger as his Guiding Nip took effect. He started running away again, but noticeably slower this time.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to catch up. Until Guiding Nip wore off, anyway.

The slime started to pull ahead again. Desperate, I called out, [Zwight! This is your last warning! Stop!]

“Never! I know my rights, and I don’t have to answer questions from a bunch of jackaninny—”

Whatever else he’d been about to say cut off as a blast from my baton hit him in the back. He froze in place.

I skidded to a halt, heaving for breath. Zwight’s eyes spun about, staring at me in shock—hah—but the rest of him merely shuddered, locked in place by my stun.

[Good shot, Boss!] Zapper came trotting up to me. He tilted his head and studied the frozen slime. [Now what?]

[Now we wait for the stun effect to end and ask it a few questions.] I noticed that another slime in a nearby cubicle had spun about to watch us. A sign near the door read Zoby, Slimeoid Resources. I gave him a reassuring grin. [Nothing to see here, just a routine investigation.]

[Uh, Boss?] Zapper called. [I think something’s wrong.]

I turned back. Zwight the slime was still shuddering, but the movement had grown more erratic. As I watched, he started to swell... and swell... and...

[Look out!] I grabbed Zapper by the nape of his neck and activated my replication bracelet. We shot back some ten feet before impacting a wall and crashing together into a heap.

Not a moment too soon. Zwight gave one last shudder, and then exploded.

Well, it was more like a popping water balloon than a true explosion, but they did coat the cubicle walls with bluish ooze that slowly dripped its way to pool upon the carpet. All that was left was a shredded casing, not unlike the one we’d found back at the murder scene.

The first murder scene, that is. Because now there were two.

You have defeated: Office Slime (Basic) — Level 10

200 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.

Note: You have failed to eliminate the appropriate murder victim. All monsters on this floor will revert to hostile until the actual murderer is dealt with. Good luck!

Ohhh, that really isn’t good. I glanced up and saw the slime in the cubicle from before still looking at us. Only now their eyes had begun to glow with a grayish light. Letting out an unholy burbling noise, the slime launched forward.

Once again, my bracelet paid for itself in spades, as the slime attacked the illusion left behind in our place. The image of Zapper still gripped in my mouth wavered as the slime hit it.

[C’mon! We haven’t a moment to lose!] I wasn’t sure if Zapper was protected by the same invisibility as I was, but at the least he still had his Fast Twitch to keep him safe.

[I don’t understand, Boss!] Zapper called as we darted our way through the hallway. [What happened back there?]

[A miscalculation, that’s what. I didn’t realize my batons did that much damage.] Suddenly I was appreciating those forty-nine points of Power I’d accumulated much more than before. Unfortunately, it seemed that left me a little too overpowered for this area.

Great under normal circumstances, but not exactly what I wanted to deal with right now.

Other slimes were starting to emerge from their cubicles now. And just like the one back in slimeoid resources, they all had angry, glowing eyes.

[Zapper! Go!] I barked, and the little dog zipped off ahead. I could only hope he knew the way out, because I was utterly turned around. We needed to retreat back to the safe room and see if the monsters would reset.

In the meantime, I had two more slimes ooze their way out to block my path. I barreled into the first—a poofy yellow one wearing a pink bow—with barely a pause, slicing it in half with a well-placed Claw Slash.

You have defeated: Office Slime (Basic) — Level 10

200 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.

No sooner had the slime popped than a wave of sticky ichor flowed over me. It was the same yellowish color as the slime had been but had the consistency and feel of the trails that coated most surfaces in the office.

Worse, it was thick enough now that I felt my movements growing sluggish. I tugged at the floor as my paws stuck to it, but getting them free took a herculean effort.

And as I struggled, the other slime struck, his entire body slamming into me, sending reverberations through my bones.

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I growled, pulled a paw loose, and tried another Claw Slash. Missed.

The slime struck me again. My teeth rattled in my skull, and I felt something in my shoulder pop loose. Pain seared through me.

At the same time, a small bar appeared in the bottom corner of my vision. It slowly began to fill, blinking every time the slime struck me. Was that my armor? If so, it was going to take a significant amount of damage to build up a charge.

I couldn’t count on it to save me. Other slimes were approaching from behind now. Snarling, I snapped my jaws at the monster, tearing off a sizeable chunk of it but otherwise leaving it unharmed. Thirty seconds left on my skill cooldown...

The slime leapt again. I braced for impact.

It never came. With a howl, a small furry form struck the slime, knocking it from midair. I watched as Zapper bit the slime, again, and again, and again. Finally, it popped like a punctured balloon.

You have defeated: Office Slime (Basic) — Level 10

200 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.

[Boss! Are you okay?] Zapper leapt back before more than a few drops of the slime ichor could land on him and gave a shake to clear any residue. He looked at me curiously. [Can you move?]

[Barely. Buy me some time?] I waited until Zapper moved a safe distance away and began to shake myself vigorously. Ichor sloughed off me in wet clumps.

Down the hallway, I heard a sudden roar, then Zapper was back, flames trailing in his wake. [Wow, these furry walls are really flammable! We should get out before it spreads.]

I glanced back, and saw the approaching slimes were now retreating before a wall of fire lining the hallway. [Guess that should keep them at bay. Why don’t I lead and you can discourage followers for us?]

[Great idea, Boss! Let’s get out of here!]

We headed out, with me pausing at each intersection to try and determine the best path, Zapper occasionally laying down some fire behind us as slimes emerged from their cubicles. I could see dozen of yellow dots converging on our position, but it seemed the labyrinthine layout of the room was hindering their approach as much as it was our escape.

Occasionally we received another kill notification, but mostly the fire just kept the slimes back. Which was fine by me. Experience wouldn’t do us any good if we got overwhelmed.

I came to another intersection, hesitating there longer than necessary. Zapper finished up his latest wall of fire and came to join me. [What’s up?]

[The murder site. It’s just right down there.] I could see the line of chairs still partially blocking the entryway. [The system said all we needed to do was kill the right slime, didn’t it? If we could figure it out, this could all be over. Then we wouldn’t have to come back and do this all over again.]

Zapper glanced down the hallway too. [If we go in there, I don’t think we’ll be able retreat, Boss. I didn’t see any other exits earlier.]

He made a good point. Did I want to gamble our survival by staying, when there was no guarantee we could even figure out who the murderer was?

Then again, retreating came with its own problems. I only knew the general direction we had entered, and there could be any number of slimes between us and the door. That wasn’t even factoring in the issue that leaving might not reset this area, and we’d be left to simply fight our way back here later.

Staying or retreating. Both had their set of risks.

Behind me, Zapper’s flames winked out. A trio of slimes moved to attack.

I made my decision. [Keep the slimes at bay. I’ll end this quest.]

[Got it, Boss!] Zapper leapt onto one of the cubicle walls and took off running towards the slimes. I could only hope he wouldn’t get himself in trouble.

Quickly, I loped down the hallway, where I made an interesting discovery. All of the slimes we’d questioned earlier were still sitting in their cubicles. They looked at me as I passed, and while they didn’t respond to my questions, their eyes weren’t glowing gray, either. Seemed I wouldn’t have to fight them while I also searched for clues.

If it came to it, I could just start killing them indiscriminately, but without knowing if that would aggro them all, it wasn’t worth the risk just yet.

So instead, I stepped inside the cubicle, surveying the dead slime on the floor again. Surely there had to be some clue here. We hadn’t found anything before, but maybe if I checked the papers again, something would make sense.

I leapt onto the desk and pawed through them. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing here but the computer, the chair, the papers. All useless. Half of them weren’t even legible because they were covered in those stupid slime trails...

The slime trails!

My eyes searched the floor. Zapper and I had made a bit of a mess during our last search, but most of the trails were still visible. There were plenty on the desk, the computer keyboard, the chair... and then, on the floor. A single trail, leading outside.

I hopped down, nose close to the ground. The hallway outside had several intersecting trails on it, so I needed to observe closely to make sure I didn’t miss where this one went.

In the distance, Zapper let out a howl. I thought it was one of excitement, not pain, so I ignored it.

Moving slowly so as not to lose my place, I followed the line out of the cubicle... and right to Zanley’s front door.

Really? Zanley? Why would he have—you know what, I wasn’t going to follow the rest of that line of thought. I didn’t care about this stupid game, or the why’s of it. I just wanted it all to be over.

Zanley was still in his chair, staring at the papers laid out in front of him. He didn’t even have a chance to turn around before I leapt on him. My claws rent him in twain, ichor pouring out onto the floor.

You have defeated: Office Slime (Basic) — Level 10

200 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.

Quest Completed — Office Assassination!

Locate the murderer

Reward: 1,000 XP, Blue Quality Loot Box

Immediately, everything around me went quiet. All of the yellow dots I could see started changing to white. That was probably a good sign.

Padding back out into the hallway, I found Zapper hobbling towards me, covered in slime.

[You okay?] I asked, looking him over. I couldn’t see any obvious injuries, but also knew from personal experience how hard those monsters hit.

[I’m okay! But that was just in the nick of time! I thought for sure I was a goner when I got coated. Glad you found the murderer!] He glanced past me. [Did they say why they did it?]

[I didn’t give it the chance.] Over Zapper’s back, I noticed the large boss slime from before approaching. We both waited, wordlessly bracing for an attack, but the slime merely slid to a stop and gave an exited little jump.

“You did it! I knew you had it in you! Thanks for making my office a safer place to work!”

I glanced around. Even from here I could see smoke pooling on the ceiling from several of the fires we lit. There were dead slimes everywhere, and the whole place looked like an utter mess. Next to me a copier sparked and spluttered. [You’re not mad? We did have to kill a bunch of your workers.]

“Aw, that’s okay! A little chaos now and then helps keep things interesting!”

[You’re really not going to attack us?]

“Why would I do that? I’m a good slime! And so are my workers!” The giant slime did the creepy thing with its eyes again.

[Uh, great. That’s great. If you don’t mind, I think we’ll be going now,] I said, not wanting to give the monster a chance to change its mind. Success is success, after all.

“Of course! You’ll be happy to know I’ve unlocked elevator access to the second floor, so you may continue on your journey helping others as you’ve helped us!”

Behind them, another slime rushed past screaming, its entire back on fire.

“Let me lead you to the exit.” Turning, the giant slime started off. I followed, quick as I could, Zapper on my heels.

“Alright, here we are!” the slime exclaimed as we exited the maze of cubicles. The open door to the hall lay in front of us. “Best of luck out there!”

[Thanks.] I started to leave, only to turn back at the last moment. Zapper was already out in the hall. [By the way, what’s your name?]

The slime blinked. “It’s Zo, of course!”

[Of course,] I repeated blandly. The slime oozed away from us, back into the cubicles. Fire was still spreading, blowing smoke my way. I backed out of the room and closed the door before it could reach me.

If all of the levels in this dungeon were as crazy as this one, I wasn’t sure I could take it.

[That was fun!] Zapper said as we made our way to the elevator.

[If you say so, Zapper. Personally, I’ll be glad if I never meet anyone with a ‘Z’ name ever again. I think I’ve had my fill.]

Zapper looked at me with his head tilted. After a drawn-out moment, I added, [Present company excluded, of course.]