The cyclops dragged itself forward with its hands, slowly dragging its torso out of the enlarged portal. Greasy, grayish skin streaked with dark veins appeared inch by inch, its body bony and knobbly, barely an extra pound of fat on the massive frame. Stringy pale hair hung from around its hideous face, swaying in thick tendrils as it laboriously crawled forward. Huge red sores dripped pus here and there, and its huge lungs rasped. With every breath, it sprayed bits of its acidic saliva over the floor and the surrounding monsters, few tombstone-like remaining teeth gnashing at the air.

It swiped its hand at Aster, and the man threw his hammer head-first at the ground and used the long handle to pole-vault over the hand. Easily twice his height, the bony hand knocked his makeshift pole over seconds after he vaulted, his back scraping by the creature’s disgusting thumbnail. Aster landed and snatched his hammer up, continuing his charge. “Daiyo! Watch out!”

Less flexible and maneuverable than Aster, Daiyo looked up to find the creature’s palm flying at him, a wall of flesh. Rather than run, he stomped his foot. The stone floor reformed, rising up into a pair of tree-trunk-width spikes. The hand impaled itself on the spikes, stopping inches before Daiyo. Dark blood sprayed over the golem.

The cyclops howled. He yanked his hand back, inadvertently tearing the wound wider as he drew it free of the spikes, and clutched it to his chest, screaming.

“Ha. That’ll teach him to slap us around,” Daiyo rumbled, crossing his arms.

“Feels good to have you on my side,” Aster said, laughing.

Daiyo chuckled. “Feeling’s mutual.”

The cyclops raised its hands, eye burning with rage, preparing to slam them down. Aster pointed at the wounded hand. “Stella! Tell the slimes to go where he’s slapping. If one of them can get inside…”

“Oh!” Stella nodded, understanding. She threw her hands out, and the slimes rushed forward, twisting past the other monsters’ legs to stand in the blast zone.

Besides, the more we distract him into using his hands to attack, the less he uses them to crawl forward! Aster thought, smirking at the huge monster. He’s big, but he’s not very bright. If he fully crawled out, he’d easily be able to stomp us or smash us, and have much more room to move. Instead, he’s letting us distract him while he’s still halfway through. If we can keep him locked here, it’s our win!

Daiyo and Aster hurtled away, leaving only slimes beneath the creature’s palms. With a loud BANG! and a rumble of the stone beneath their feet, the cyclops smashed its hands down on the stone floor. The slimes squished beneath the force of his hands. One or two directly became smears of acid and slime on the dungeon floor, one burst into tiny babies, but the rest survived. They all rushed toward the cyclops’ wounded hand, squeezing their flexible bodies inside.

The cyclops snatched its hand back again, howling so hard it arched its back. It tore at its hand, trying to peel the slimes off. A few fell away, but not all of them, little creatures vanishing into its veins. Little glowing beads of red-hot flesh hinted at the slimes’ location as they scurried deeper into the cyclops’ body, twisting up its arm.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Go! Go and destroy! Aster cheered silently, continuing to rush the portal.

Screaming in agony, the cyclops thrashed its arm around wildly. It smashed into one of the labyrinth’s center chamber’s walls and floored it, but caught a half-dozen of its own allies on the backswing. A diseased giant rat flew toward Aster, screeching and clawing madly at the air. Aster drew back his hammer and landed a heavy hit on the thing’s gut. It spat up blood and flew back the opposite way, its body caved in around his hit.

“Keep hitting your allies, idiot!” Aster shouted, laughing. It’s doing half the work for us!

“Oh no, oh no!” Stella shouted.

Aster turned, confused. She pointed toward the fallen wall.

He whipped back around. Monsters fled past the wall, escaping into the labyrinth. Traps lit up, frying and snaring monsters as they passed, but some slipped by.

“Shit! They’re going to infect the dungeon!” Daiyo slammed his foot down, and a new wall rose up where the old one had fallen. He turned. “Stella, seal off the part of the labyrinth they’re in!”

“That’s right. Keep them contained, and spawn in fire slimes to burn them to death!” Aster added.

Stella furrowed her brows. She twisted her hands. Blue mana swirled, congealing in the air before her, then flew over the sealed off labyrinth, transforming into a fat cloud. Flaming slimes rained down from the cloud, splattering over the monsters below. Screams and horrified cries sounded from the labyrinth. Flailing monsters clawed at the walls, desperate to flee the sea of conscious, sticky fire. Chirping and bouncing, the fire slimes chased after the monsters. One by one, they singled out the monsters and latched on, sticking themselves to the beasts’ bodies and holding on tight regardless of the beasts’ thrashing, screaming, and mad clawing until their flames burned the beasts down. One giant rat managed to scramble back over the wall, only for the tiny slimes latched all over its body and dug deep into its flesh and fur to burrow into its open sores and burn it from the inside out.

Aster’s eyes widened. Damn. Remind me to never seriously piss off Stella.

Roaring, the cyclops grabbed its slime-infected arm with its other arm and yanked. Its infected arm trembled, then broke free at the elbow. Blood splurted from the open wound, bright and red. The slimes slipped out of its torn-out arm, washed out with the rush of blood.

Dammit. We’ll have to try again. Aster nodded at Daiyo. Daiyo broke right, and he broke left, taking the side with the missing arm. Daiyo’s a monster and made of stone, so he’s better at taking hits than I am, a fleshy human. He ran at the cyclops’ ribcage and hammered the nearest rib. The bone stood out against the skin, with no fat to protect it. The cyclops screamed and put its arms down to protect its ribs. Its huge bony arms flew down at Daiyo and Aster.

Aster gritted his teeth and braced for impact, gripping his hammer tight.

“Ah, dammit!” Viki shouted. Vines sprouted from the ground beneath Aster and flew upward, binding around the cyclops’ arm. The cyclops strained against the vines, but they grew thicker and more numerous as the seconds passed, quickly sealing it in place.

“Thanks, Viki!” Aster shouted. Rather than retreating, he hammered the cyclops’ ribs, beating at the bone again and again until it snapped.

On the other side, Daiyo shouted and laughed aloud. Snaps and cracks rang out from the other side. “Take that, you trash!”

The cyclops howled and surged forward. The vines snapped. Its ribs flew past, and its hips rushed up at Aster, the hollow nooks where abdomen met bone threatening to scoop Aster up. He jumped back, and the bones rushed by close enough to feel the grease of the cyclops’ skin against his.

Shit. It remembered it could push with its legs!

“Go, you idiot!” a high-pitched voice shouted from behind the cyclops.

Aster turned, startled. As the cyclops pulled its feet out of the portal, a female form appeared in the portal, silhouetted by the black light.

His eyes widened. Could it be… her?