I had never entered a dungeon, but a monster filled hole in the ground was exactly what I considered one.

The author would have described some massive ruin or something similar, but as both Pale and I slowly tore away at the slimes rising from the ground below us, it was adventurous enough.

My spells disintegrated and absorbed the weaker ones, and my companion took care of those I overlooked, until the first room was empty.

We exchanged grins as we gazed upon the shimmering blue walls around us, a squelching sound coming as the entrance behind us was shut by an almost see through membrane, the place the water had come from popping free and revealing a second room to the cave.

It was the most obvious trap anyone ever considered making, but given that we were both without much of an alternative, we proceeded deeper.

The next room looked the same as the first, with only the small difference that there were no further slimes inside.

We looked around for an eternity, but the membrane to the next room was still closed, which made pale weary of approaching it.

I liked a more hands on approach and quickly made Hannibal stride forward, until I touched it to cast the decay rune, immediately realizing my mistake as the slime lunged out at me, attached to my hand.

Every spell I attempted to cast quickly disintegrated in my hands and seemed to make the slime only bigger, connecting me to the wall as I felt my hands go dry. Hacking at it with my other hand only got it stuck too, and as it began to spread beyond my arms, Pale struck at its core and killed the creature, only for another to try and hold onto her legs.

I had not yet witnessed just how precise she was with that dagger of hers, and as she shattered core after core, it dawned on me just how good a choice it was to ask for her support.

My spells quickly followed, force darts flying around, as I could not allow myself to get close enough for hyperconsumption to work. It was a nightmare of reflexes and trained eyes, anything we didn’t shatter in time had an opportunity to get a grip on us, with the only dispel collects I managed to let loose being cast on those who tried to climb up Hannibal.

It was a disgusting room, but after a bit of work, we managed to get rid of every last slime, leading to the next membrane opening and us proceeding to room three.

“Could it be that the water is rising?” Asked pale suddenly, and a quick look down confirmed her fears, the water was no longer trickling outside the cave, and instead it spread across the ground below us. This wasn’t even the worst part, as we quickly noted that the room was closing in around us, four slimes climbing together to make the area around us tighter.

Like the last room, it required more work. Most of my spells couldn’t penetrate the thick walls, and thus I was required to go all out.

A Magic missile was summoned and unleashed upon the offenders, quickly tearing through the target and destroying the wall, the slimy remains quickly melting into the dungeon walls, forcing the other slimes to stretch themselves a bit thinner, which allowed both Pale and me an opportunity to kill another of them.

The other three were no problem with their companions gone, an effort to distance us forcing the slimes to split, which we quickly used to our advantage, allowing us to tear through them while they tried to reorganize, the room immediately beginning to refill as our entire group dashed into the now open fourth room, in which three rather massive slimes decided to stand in our way.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As I shot my force projectiles, one of them moved in its way, easily tanking the hit as another suddenly hit me with a rune, the air around me suddenly feeling dry as any semblance of thirst dissipated, the effect pleasant until it started to grow worse.

The air turned dryer and dryer while water gathered within me, my barely developed body swelling in multiple places.

As I finally understood what was happening, I began unleashing a barrage of projectile spells targeted towards the mage, growing desperate as my movement turned ever more sluggish.

A quick glance back revealed Pale and the third slime in a constant battle of stealth, hiding and hitting one another without leaving any massive holes.

I was already quite tired from the first tier one spell I cast, and the way my body began to slowly wither away left me with no choice.

It was a split second decision that progressed the fight, my eldritch lance tearing into the assassin slime as he lashed out of the shadows. It was getting hard to concentrate, but while my companion had to dodge, Nemo meowed.

Her meow forced the attention of everyone on her, allowing Pale to finish her slime, while Hannibal already traveled forward, leaving me on the ground as his tusks drove through the enemy defender, his distraction costing him dearly as his acidic properties failed to do anything against the highly regenerative hog.

It was fun to look at the two walls of determination denying death the opportunity to take them, the war of attrition something both might win or loose.

The mage slime decided to focus his rune on Hannibal, the big chunk of meat more important to their growth than the fraction of a danger he considered me.

Once more, I unleashed a barrage of eldritch lances and force Projectiles, with the occasional flare thrown in to distract them.

With the loss of mass it had to go through, just to close the wounds I tore into it, it was almost helpless when I finally started approaching.

It tried to crawl away, but I crawled faster, the effect of speed steal slowly pulling it down and weakening it while my own movement became faster.

Then came the moment I had hoped for, the barely encased core right before me as I cast hyperconsumption on it.

Again, the pain of the foreign affinity tore through my soul, but after this many consumed slimes, it was no longer a problem for me.

When I turned around, the water leaked out of my body as tears, leaving me looking quite terrifying as I gave the now slightly bigger defender slime a toothy grin.

In his attempt to survive Hannibal’s attack, he had withdrawn the core to the back of his body, the quite big crystal shimmering brightly as I used hyperconsumption once more, something clicking within me.

As if by force, my view was drawn inwards, the crack like stream bursting apart and turning the gray of my soul a bit bluish.

Following this event, the last membrane pulled back, revealing a bright core at the center, shining with power as it corrupted the spring right below it.

“Get away from me as fast as possible.”

I told my friends, the slimy walls drawing towards the center and threatening to consume us in a wave of goo.

The power around us was clear, with many parts shimmering an arcane glow as they approached.

As an answer, only one spell came to mid, a simple two words leaving my mouth as I watched it take effect.

“Black hole, you son of a bitch!”

My call was loud, and as it resounded all the slime mass approached even further.

The spell roared through its tiers, destroying the sime and its core slowly.

Then, I noticed it running out of my control.

My other hand channeled the effect of my manners spell coating myself as I turned immune to the black holes consumption, especially as it combined with the effect of Indigestion and hyperconsumption.

It was hard holding up four spells at the same time, the black hole quivering slightly as it began to stabilise. Any wrong decisions would have spelled my doom, and quite possibly the doom of many more people.

Any previous lessons rushed through my head as I decided to let go of the black hole effect, the spell resisting against my powers, and as the last of the dungeon was drawn into it, I saw the effect of my efforts.

The spell no longer hat matter other than myself to consume, and even with hyperconsumption and manners, I felt myself slowly becoming hungry, as my skin shriveled under the draw of power.

A grin spread across my face as I managed to use the now open fourth spell.

“Counter spell.”

I pushed my everything into the spell, feeling how it and the black hole both tore at me, my soul bleeding and my eyes burning as I saw the black hole reach tier five, before bot it and I collapsed in on ourselves.

Thus, I lost consciousness.