The being stepped out of the system screen. It was a being made of pure fire, leaving dark scorch marks on the area where it stood. This creature was tiny like someone had set a doll on fire. It was like a mini little gnome or elf or imp. No amount of description could justify how cute the little thing was.

"Why am I so small? Did something go wrong with the tribulation?" the tiny fire person asked.

Turning around, it began scrutinizing the system screen from which it had emerged. A few taps against the fiery surface sent embers flying, singeing the pristine white ground beneath. With a stroke of its chin, it kept prodding at the screen, as though persistent tapping might somehow solve all of its problems.

"What an odd-looking creature. And it's part of the tribulation? Drones make sure that cutie-patootie's in frame," said Lapis.

Wrinkles of flame-seared a scornful look upon its face. "Annoying monster," it said.

With a single flick of its tiny wrist, a wall of flame erupted from the ground that extended toward the ceiling. Ignoring her shrieks of excitement, it turned toward Alwin. A gentle smile formed between the lines of flames covering its face, softening the menacing aura surrounding it.

"So you're the one Dark mentioned. Looks like we got a new plaything," said the miniature fire person.

"What?" asked Alwin.

"Smooth skin and a smooth brain. Why would Dark find you interesting?"

"That's rude and who's Dark?"

"The Dark Tribulation, obviously. Now, dance for me." It snapped its fingers and multiple Fireballs appeared right in front of it. "And remember, if you stop dancing, you'll burn."

The Fireballs were launched towards Alwin. He began twisting and turning along with the barrage of Fireballs. Adrenaline coursed through his slimy body as he wriggled about in a mad jig. His mind went blank except for one thought—dodge, dodge, and dodge. Alwin moved like his life depended on it because it did.

One of the Fireballs whizzed by his body. The heat of it burned the side of his cheek. Shrinking in fear, he pulled himself together and continued to dance. Onwards and onwards, he danced his heart out, swinging and swaying his way through the myriad of Fireballs. One wrong move and he was toast. Alwin kept going forward and moving to the beat of his own drum. He swung and bobbed to a tune known only to him, performing moves that never existed before today.

Another Fireball landed squarely on Alwin's side. Burning hot pain rippled through his left half. Alwin let out a blood-curdling scream. Yet, he never stopped moving. The pain didn't matter anymore. All he knew was to keep dodging. It was the only thing he could do to survive. So he twisted and contorted his body away from the incoming Fireballs. If there was a fancy word for twist, then he did that as well.

Fireballs bombarded the dancing slime. The blinding white walls had become a canvas of smoldering embers and black ash. The fires around him cast a wild light, growing fiercer and more chaotic with each passing moment.

Then they all vanished. The Fireballs had ceased.

Despite their absence, Alwin was still dancing like his life depended on it, even though it didn't. The tribulation wasn't over here, evident by the fact that the system screen still remained as well as the tiny fire person. It lay on the floor, one arm supporting its head as it scratched its flaming tush.

"Stop, already. I'm bored," the being said.

Alwin had heard what it said, but any semblance of control was lost. You know the phrase 'Fight or Flight'? Today, it became 'Fight, Flight or Dance'. Panic drove Alwin's motions. Even with the threat of danger gone, his body continued to twitch uncontrollably in a motion so unrhythmic that it looked like he was having a seizure.

After many long awkward minutes of thrashing and flailing—punctuated by the Fire being's occasional yawn—Alwin finally regained control of his body. But that only made it feel worse. Everything ached. He felt drained from top to bottom and just wanted to sleep for the rest of the day.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"You're no fun," the Fire being complained. "I don't get why Dark decided to change things up after meeting you. Tell you what, I'll let you go if you can beat this—"

It lifted one clawed finger, a thin, flickering trail of flame extending from its tip and dripping lazily to the ground. Each drop sizzled against the earth, pooling and swirling as more fire extruded from its finger, piling up in an eerie, flaming mass. The flames twisted and expanded, shaping themselves until a new figure stood before Alwin—a blazing construct in the form of an ant, roughly his height, its body entirely composed of flickering fire.

With a final, almost dismissive gesture, the being dropped its finger, and the blazing creature’s eyes flared to life.

"Beat my pet and I'll consider this tribulation over."

Without giving Alwin a moment to process, the Fire Ant charged, each step searing the ground and leaving a smoldering trail of embers in its wake. The air around it shimmered with heat, and the faint crackle of flames filled the air as it closed in.

With a sudden lunge, it struck out at Alwin, attempting to sink its jaws into his jelly-like body. The Dark Slime—or maybe Dancing Slime—evaded its strike by sliding to the left.

Before he could take advantage of the opening left by the giant insect's overextension, a fiery stinger whipped at him. Good thing his dance moves were too awesome for such a puny blow to land. Alwin slid to the right and hopped over the attack.

Now, it was his turn to attack. There was only one good way that Alwin could think of to get rid of an annoying bug. The Spirit Feet had returned for a comeback. Left foot stomped down hard on the Fire Ant's abdomen, while the right foot stomped on its thorax. It swung around and attempted to bite Alwin's head off, but two hops were all he needed to avoid being turned into lunch.

Another two stomps by his left foot and another two stomps by his right. His plan was not working in the slightest! Alwin hopped over the charging ant and switched sides. He racked his brain, trying to figure out what dance moves would be the most effective. Wait, that didn't make much sense. Stupid, 'Fight, flight or dance'.

Alwin had to switch gears from dance to fight. But, before he could attempt any combat-worthy actions, the ant clamped down onto his feet. Fire rushed in, searing flesh with its blistering heat. He yelled out in pain as flames wrapped around his foot before remembering that he didn't have any feet. The Spirit Feet had been caught. The spectral feet sizzled in the mandible grip of the ant. It crushed harder and harder with every second that passed. The pain was excruciating for the Spirit Feet and Alwin couldn't feel anything—there was no sensory connection between them.

While the Fire Ant was busy playing with some feet, Alwin attacked the floor with his head trying to knock some sense into himself or at least knock the dance out of him. Head butt, head butt, head butt or body slam, body slam, body slam—depending on how you classify slime physiology. Again and again, he continued pounding the floor. Then it hit him.

The Fire Ant hit him, not some revelation. A flurry of magical particles floated in the air—the remains of the Spirit Feet. Now, the Fire Ant had its flaming feet on Alwin pushing him down onto the ground. Its burning legs were digging into Alwin's gelatinous body, sending waves of burning hot agony across his entire frame.

Alwin bucked wildly, trying to escape the painful grip of the ant, but to no avail. A pair of mandibles inched closer as they snapped open and closed in anticipation of sinking into Alwin's putty-like form. Thank goodness the ant was giving him time to come up with a solution instead of immediately biting his head off.

With his body restrained, Alwin couldn't dance his way out of this situation, nor could he run. That meant there was only one option left: Fight.

Darkness shrouded his body like a layer of black mist before he jettisoned forward and out of the Fire Ant's grip. Alwin smashed into the Fire Ant's head sending waves of pain rippling through his body—because when you touch fire you get burned. Thankfully, that was enough to stun the ant giving him some time to reel in pain.

Now, the tables have turned. It was Alwin's turn to send waves of pain that would wash over the ant's entire body, extinguishing its flames of life. Alwin launched a Yin-Yang Blast at the ant. That was what he would have liked to say, but the only thing that came out was a system notification.

Skill Currently Not Available.

Well, that was dumb. Was it performance anxiety? Anyway, no time to troubleshoot. He just had to use his tried and true assortment of different flavored Blasts. One day he would expand his repertoire of attacks, but today won't be that day.

Despite the pain rampaging through his body, no thanks to that no-good Fire Ant, Alwin was able to conjure up a storm of Spirit Blast. Balls of Spirit Blasts, Spirit Scatter Blasts, and Spirit Burst Blasts manifested in front of him. With a strained yell that was totally unnecessary, he launched them all forward, flooding the air with arcs of mana.

Waves of mana, tiny Spirit Blasts, and regular-sized ones hit the Fire Ant like a barrage of fireworks. Explosions rang out and flashes of light seared the air. Each impact made Alwin wince as clouds of dust billowed up, fragments of energy crackling against the insect’s armored shell. But as the dust cleared, his heart sank—not a single scratch. Well, crap.