“Kill the boss first!”
Ether grabbed Fray and pulled her away from the fight. She looked at me. "I’ve got her and Justia is healing her, kill that thing!”
I kicked the dropped sword away from the boss and gouged under the tendril as it tried to hide from us, but the slow-moving slime allowed us to dance around it. Eventually, Rix and I were able to cut it free. Once it was out, we disposed of it the same way we had the other one.
We had a little time to breathe, so I went to check on Fray.
“How’s she doing?” I looked at Justia as I knelt down next to the two women.
“I’m better.” Fray pulled her knees up close to her body and put her head down.
I looked at Justia. "How is she doing?”
“The burns she got from using my sword are mostly gone.” The Healer looked embarrassed. "I’m sorry, I froze.”
“It worked out." I moved closer to Fray. "I’m sorry, you were just trying to help and you got hurt.” I touched her chin and gently raised her head so she was looking at me. "Thanks for the help. We should have it from here.” I nodded at Justia. "Justia will get you fixed up. And we can talk later.”
I turned back to the fight, but Ether cut me off.
“You know she’s trying to prove what she’s worth so she won’t be left here?” The white-haired Tank pulled me with her as she led the boss around.
I looked over at the quiet woman. “She has potential, but that potential will be wasted if she dies in here.” I turned back to Ether. "She took two risks that put people in danger. The first one almost got her killed and the second one left her burned.”
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“You didn’t take a risk?” The red-eyed woman pointed at the holes in the sleeves of my jacket.
“I wasn’t going to die if it pulled me inside it.” I looked over at Fray. "How long do you think she would have lasted? Sure, she has six Defense, but you know that higher level monsters do more damage to lower level Adventurers.”
Ether moved to the side. "I’m just saying, she’s scared and she’s trying to prove herself. Maybe try some encouragement.” She nodded at the Giant slime. "Have you noticed that the smaller it gets, the faster it becomes?”
I watched it for a moment and it was definitely faster. Not so fast that we couldn’t walk and stay ahead of the six-foot-tall monster, but it had been barely more than stationary at ten feet tall.
“Hold off on the damage!” I waved at Aelin and Rix.
The two women came over to where we were.
“What’s going on?” Aelin was all smiles. "I’m shredding that thing!”
“That’s the problem." I pointed at the six-foot-tall mass of acid. "The smaller it gets, the faster it’s getting.”
“We need to kill it faster?” Aelin offered.
“Right now we have melee weapons and you.” I looked at Rix. "What happens when it’s fast enough that we can’t use melee weapons?”
“You can’t fight it anymore?” Aelin pointed at the chain knife. "Rix can be ten feet away from it with that thing. It’s so cool!”
I looked at Rix. "How much longer can you keep this up?” I turned to Aelin. "Both of you?”
“I could do this forever!” Aelin pointed her bow. "Pew Pew!” She pretended to fire.
“We need to finish this sooner rather than later.” Rix looked at her weapon. "This isn’t the best thing to use, but…” She shook her head. "It’s all we’ve got.”
“What happens if we cut it down too small and it gets really fast?” I turned to Ether. "Can you take it?’
Ether bit her lip as she thought. She looked at her shield, then at my sword. "Your sword is starting to show wear and it’s a level two weapon. I’m not sure how many hits a level one wood shield can take.”
“Does anyone else have any other ideas?” The monster was starting to get close again. When no one answered, I pointed my sword at it. "Let’s chop it up!’