We hit it with everything.

Ether kept leading it, while Rix, Aelin, and I did what we could to hit the fast-moving core. When we got it trimmed down to four feet tall, Ether had to run to kite it.

“Is it just me or does this core seem to be moving faster too?” The monster was thin enough that I was able to slice all the way through it, but the cutoff part just reformed on the main body if they weren’t separated for more than a few seconds.

“It’s faster!” Aelin sat down. "Give me a minute to catch my breath.”

We’d been fighting for almost an hour. The exhaustion of prolonged combat was starting to wear on us.

“This is taking too long!” I stabbed and went too wide away from the core.

Rix retracted her chain knife and watched it scoot after Ether and mostly ignored us. “Aelin, can you change the shape or size of your magic arrows?”

The blonde stood up and brushed herself off. "I don’t know, I’ve never tried.”

“Maybe try now?” The redhead motioned at the Giant slime that was less than half of its original size.

Aelin looked at me. "How did you shoot the bigger rock?”

I clasped my hands together. “Like this. Both hands together make it bigger, both hands separate." I made two hand pistols. "Shoot more projectiles. But…” I looked at Aelin. "It takes a lot more mana to use.”

Aelin thought for a moment. "Let me try something…” She drew her bow like normal. "MAGIC ARROWS!” She drew the bow, and the usual pink arrow formed. She let loose the arrow, but kept her hand where it was. The magic arrows kept firing, like a repeater. Adding an S at the end of the spell had turned it into an automatic.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Rix looked at me. "Try it!”

I shrugged and put away my sword and pointed both finger guns at the boss.

“Pebble Shots!”

I could feel the mana draining as the marbles kept shooting out of the tips of my fingers.

“It’s working!” Aelin sagged and dropped her hand, breaking the spell.

I didn’t blame her, I wanted to stop as well but we were so close.

The monster launched itself at Ether, driving her back. I could see gouges were eaten out of the shield and I didn’t know how many hits it could take.

Rix whipped out her chain knife and connected, knocking the core clear of the body. The acid collapsed, but didn’t disappear.

We all stared at the core. I had stopped firing and Rix pulled back her chain for another attack.

“MAGIC ARROWS!” Aelin roared as she fired a barrage of pink arrows at it. After the fourth one, the core shattered, causing all the acid to also vanish into smoke.

Rix picked up the crystal and threw it to Ether.

“Did we get a drop?” Aelin looked to see what Rix was was picking up.

“Slime Ring.” Rix held it up to her crystal band. "Level two, grants passive regeneration.”

She tossed it to me. "This is another you item.”

“How?” I looked at the green ring in my hand.

“Justia has to focus most of her attention on Ether. You’re in the front getting hurt, so if you have that, you’ll heal while you’re catching your breath.”

“What if I get hit?” Aelin protested.

“Do you want it?” I held the ring out.

“Why Atlas, this is all so sudden…” Aelin waved her face with her hand. "You know I’m spoken for.”

I handed the ring to Ether. "You get this.”

“I’m just messing with you!” Aelin laughed. "You can keep it! I get hit less than you anyway!”

I couldn’t argue with her there, but I didn’t feel right taking a third boss drop.

“Ether will keep this drop.” I thought about sitting down for a bit to rest, but that would risk still being in here when the boss respawned. “Let’s get to the second floor so we can talk about what we’re doing with the rest of our day.”

“Shopping!” Aelin ran over to the gate. "Come on! We have to get more money for more shopping!”