Soul stealers and humming killers. When one spoke those names, a certain species of slime appeared in every veteran’s mind.

Auric slimes had been discovered less than thirty years ago, mainly because they only lived in the deepest parts of a dungeon. The veterans that discovered these slimes had given them two nicknames. ‘Soul stealer’ referred to the way that they drained energy from their prey. Meanwhile, ‘humming killer’ referred to what happened after they’d eaten their fill.

As these slimes absorbed mana, they would become faster and stronger. They had an overwhelming advantage in long drawn out fights. However, that energy would eventually become unstable. Exactly when this happened depended on the slime, but once it did, they would begin to emit a high-pitched noise. After that, they would explode.

Since they were also proficient in shapeshifting and ambushes, auric slimes were a massive threat to any raiding party.

As someone who had recently begun reading about high-level monsters, Linderman wouldn’t fail to recognize Mavis’s explosive attack. Although, he really wanted to be wrong. The common sense he’d cultivated up until this point told him that he must be wrong. And yet, the answer was staring him in the face.

It was staring at him with raised swords.

While Vivian and Nora focused on healing, Theo and Mavis were staring cautiously at Linderman. They were clearly worried that he’d attack without thinking.

“You…” Linderman spoke and they tensed up. “You’re a monster?”

The slime nodded.

“Yes.”

A few seconds passed, and a strange grin appeared on Linderman’s face. The normally stoic raider lowered his head and took a deep breath. When he came back up, the smile had vanished.

“You three still want to fight this boss? Is that your plan?”

“Yes.” Theo and Mavis replied in unison.

Vivian was too busy to speak, but she had clearly heard them.

“Then we’ll fight too.” Linderman replied. “So, for now, the five of us are a team.”

“But what happens after that?”

The question hung in the air, but nobody dared ask it.

“Wait, what is it doing?” Theo exclaimed as he pointed at the Torrent Guardian.

Mavis’s hair twitched and Linderman scowled as they turned towards the beast.

A series of faint cracking sounds were just barely audible through the rain. As the raiders strained their eyes, the cause of the noise became apparent. The Torrent Guardian’s proud lavender scales were being crushed by the dozens. The culprit was the monster itself. Its four remaining heads tore into the three injured ones without a shred of sympathy. By the time Theo and the others had noticed, it was already whittling down the leftover stumps.

“It…It’s healing.” Theo breathed.

Linderman shifted his gaze upwards. While he’d been focusing on the monster’s grotesque feeding, there was an even more unbelievable phenomenon happening around its body. The burnt parts of its skin began to bulge and sag. As rain washed away the waste, a fresh set of scales was revealed. In time, maybe it would even regrow its heads.

“We need to kill it now.” Linderman said.

The dour raider stood up, but he stumbled as his left arm began to spasm. Theo grit his teeth, but he didn’t rebuke Linderman. After witnessing the hydra’s incredible recovery, he was also afraid that it might grow more heads.

“It’s healing, we’re healing.” Nora’s calm voice snapped Linderman back to his senses.

Her red eye gleamed as she continued.

“Right now, it’s panicking just as much as we are.”

Mavis’s tentacles froze as it noticed a change in Nora’s mana. Some of it was being channeled into her eye.

Now that she’d finished healing, Vivian hastily pulled out her cat’s eye pendant. Her treasure couldn’t sense abstract feelings, but it could warn them if the hydra was going to attack.

“The two of us will stay back and support.” Nora said, patting Vivian’s shoulder. “You three will engage its heads.”

“What about the body?” Linderman asked.

When Nora shrugged, Theo turned to Linderman.

“Stop it from charging and then draw out the heads. I had a hunch when Yale was fighting it, but now I’m positive. That monster has a separate brain for each head, and so it tends to forget about moving its body.”

“I-It won’t fire any more water blasts.” Vivian spoke up. “I don’t think it can heal again, either.”

“That’s good news.” Theo nodded. “But we don’t want to get complacent. Let’s not worry about who damages what. Right now, we should focus on surviving.”

Nora narrowed her eyes, but both she and Linderman nodded. Meanwhile, Theo flashed three fingers behind his back. He was facing the group, and so no one could see this gesture. No one human, anyway.

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Mavis nodded and stepped forward.

“Let’s…go.”

Four heads hissed as the raiders approached. Despite its threatening posture, no water bullets were fired. It seemed that Vivian’s analysis was correct. The hydra’s tail crashed furiously against the ground, causing the forest to shake. As the raiders continued to advance, the hydra took on the air of a cornered animal. Its heads arched low to the ground, and then it charged.

With heads the size of trade wagons and a body that was as large as a small house, the Torrent Guardian’s charge was a terrifying sight. All four heads turned towards the man who had blocked it earlier. Linderman grunted as he forced his arm to grow again. He tried to stop the hydra but four sets of teeth bit into the platinum-tier treasure, causing it to crackle even louder. The monster received a substantial shock for its trouble, but it didn’t stop. Linderman’s arm was torn apart.

Before it could roar in celebration, a red streak plunged into one of its heads. Nora’s arrow exploded, causing the hydra to cry out in agony. At the same time, another head noticed movement out of the corner of its eye. A dagger sank into its forehead before it could react. The wound was shallow, but it suddenly began to widen. Another pained hiss rang out as the cut crept into the hydra’s eyes, blinding it.

The third head was restricted by Vivian’s magic, which left only one head to retaliate as Mavis dashed forward. Extending its tentacles, Mavis latched onto the head that Theo had blinded and pulled itself up. The hydra’s fourth head tried to bite it, but Mavis quickly shifted its mass to dodge. It reached the top of the head, pulled out Voidcutter, and threw the weapon down to Theo.

The fourth head continued to chase Mavis. It opened its mouth wide and prepared to injure its own body as it chomped down on the slime.

A scream that was half war cry, half terrified yelp carried over the deluge. Mavis imitated Yale as it drove its two swords into the hydra’s mouth, stopping the monster’s jaw from closing.

In desperation, Mavis cycled its mana into some of the equipment that it had gotten in the third layer. Its boots shone with a weight increasing aura, preventing the hydra from pushing it away. Its gloves helped it tighten its grip and brace its arms, while a defensive aura from its belt made it feel a little more secure. Coincidentally, the equipment that Theo had chosen to help it handle the Sunburst Spear was very useful here.

As the slime and hydra gave it their all, the first thing to break was Mavis’s silver sword. The weapon that it had taken from a dire wolf shattered, allowing the Torrent Guardian’s jaw to snap shut. Mavis had just enough time to jump away, but not before it lost a couple tentacles.

The hydra’s predatory eyes followed the slime as it fell, but the beast was soon distracted by a strange humming noise. The fourth head bulged in a surreal fashion and then exploded.

During their clash, Mavis had absorbed a tremendous amount of energy from the hydra. It had been hoping to destroy multiple heads with that blast, but now, Mavis was just happy to be alive.

After hitting the ground with a splat, Mavis extended its senses to check on the others. Theo and Linderman were attacking the head that Vivian had paralyzed. Meanwhile, the first head was helpless against Nora’s magically enhanced arrows.

Mavis picked itself up and turned towards the blind head, which was still disoriented. Brandishing its sword, Mavis prepared to re-enter the fray.

After all, Theo wanted their team to kill three of the four heads. Mavis hadn’t missed his hand signal before the battle.

The sounds of desperate roars and metal clashing against scales resounded through the forest. Several minutes later, those sounds grew louder. The battle wasn’t becoming more intense, in fact, it was the opposite. Near the end of its life, the Torrent Guardian’s rain slowly faded away. Without the rain’s suppression, there was a brief period where the fighting felt extremely loud. After that, there was silence.

Five haggard figures convened. Wordlessly, they turned to stare at the corpse of the Torrent Guardian. A beam of light shot out of the monster’s body and separated into five streams. If the raiders looked closely, they could see that the streams were not equal. The largest light landed in front of Nora, while the second went to Mavis. Third was Linderman, fourth was Theo and fifth was Vivian. When the light faded, there was a treasure core in each of their hands.

Mavis stared at its treasure, hair twitching in excitement. It was about to open the core when Theo put a hand on its shoulder.

“Not here.” He breathed. “We have enough to fight about as it is.”

“Ah, sorry.”

Theo turned towards Nora and Linderman.

“So, what happens now?”

Everyone tensed up as Nora lifted her head. They remained tense as she flashed an amicable smile.

“I know a safe place nearby. How about we go there to rest?”

“The five of us?”

“Yes. There are a few things we need to talk about. Plus, I’m worried about the person who attacked me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Theo nodded. Now that they knew Mavis’s secret, leaving them alone would be dangerous.

- - -

Yale opened his eyes and then immediately closed them. His body spasmed as his sense of pain returned. The fight that had put him in this situation replayed endlessly in his head, making him feel sick to his stomach. The young master tried to sit up, but he couldn’t move.

Or, rather, there was nothing to move him.

Yale’s eyes snapped open and he drew a short breath. His body was a mess. At this point he was more a pile of debris than human. As for how he could be alive in such a state, the answer was currently looming over him.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Ravens muttered. “I’ve never seen this treasure be pushed so far. That’s reassuring.”

“Wh-What are you doing?”

Yale’s ragged voice was barely audible.

“Retrieving the platinum-tier treasure, Gaia’s Root. Remember? I leant it to you so that you could fight.”

“What happened to-”

Yale was forced to clench his teeth as Ravens stuck a hand in his chest.

“What happened to the monster?”

Raising his free hand to show the lack of rain, Ravens gave a short reply.

“Guess.”

“I…I can’t believe it.”

For reasons he didn’t quite understand, a tear rolled down Yale’s cheek. Seconds later, a sharp jolt of pain brought him out of his sentimental mood.

“Ravens, why did you help me?”

“I didn’t help you. I set you up to get killed.”

“Why?”

“To be blunt, because I’m afraid of that thing.”

“The slime?”

“You people have no idea how dangerous those monsters are, or what their true purpose is. I couldn’t take it for myself, not without knowing its full potential. Fortunately, it seems like it went all out against that boss.”

Yale winced as another wave of pain wracked his body.

“If you pull that thing out…Am I going to die?”

Ravens ignored him, as if his question wasn’t even worth acknowledging.

“Please don’t…I don’t want to die.”

Ravens stopped moving his hand and looked at Yale.

“You know, when I was around your age, I found myself in a similar position. I was alone in a dungeon. If anyone else found me, they would have killed me on sight. It was a terrible experience, but I wouldn’t be the same without it.”

Yale fought the urge to panic as Ravens continued. Through the pain and fear, he remained surprisingly stoic.

“If there’s one thing I want to pass on, it’s that feeling.”

Ravens yanked his hand out of Yale’s chest, along with a faintly glowing root.

“But not to you.”