The little one remained in stunned silence, her wide eyes glued to the bottom of the pit while the man screamed and rifled through his belongings, holding onto false hope that the lizard was still alive under the mass of living goop and could make it out the hole. The tiny one rested her hand on his arm and shook her head a little to get him to give up, only barely coming to terms of the death of their reptilian comrade’s death herself. He spewed a flood of what I could guess to be curses by the sheer fury and malice in his barely restrained mumbles.

I strangely did not think anything of it. I thought I would feel something when I eventually killed one, but the guilt I expected was rather apathy. No sadness as a fellow living, thinking being. No pity over their avoidable deaths. Not even joy over getting revenge for my monsters. It was like witnessing someone get bitten as the natural result of their actions. Pure karma. They killed my subordinates, I took one of theirs. It was a fair trade, blood for blood. They had to pay the toll of entering my domain with such carelessness.

Perhaps their dungeon raid accelerated my slowly disappearing humanity, but I could no longer sense my previous feeling of fellowship with the adventurers. Their deaths were but steps on the ladder, their corpses feed for my brood. They shall become my strength, their life essence absorbed through the earth of the dungeon. I could feel power I never felt before coursing through my core, which grew by double. Compared to the nightmarish bug monster of before, it was like an ocean to a pond. What have I been doing with such little power? This… this is amazing! I felt like a rocket engine full of fuel just waiting to ignite. I marveled at my newfound as the adventurers debated. The little one seemed to want to retreat, but the man wanted to go further. Oddly, I preferred the latter. I hungered for more power and my confidence shot through the roof into gleeful arrogance. I could take the rest of them right? It is simply a matter of dominos falling. With one, comes the other. I ignored the fact that the lizardman barely took part in the defense, either trying to save its bolts for the end or just not wanting to sacrifice ammo on mere slimes probably. Plus, the cheeky trick of pushing intruders into the holes by surprise was now no longer usable since it required their guard to be down.

The man started to walk further into my reign on his own while the little one held back, yelling to their remaining comrade desperately. He did not even so much as respond to her as he continued his march without delay. The healer girl looked furious, although I could tell fear was gripping her heart in her eyes. It was a habit all too like myself after all. While many might balk at her attitude and that she wanted to “let the lizardman die in vain,” I respected it. It was the rational decision to fall back and regroup. Compared to the man who was willing to gamble his life on the illogical sense of vengeance, she was infinitely more reasonable, or so I personally thought. Although, I had enough sense to know my judgment should be taken with a grain of salt due to my biases.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Looking back at the hole, that was like a ravine for someone of her stature, she, with great trepidation and reluctance, nervously ran behind the man gripping her staff tight to herself as if hugging it. While she might not like going further, just waiting there alone as just a healer was but a death wish. If she wanted to survive, she had to continue deeper into the tiger’s den amusingly enough. The green swordsman, on the other hand, was carving a warpath with that malice in each swing and stab. Now taking me seriously, anything that approached was turned into thousands of bits of lifeless jelly. While it might look like I was flailing and throwing whatever I got (because I sort of was), the goal was not the adventurers, but the warrior’s sword. The dulling of his short blade continued as he reached the fourth hole. The healer again pleaded to turn back, but a quick glare at her shut her up and she did not ask further. The man picked her up again and jumped the hole with his focus sharply on the passage behind them both. Yet awaiting another cheap shot, I switched it up with a frontal assault from my royal guard. The Beezlebub Brigade came rolling in, one being slain almost immediately upon first confrontation. Beezlebub decided to take the brunt of the combat, bouncing and deforming to dodge the onslaught of a furious swordsman who soon became frustrated with annoyance not able to get a decisive blow. Although when he finally got what he wanted, shock overcame him as the short sword became lodged deep in Beezlebub. Unfortunately, his sword no longer had the sharpness to glide through my slimes, especially with the greater durability of Beezlebub compared to its small counterparts. With an opening showing itself, one of my defender slimes slipped past them, creating a viscous wall on the edge of the other side of the pit of doom while the other formed a wall behind my elites. Now there would be no retreat, no running away.

The green warrior, without even a breath, pulled out his other blade, but there was a significant issue. There was a reason I decided to make my stand here and not the cavern, that was the available space around us. While one may think that having more room would be advantageous so-as I could leverage my quantity advantage, it would be rather nullified since it would mean the longer blade could have free reign. In such a tight space, he cannot properly swing his only usable weapon while my slimes can attack without restriction due to their primary attack being in the vein of a thrust. Skilled as he is, the environment worked against him. Slowly, he and the little one were forced back to the edge only able to kill off two in the process. Staring down to what would mean death, he attempted to make one last huzzah but was slammed in the gut by Beezlebub and thrown backwards into the hole, taking the healer hiding behind him with him.

Now, now, now, it was time to feast. I wondered how much power I could get from the two rats caught in the trap. I was practically holding a victory celebration in my head as a felt pure joy as the weight of incoming death finally off my soul. I-I won! Perhaps I could really survive in this world… no… I can thrive!

However, as if to contradict me, fate turned as golden light exploded from the hole. Fuck.