Cindy turned around as soon as she slew the last Small Sea Slime to see what Liam was shouting about. She saw two Medium Sea Slimes being pulled together over by him.
Are they merging? Cindy thought as she stared at the two. This confused her because she knew it took four Medium Slimes to make a large one.
After the thought passed she noticed an orb floating between the two creatures as they tried to separate. As she stared at the raven black and purple orb she recognized what was going on. It wasn’t that they were merging it was a gravity spell pulling them together.
That’s right! He knows Gravity Magic! Wait, if that’s not the reason for his sudden shouting then… Cindy thought. She then noticed he was looking up at something and pivoted her head to look at the ceiling. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the skull push down, bringing the rest of the liquid that was sticking on the ceiling down with it.
A massive squelch echoed in the room as the creature landed on the ground below.
Her focus switched over to something else as she noticed bubbles start to form from the pool closest to her.
Another Medium Sea Slime emerged from the pool and Cindy realized what was going on.
“This is a Swarm type Boss!” Cindy shouted.
Liam was snapped out of his daze as he heard Cindy shout.
A swarm type boss?! Liam thought to himself as he tried to remember what she had told him about that type of Boss.
Swarm type bosses were bosses that had creatures that kept coming and coming no matter how many times you killed them. The only way to stop it all was to kill the boss in the area or room.
Liam looked at the notification that had appeared when he assessed the monster earlier.
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“Engulfing Sea Ooze. 1,000/1,000 HP. 650/650 MP. Level – 17.”
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Engulfing Sea Ooze? Liam thought as he took in the entire form of the creature that fell to the ground.
The Ooze’s body was completely different than the Sea Slimes. Instead of having a bubble gelatinous looking form, this creature looked like its entire body was melting while still keeping its height. Waves of the slimy watery texture raced down to the ground as a small portion raised up looking like a tidal wave.
While the Sea Slime had no notable features and looked like it was a blob full of thick clouded water, the Engulfing Sea Ooze was a transparent blue color allowing you to see through it. It reminded Liam of looking through a blue tinted stained glass. Another thing Liam was able to see different between the two was the Skull that floated around the top of the raised tidal wave. Some stalactites it was holding on to while hanging on the ceiling poked out from the backside of the Ooze giving it a more dangerous look compared to the Medium Sea Slimes.
Be careful of that creature Liam. Eri suddenly warned. An Engulfing Sea Ooze is a dangerous creature that will try to engulf you and dissolve you within its body. Its entire body has a coat of acid so try not to stick anything in it that you want to keep in one piece. They are a variant version of the Slime species.
Liam’s eyes widened as he heard this. Are you serious?! He asked as he stared at the creature.
Yes, not only that, but this kind of Ooze has both acid and water magic. Eri informed.
What are you going to say next? That this thing can split like the slimes? Liam questioned.
Thankfully no. Eri said giving Liam a bit of relief.
Well, that’s one bit of good news. Liam thought as he continued to watch the Ooze carefully, making sure it didn’t make any sudden moves.
A second later, Liam noticed the Ooze start to ripple and was getting ready to dodge any incoming attacks until four blade-length wind slashes slammed into the back of the creature, causing it to turn around.
Liam didn’t waste this opportunity and channeled his Lightning Mana. As he did this he heard a faint chime echo in his mind as the Lightning Mana covered a bit more of his forearms.
With a grin, he focused his attention on the creature as it started to slide towards Cindy and chanted, “O orb of sparks form before pure and true. Shoot fast and engulf the one in your path. Ripple through the muscles and make them lock. Electro Orb!”
As he chanted the spell, Liam push in as much of the Lightning Mana as he could into it. As soon as he felt the limit of what he was able to give the spell, he released it and watched as it flew towards its intended target.
Liam watched as the electro orb collided against the Engulfing Sea Ooze’s body. As soon as it touched the back of the slimy waving liquid it sparked, and spider webbed over its body. Two random sparks arced off and hit the two Medium Sea Slimes still stuck in the Gravity Well.
Liam glanced at the creature’s health and frowned a bit.
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“Engulfing Sea Ooze. 915/1,000 HP. 650/650 MP. Level – 17.”
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Cindy’s magical attack had done seventy-five damage bringing its health to nine hundred and twenty-five. His attack had only done ten. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his Debuff or if the Engulfing Sea Ooze’s weakness had changed. He decided to ask to find out.
“Is this thing weak to Lightning Magic still or does it have a different weakness?” Liam shouted.
Cindy jumped out of the way from a Medium Sea Slime’s tendril attack. As she landed, she ran to her right and replied back in a shout, “No, it still has the same weakness! However, it has a layer of defense to protect itself from magical attacks called Acid Cover. We need to break that down a bit before we can do real damage to it!”
“Are you serious?” Liam shouted.
“Yeah!” Cindy replied as she sprinted towards the closest Medium Sea Slime and started swinging her sword through the gelatinous body.
“How do I know when the armor has been broken?” Liam questioned.
“When its body no longer looks like its melting. That’s how you’ll know!” Cindy answered as she jumped back to dodge another attack. “Make sure when you do get that broken to not have any…”
Before Liam could hear what else she had to say, he heard a hissing sound coming from the Engulfing Sea Ooze. Liam saw a small portion of its back start to swirl and steam. It was slow at first, but then started to pick up speed.
Realizing the Ooze was about to do something, Liam sprinted to his left. As he did this, a thick line of liquid suddenly shot out from the spot that was swirling and landed right where he was once standing.
Liam looked back at the spot and saw the area start to steam and hiss as the rocky surface began to dissolve.
“Shit!” Liam stated before he jumped three more times to his left.
Three more streams of liquids aimed for the areas where he once stood allowing more liquid to melt the surface areas they landed on.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Liam started to complain. “How many times is it able to shoot that?”
Liam watched as another swirl start to form on the creature’s body. Not wanting to be in the creature’s line of sight of that stream, Liam positioned him so that the two Medium Sea Slimes were between them. He thought that since those two were its minions the creature wouldn’t…
Liam heard the Engulfing Sea Ooze fire another stream of its acidic liquid. He then saw steam start to roll off the two Medium Sea Slimes’ bodies.
“Did it really just hit its own minions?” Liam questioned.
Oozes view themselves as higher beings than their weaker counter parts like Slimes. Eri suddenly explained. While they were once Slimes themselves, they evolved into what they are and believe themselves to be the top of their species. They don’t care what happens to their lower brethren.
Liam thought about what she had just said. He didn’t know how she would know what an Ooze would think, nor did he have time to question it. He did though think it was messed up for this creature to do that to its own kind. Regardless of if they evolved to something stronger.
Liam watched as the Gravity Well suddenly winked out, allowing the two Medium Sea Slimes to freely move. However, before they could move out of the way, their bodies started to ripple violently. After a couple of seconds of rippling, both creatures exploded with a loud wet squelch and divided into twenty-four Small Sea Slimes.
“Shit!” Liam shouted as he started chanting his Electro Orb spell. He felt himself panic a bit and didn’t pay attention to the amount of Lightning Mana he pushed into the spell.
After he finished chanting he quickly fired the orb while dodging another acidic stream. He realized he didn’t properly aim when he threw the orb and was worried he threw it way off the mark. However, as he rebalanced his footing he saw the Electro Orb had landed against the lower part of the Ooze.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
As it hit, Liam watched as thick sparks wrapped around the body of the Engulfing Sea Ooze causing it to make the skull, that was swimming where he believed the head section of the creature would be, to open its jaw wide. The gesture the skull was making made Liam think it looked to be in pain.
Shortly after that several thick wild sparks of Lightning suddenly jumped from the Ooze and connected to several of the Small Sea Slimes that were around the body. These watery gelatinous bodies started foaming within as the lightning sparks that clashed on them started to fry them up.
After the sparks disappeared, Liam noticed the Small Sea Slimes that were hit deflate as the health on the Engulfing Sea Ooze suddenly dropped.
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“Engulfing Sea Ooze. 762/1,000 HP. 525/650 MP. Level – 17.”
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Liam looked at the Engulfing Sea Ooze and noticed something else. The waves that ran down its slimy body that gave it a melting effect had stopped.
“Hell yeah!” Liam shouted with some accomplishment filling his chest. However, that feeling quickly disappeared as he heard Cindy suddenly shout at him.
“Kill those Small Slimes Liam!” Cindy shouted as she sent four Razor Wind strikes at a couple of the Small Sea Slimes that were in her sight.
“What?” Liam questioned as confusion settled.
He then watched the Engulfing Sea Ooze suddenly turn around and face him. No, the creature wasn’t looking at him. It was looking at the remaining seven Small Sea Slimes. Before Liam could think or say anything, the Engulfing Sea Ooze suddenly spread its entire body out like it was forming a slimy watery wall of ooze. The edges expanded far enough to block the seven Small Sea Slimes from moving around.
Within a blink of an eye the Engulfing Sea Ooze rose high above the smaller creatures and, like a tidal wave, engulf the creatures into its body like a wave swallowing up a surfer.
Liam grew confused as he stared at the monster. More confusion grew as he watched the creature rise a small portion up again with the skull at the top staring at Liam. Its body had once again started sliding down giving it the effect like it was melting.
Not only that, but Liam noticed a change in its Health Pool.
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“Engulfing Sea Ooze. 794/1,000 HP. 525/650 MP. Level – 17.”
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“What the fuck!?” Liam shouted. “How did it heal?!”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you!” Cindy shouted. “Once you damage it enough to cause its Acid Cover to breakdown you need to make sure it doesn’t get anywhere near a slime. It engulfs them to bring its armor back and even heals itself a bit. The amount it heals depends on the size of the slime.”
“Are you serious?!” Liam replied as he looked back at the Engulfing Sea Ooze. He then saw the two pools in the front start to stir as a Medium Sea Slime emerged from both of them.
Starting to feel a bit frustrated he asked, “What do we do now? How can we prevent that from happening? These Slime keep coming back even after we kill them!”
Cindy jumped to the side as she chanted her spell. After sending four sword length Wind slashes into a Medium Sea Slime and watching it explode into twelve smaller versions, she yelled out, “Our only options are to keep attacking till that Ooze is dead or find a way to cover these pools to prevent anymore Slimes from coming out!”
“How the hell are we suppose to do that?” Liam grumbled as he took a second to look around.
As he scanned the area he took in his surroundings. Besides the creatures that were spread out and the four pools of water, there wasn’t anything that really stood out he could use to cover the pools.
His Danger Sense flared up, making Liam subconsciously jump to his left to dodge. As he jumped out of the way he felt his side collide with the wall. He pressed his back up against it and saw two tendrils start to retract from where they had slammed down at. Each tendril steamed and started to melt at the tips while coming back to the main bodies. Liam found the cause of it was from the acidic liquid that was melting the ground where they had slammed onto.
As Liam saw this, something caught his eye. He stared at the stalactites protruding from the Engulfing Sea Ooze’s back. They weren’t as long as they were when it first appeared as they slowly dissolve inside the main body. As he stared at them an idea formed. He then looked up and saw the stalactites hanging above their heads. There wasn’t any that were overly huge, but they did have numbers. Enough numbers that could possibly cover whatever was underneath them.
“Cindy!” Liam shouted.
“Kind of busy here!” Cindy grunted as she sliced through two Small Sea Slimes. “What’s up?”
“The Stalactites!” Liam shouted as he jumped to the right then once more backwards to dodge two tendrils and a stream of acidic liquid.
“What?” Cindy replied as she gave him a confused look.
“We can use the stalactites above the pools to plug or cover them up!” Liam shouted as he ran for the other side of the room.
Cindy looked up and saw what he was talking about. “Good idea! I’ll get this side while you get that side!”
“Got it!” Liam responded as he ran to the other side, dodging that attacks that were sent his way while jumping over the areas the acidic liquid was still melting in.
He got into a position on the left side of the room, aimed for the area above the pool on the right side of the room and chanted, “Gather forth, Oh, vast Arcana. When single is ineffective, dive in with numbers! Release the pent-up anger of the mass. Arcane Swarm!”
A dark violet sphere the size of a coin appeared. With each word that escaped out of Liam’s mouth, the coin sized sphere grew larger and larger until it became the size of a beachball. The sphere then started to swirl quickly.
After he finished the chant seven-coin sized spheres appeared around the edge of the swirling dark violet beachball. Lines connected with the smaller spheres before streams of arcane power swiftly shot out in different intervals straight for the stalactites.
Dust and loose rubble exploded as the magical attack slammed into the area. The ceiling rumbled as stalactites of different sizes started to fall down on top of the pool.
Liam grew worried as the Ooze and Slimes started to turn to look at him. He willed himself to keep going, praying the spell would hurry and finish before he had to move. His panic started to grow as he watched the liquid in the Ooze’s chest area started to swirl and tendrils from the two Medium Sea Slimes began to protrude from their bodies.
A large explosion erupted as the last bit of the Arcane Swarm spell pushed out the last bit of streams and destroyed a big enough chunk of stone and stalactites to fall down and cover the pool.
Liam swiftly jumped out of the way to dodge the incoming attacks right as the tendrils and stream of liquid almost collided into him.
After rolling he felt his head start to swirl as he noticed his Mana Pool dipped to the twenties. He quickly pulled out a Weak Blueberry Mana Potion and downed it. After finishing the contents, he channeled his Lightning Mana as quickly as he could and chanted the Electro Orb spell. He went to push the Lightning Mana he channeled into the spell hastily as he watched the creatures start their attacks once more.
After finishing the chant he threw the orb at the Engulfing Sea Ooze again and jumped out of the way. After getting out of the way he once more saw the spell pack a bigger punch than his first few attempts. It once again tore the Acid Cover off of the Ooze while the wild sparks caused enough damage to explode both Medium Sea Slimes into twenty four Small Sea Slimes.
Confused, he looked at his Debuff to see if it had decreased to the first level, but was disappointed as it was still in the second level. Why is it doing so much damage if my stats are still effected? Liam thought.
Before he could continue his question in his mind, he heard a loud boom from the back of the room. He looked to see Cindy throwing her Razor Wind ability at the stalactites above the left backside pool.
His attention was then turned towards the Ooze and the two dozen Small Sea Slimes that were scattered about.
No time to be distracted. I need to get this done now. Liam thought to himself as he chanted his Arcane Swarm spell and aimed for the area above the last pool on his side.
The Engulfing Sea Ooze taking the time to engulf the slimes that were close enough to it was an opportunity he wasn’t going to let slip as he watched the streams swiftly fly out and collide into the ceiling.
Right as the Engulfing Sea Ooze finished swallowing the slimes it was able to engulf with its body, recover itself with its Acidic Cover and reform its body to stare at Liam, the last streams from his spell finished as chunks of rocks and stalactites covered the pool.
Liam jumped out of the way as a stream of acidic liquid shot out at him. As he rolled to his feet he looked to see how many slimes were left on his side. Four Small Sea Slimes moved slowly towards him. He looked at the back room and noticed Cindy was finishing off the last few Small Sea Slimes on her side.
“How does it look?” Liam asked as he dodged another stream. “Is it working?”
Cindy turned to look at one of the pools she had covered. The rocks and stalactites shuddered and shook, but nothing escaped. Liam looked at the right front pool and saw the same thing.
“It works!” Cindy yelled with a grin on her face.
“Good!” Liam replied as he dodged once more. “Let’s finish this asshole!”
“We need something powerful enough to destroy its…,” Cindy started to say until both she and Liam noticed an odd behavior in the Engulfing Sea Ooze.
Liam watched as the Ooze disregarded him and looked at pool in the right front of the room.
Liam’s brows scrunched as he watched the chest area of the creature start to swirl. It took only a moment for him to realize what it was about to do as it shot out a stream of acidic liquid right for the barricade he had made over the pool. Steam started to flow as the liquid landed on some of the rocks and stalactites.
“Shit! We need to take it down now before it melts those rocks!” Liam shouted as he started to chant an Electro Orb spell.
Cindy and he released their spells right at the creature. After their spells landed Liam grew confused as the Acid Cover was still covering the Ooze’s body.
“What the hell?” Liam muttered. “Why isn’t it packing as big as a punch as it was before?”
“Liam!” Cindy shouted as the Ooze turned its body and shot a stream of its liquid right at the pool by her. “Do you have anything that packs a punch? Or maybe use one of your Gravity spells to slow it down?”
Liam could use his Gravity Well spell to stop it from moving around and trying to dissolve the rocky covers they made over the pools, but without a spell that can quickly destroy that Acid Cover armor it would be just a matter of seconds before more Medium Sea Slimes could escape their prison and heal the creature.
A thought suddenly popped inside Liam’s head. He might not know how he was able to cause so much damage earlier and a single Gravity spell would only delay the creature, but why waste the mana in doing two things when he could use an item that could do both.
Liam searched his inventory to look for an item he had received as a present. As he searched for it he felt something suddenly wrap around his right leg. He looked down to see one of the Small Sea Slimes had tried to wrap itself around his foot. He quickly yanked his foot free from the creature and ran to the right to get a bit farther away. As he ran he finished his search and found what he was looking for.
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“Weak Magnetic Shockwave. Item type – Chemicalized Creation. Item rarity – Uncommon. Item Quality – Weak. Description – Pulls any enemies within a 5 foot radius towards the gravity ball in the center. After a few seconds pass, a powerful shockwave will shoot out sending arcs of lightning towards the enemies. Arcs of lightning will also bounce off from one enemy to the next for ten seconds. Gravitational Force Debuff will be applied to any enemy still alive. Lasts for 30 seconds. 5% chance to paralyze enemies still alive. Lasts for 15 seconds.*”
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“This should do the trick,” Liam muttered as he looked back at the Engulfing Sea Ooze and yelled out, “Get back Cindy!”
Without waiting for a reply, Liam threw the vial right in front of the creature and watched as a pitch black orb the size of a basketball suddenly rise up from the ground and started to suck the Engulfing Sea Ooze and a couple of the remaining Small Sea Slimes towards it. After a few seconds passed the orb suddenly flashed and sent a shockwave of lighting out washing over all the creatures within it.
After the shockwave dispersed, lighting suddenly bounced from the Engulfing Sea Ooze to the Small Sea Slimes that barely lived. It bounced over them a couple of times adding more damage to their already poor looking state.
Liam looked at the Engulfing Sea Ooze’s health and grinned.
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“Engulfing Sea Ooze. 494/1,000 HP. 271/650 MP. Level – 17.”
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Not only had the creature’s health dropped, but so did its Acid Cover.
“Let loose!” Liam shouted as he channeled in as much Arcane mana as he could before chanting his Arcane Swarm spell.
Cindy on the other side of the room channeled in Air Mana before chanting one of her Air Magic spells.
After that they let loose their attacks and kept at it. Releasing spell after spell, Liam stopped only to drink a Mana Potion before channeling and chanting another spell. They kept up the barrage as much as they could, trying to keep the Ooze from spraying any of its acidic liquid to free the Medium Sea Slimes.
After the fifth volley on both sides a long awaited notification appeared in front of their view as a chime echoed in his mind.
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“Congratulations! You have defeated the Dungeon Boss, Engulfing Sea Ooze of the Seaside Cave of the Water Slimes!”
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