I slowly regained consciousness, my body aching and my ears ringing.

I found myself lying on the ground, my vision blurred and my senses dulled by the shock.

"Cough, cough... what... happened?" I muttered to myself, trying to piece together the events.

The air was thick with smoke, and the stench of charred materials stung my nostrils.

Through blurred vision, I surveyed the aftermath of the explosion, the scene before me was nothing short of disastrous.

The area was littered with the remnants of those who had fought the Overfiend, now reduced to nothing more than burnt outlines on the ground.

It was a sobering, a complete massacre and utter devastation brought by a single act of malice.

"My god... how did i survive this?" I murmured, my filled with disbelief.

I tried to sit up, but pain shot through me, the toll of the explosion still affecting me.

My body was scorched and sore, yet fortunately, all my limbs were intact.

As for my slimes, they had all perished. But not in vain.

In their final moments, without a command from me, they had instinctively known what to do.

One by one, they had leaped onto me, their gelatinous bodies forming a protective cocoon around my curled-up posture.

Their sacrifice had given me a fighting chance, seven layers of slimy protection that somewhat shielded me from the brunt of the blast.

Despite their efforts, the explosion's force had still left its mark.

My clothes were burned, and my skin bore the painful signs of close contact with the aftermath.

I struggled to rise, my muscles weak and my body protesting every movement.

Pulling myself together, I remembered the potions in my bag.

Protected under me and and the layers of slimes.

With shaky hands, I reached for it, hoping it had been shielded enough to survive the blast.

As I fumbled with it, relief washed over me when I found the potions intact.

Carefully pulling out a healing potion. I uncorked it and took a full gulp , feeling the liquid's warmth spreading through my body, easing some of the pain.

The quiet that followed was haunting—no shouts, no clashing of weapons, just silence.

"Survived another one..." My voice echoing slightly in the stillness.

As the potion's warmth spread through my veins and the smoke began to dissipate, I noticed something strange.

Among the veil of the smoke and flames, a subtle movement caught my eye.

"What that?"

In the shadowy aftermath, a figure of sort was slowly moving.

"Could it be a survivor? But how?"

I squinted, trying to make sense of the shadows, and as the smoke cleared further, my shock deepened.

It wasn't just any figure, rather it was one that was all too familiar: the gelatinous substance of the Overfiend.

It was slowly moving, converging towards a single point.

"No way!" I whispered under my breath, disbelief tinging my voice as I scanned the area more thoroughly.

More blobs appeared, all crawling in the same direction.

My gaze followed their path, leading to where the Overfiend had been just before the explosion.

There, amidst the aftermath, something extraordinary caught my eye.

The massive body of the Overfiend, which I had assumed would have been destroyed in the blast, was actually split open.

It resembled a grotesque flower blooming to reveal its core.

The protective layers of its body had somehow shielded its most vital part from the explosion, leaving its core exposed yet intact.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"It actually survived! Damn, that overpowered bastard!"

The realization hit me like a wave. If the heart was intact, the Overfiend could potentially regenerate. It was a race against time now.

"All those blobs... they're pieces of it, trying to reassemble." I reasoned aloud, my voice edged with urgency. "I have to get out of here before it fully heals!"

As I bolted towards the exit, my limbs protested every move, still tender and singed from the blast. The urgency of escape pressed heavily on my mind, a single thought dominated: survival.

But amidst my attempt at escaping, a daring idea flickered through the pain and exhaustion.

The Overfiend's core, its heart, lay exposed, an unexpected opportunity that might not come again.

I slowed, my steps faltering as the weight of the decision bore down on me. "Could I? Should I try to take it down myself?" I murmured, the words barely escaping in breathless gasps.

The monster’s core, pulsating faintly, seemed almost within reach. Yet, the threat of the Overfiend regenerating hung over me.

"Damn it!"

The urgency of the situation was clear, and the gravity of my decision weighed heavily on me.

Left without my slimes, my survival odds were diminishing rapidly.

Navigating my current location in the grotto without their guidance seemed an almost impossible task.

Yet, as I stood before the vulnerable core of the Overfiend, an opportunity presented itself—one that might not come again.

This could be a turning point, a chance to shift the tides in my favor in this harsh world.

"If it regenerates, I'm done for." I muttered, gripping the dagger even tighter.

Taking a deep breath, I steadied my resolve. "This might be the only shot I have." I whispered, stepping forward.

As I dashed towards the core, determination and desperation fueling each step, the Overfiend's fragmented blobs sprang into action.

Even in its seemingly defenseless state, the slime’s instincts for survival were fiercely intact.

A blob near me suddenly stretched, morphing into a tendril aiming straight for me. My heart raced as I leaped aside, narrowly avoiding its grasp. The air whooshed past me, having come close to being caught.

"This isn't over yet!" I shouted, pushing my body to its limits as I sprinted towards the core.

But the Overfiend was not done. Another blob close to me, transformed its mass into a sharp spike and thrust it towards me.

I couldn't dodge in time; the spike pierced through my side, the pain sharp and immediate.

The acidic nature of the slime burned into my flesh, sending waves of agony that threatened to overwhelm my senses.

"Damn it!" I gasped, feeling the burn seep deeper, but I forced myself to keep moving.

The injury was painful but not lethal, a lucky fact given the circumstances.

"I'm not letting you rebuild!" I yelled.

Each step was a battle against the pain and the continuous assaults from the slime's defensive maneuvers. But I was close now, just a few more feet. With a final burst of energy, I lunged forward, my dagger ready for a decisive strike.

As I reached the core, my focus shifted to severing the connections that kept it alive and tethered to the Overfiend's body.

The core, pulsating with a sinister light, was cradled by a network of gelatinous veins, pumping whatever essence sustained this monstrous creature.

I raised my dagger, targeting these lifelines. With precise slashes, I cut through the slime's veins,weakening its hold on the core.

The core became detached, its light flickering uncertainty. I quickly snatched it from its gelatinous cradle, feeling its immense energy thrumming in my palm.

As I secured the core, a noticeable shift occurred around me.

The gelatinous fragments of the Overfiend that had been inching towards the core, attempting to reconnect and regenerate, suddenly halted.

The urgency in their movement dissipated as if they had lost their driving force.

One by one, these pieces stopped their advance and succumbed to gravity, settling onto the cave floor.

What once was a directed effort to save their central entity now turned into mere puddles of goo.

The cohesive force that had animated them was gone; the core's detachment had effectively ended the Overfiend's existence.

I watched for a moment, the once menacing mass now just a landscape of viscous fluid.

*Ding!*

You've Defeated The Viscous Overfiend! EXP + 50

Congratulations! You've reached level 2! +2 Mental, +1 Physical!

Congratulations! You've reached level 3! +3 Mental!

Congratulations! You've reached level 4! +2 Mental, +1 Physical!

The sudden chime echoed in my ears, almost too good to be true.

"What the—" I muttered, staring at the notifications floating before my eyes. Fifty experience points from a single encounter.

It catapulted me not just to level 2 but straight through to level 4. A rush of exhilaration mixed with disbelief swept through me.

"From struggling for every single point to this..." I laughed, almost hysterically, the sound bouncing off the cave walls.

The difference was stark, like night and day. Each level up triggered an immediate increase in my stats;

thankfully It was a substantial boost to my mental stat rather then my physical, especially considering how critical mental stats were for my summoning abilities.

*Ding!*

"What? It's not over?"

Another notification popped up, and this one was even more astonishing.

You acquired an 'Awakened Crystalized Heart'!

[Achievement Reached!]

[Condition: Defeating The First Floor Guardian At Level 1]

[Reward: +10% Chance of converting a boss's 'Crystalized Heart' into a 'Awakened Crystalized Heart']

I stammered, unable to believe what i was looking at.

I lowered my head, staring directly at the glowing crystalized heart in my hand, disbelief washing over me.

"A-A-AWAKENED CRYSTALIZED HEART!!!!"

https://i.imgur.com/fBGVl3P.png [https://i.imgur.com/fBGVl3P.png]