I briefly considered not exploring the unknown source of fire essence. But in the end, I loved a good mystery too much, and perhaps it would hold something interesting to eat, or maybe it would be one of the other quest targets I was supposed to exterminate.

'A quick peek, and then I'll head back. I'm sure I'll be home in time for supper!'

With acidic tendrils as my tools, I began my burrowing descent towards this heated source. It was certainly not the most exciting time, so I kept myself occupied trying to create my earth debuff.

'What would an earth weakness even be called? Rocked? Soiled? Dirtied?'

As I descended deeper, the rock density and the ambient heat increased. Eventually, I reached a layer of blackish rock that was remarkably warm to the touch.

'I'm so glad I can't boil alive anymore. Otherwise, this would've been a really stupid idea.'

[Tremor Sense] told me that beyond this rock, it opened up into what appeared to be an open cavern. With excited anticipation, I continued through.

As I broke through, a vast and lengthy cavern was revealed, where a river of molten magma flowed with a mesmerizing, fiery glow. The intense heat radiating from the magma river made the air shimmer, and the distant rumbling of the flowing magma echoed throughout the cavern.

Using adhesive tendrils to latch onto my entry hole, I lowered myself near the magma, feeling the heat wash over me and marveling at the raw energy before me. I poked the river a few times; it seemed like my resistances were enough for my slime to not burst into flames on contact, although I wasn't about to take a dip.

I also tried looking down both ends of this river using [Eagle Vision], but both weren't entirely straight and curved off. I wasn't sure which end of the river to follow, and there didn't seem to be anything below the surface, at least within range of my current position.

Borrowing a higher level of [Essence Sight] again, I discovered that one path headed towards more fire essence. My decision was made. I took on my regular winged blueblin form for its convenient flying size and began to fly carefully down the tunnel.

To my surprise, I wasn't the only flying creature in these tunnels, and there seemed to be a few fire elemental bats fluttering around. For the most part, they seemed non-hostile and would actually flee from me. Their low numbers, low tier, and inedible status made me defeat only one with [Frost Grasp] before ignoring them.

The magma river, however, was extremely intriguing, and occasionally, I'd see what looked like fish coated in blackish glass. I paused and attempted some fishing experiments by trying to catch some by dipping my [Pseudopods] into the molten river.

It took quite a bit of trial and error, as I was almost fishing blindly. The only vaguely reliable sense or vision I had to use was [Life Sight], as the strange fish didn't appear with [Mana Conception]. They were clearly the same temperature as the magma itself, so they blended in when I used [Thermal Vision]. The area and creatures were not conductive, so [Electro-magnetic Sense] was also a bust.

When I eventually caught one, it was quite a nutritious feast despite its lack of levels, which fell more under critter status than a monster. They were called obsidian fish, and when I noticed some other creatures in the magma, they all had obsidian as a prefix to their species.

I was mostly minding my own business when my fishing expedition was interrupted by the sound of some immense rumbling. I flew towards one of the walls and pressed against it to try to get a sense of where it was coming from with [Tremor Sense]. Whatever it was, it was making such powerful vibrations that it was being picked up despite my lack of trait levels.

'Is that... Two of them?' I pondered, trying to decipher what I was feeling.

If I read the trajectory correctly, they would appear further ahead in this tunnel, closer to the source of fire essence. I hastily flew towards it, hoping to catch sight of whatever it was as it approached.

I spotted the destination up ahead. The magma river opened up into a lake and an absolutely massive cavern. The cavern ceiling was extremely tall and littered with various mineral deposits in a stalactite formation. The magma lake was also not completely unpopulated, and it had its own pillars, creating impromptu platforms or islands.

The ceiling and walls were littered with burrowed holes in varying shapes and sizes as if many creatures had sought out this destination.

The rumbling grew louder, so I flew towards a stalactite to hide behind. Depending on what was approaching, I could flee or attack. I didn't have to wait long.

A massive tube of rotating teeth burst out of a newly formed hole, revealing itself as a gigantic glassy black worm. The worm dived into the magma lake as if seeking refuge.

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'Well... I did ask for something bigger to eat and fight. I can see why the dwarves want these things killed; they could potentially try to tunnel into the city and break their defensive wards.'

The rumbling hadn't stopped, and the previously burrowed-out hole burst open to reveal an even larger worm. It was also mostly black, but unlike the first one, it seemed refined and reforged. Down its entire length were what seemed like carved-out channels into its hide that pulsed like a living furnace with a bright orange glow. Its outer coating alone sent [Dissection] into a frenzy.

The bigger worm was likely chasing the smaller one, and now the two were wrestling and writhing within the magma lake. I hadn't often seen members of the same monster species fighting, but perhaps worms were solitary. Were they territorial rivals? The evolution must have been fairly recent, judging by its reset level. Was it trying to take out the competition before it could also evolve?

I borrowed [Telepathy (Lesser)] and tried contacting both to see if there was anything from such high-tier monsters. While I could connect to both, all I got back from either was a deep-rooted desire to kill, eat, and grow. Not even words.

'I guess not every monster is as intelligent as the ant princess. A shame she wasn't willing to talk.'

As for the two worms, I wanted to defeat both of them. Just thinking about the massive amount of slime mass I'd generate from either meal, not to mention the traits and a brand-new form, was absolutely mouth-watering.

'I should help the small one kill the big one. As long as I secure the killing blow. [Decay] would be ideal since it's a huge chunk of damage, and my [Life Sight] is much better nowadays. It's too bad I can't use the interface feature without directly wearing my guild tag; having their life bars would have been convenient.'

It was an odd limitation. The tag had no problem tracking my quest progress while in my [Core Storage] but could not activate the interface feature unless I actually wore it. I wasn't worried about the tag breaking; it seemed almost impossible to even damage, but I refused to wear it out of disguise.

Hidden behind my stalactite, I threw all my debuffs onto the tempered worm. The difference was evident, as now some of the bites from the obsidian worm were breaking through, but not nearly as well as I thought.

A fully empowered [Erode] initiated from stealth gave a defense debuff of 100%, but that clearly did not remove all of the tempered worm's protection. After all, it would be immensely powerful if it included any additions it had made to its defense.

'I'm throwing random numbers around here, but if the worm had 150% defense, I probably lowered it to 50%.'

I initially thought it would be strange if I was already at the maximum potential of my debuffs when [Corrosion Magic] still had another five levels to go, and this made me think it would go beyond 100%.

Even with my debuff assistance, it didn't look like the obsidian worm would succeed. It was tricky to compare myself to regular monsters, but this made the gap between evolutions especially apparent. I began preparing some of my explosive needles with eager anticipation when I paused. I looked at my needle and then the sheer size of the damn worms.

'Right... Needles aren't going to cut it.'

Thanks to eating almost an entire ant nest, I had an excessive amount of slime mass, and the delicious meal before me would undoubtedly return any investment made with interest. Thus, I started upgrading from needles to spears while watching the two worms continue their wrestling match in the magma lake.

'It's too bad I don't have a profile for something more exotic like a harpoon. Perhaps I need to visit a coastal city next?'

The increased weapon size also gave me more room to work with. The design I finalized had a spearhead of [Acid Slime] and [Metal Slime], while the shaft replaced the former with adhesive [Cryo Slime].

I liked this design as I could readily replace the payload contained in the shaft depending on the monster, and I quite easily predicted these worms would be weak to Ice and Cold.

I alternated between iron and bronze for my metal choice, as I had no idea which was better. Then I mixed [Nitro Slime] into the entire creation and primed it. Happy with the finished product, I told my [Sub-Cores] to remember this configuration and set up most of them to handle the production.

'I'm tempted to throw in some [Bloodrot]... But if I ruin that harvest, I think [Dissection] will kill me. Not to mention, I'd hate to ruin the meal for myself.'

My blueblin form wasn't ideal for the rapid internal creation of my exploding spears, so I was forced to swell in size and latch onto the ceiling. I had all of my cores spread out as much as possible and was disguising myself as part of the ceiling with individual stalactites that each housed a core.

'I think this is the largest amount of slime mass I've ever pulled out and controlled at once. Actually... This is almost like an adaptation of what Gramps' emergency contingency did to save my life against that blade wolf.'

With my position secured and doing my best to blend in with the ceiling, I began my assault. The cores not assigned to production would join me in the firing line. With the element of surprise and my high trait levels, the dozen or so spears were launched and met their target with startling efficiency.

About half of those ricocheted off its exterior, and I had them detonated to avoid wasting the payload, causing a light splattering of [Cryo Slime]. Another half stabbed in but didn't make it fully inside, but they were in a perfect position to at least coat the worm after detonation. Finally, the remainder penetrated deep into the worm and unleashed their full strength.

The worm ululated in pain, echoing throughout the cavern, resembling an endless cacophony of gravel and metal being pulverized together. The other worm tried to take advantage of this momentary respite to land its own chomps into the foe but desperately winced away when it took in a mouthful of what must have been some residual [Cryo Slime].

'Come on, it's just a bit of cold slime, don't be such a baby! I'm doing all the work here!'

I kept firing spears and having them appropriately detonate depending on the outcome. Any that ricocheted hurt me on an emotional level, as it was like throwing slime away. Sure, I had the slime budget to afford this, but it still stung.

Things were going relatively well, although I noted that the obsidian worm was still flailing around like an idiot. It had taken one mouthful of slime; surely it wasn't that bad?

'Or... Is the inside of their mouth a giant weak point? Maybe their stomach can't handle the slime?'

I had attacked monsters in the mouth before, but seeing those rows upon rows of teeth made me shudder. I would not want to stick my tendrils in there, but perhaps I could make one accidentally swallow a slime bomb? Judging by the vast amount of lifeforce the tempered worm displayed, I might have to.