Chapter 17: The Black Slime

Tide tried to analyze the slime to see its name and level but was only give the monsters level.

??????

Mutated Magical Monster

Level 13

Hp ??/??

Made sense that Tide couldn’t see more about the monster. Even after gaining another two levels fighting the rest of the mother slimes, he was a full four levels behind the monster. Onyx had also gained a level bring him up to five.

Tide wanted to at the very least be at full strength when he went up against the mysterious slime. So, he began to spread out the ten stats he got from his level up. He added two stat points to both endurance and vitality to increase his survivability. The rest he dumped into intelligence and wisdom to help them catch up to his recently boost control stat.

Tide Blackwater

Lv: 9 (53%) [0 Stats Undistributed]

Class: Elementalist

Health: 350/350 (Regen 17/h)

Mana: 210/700 (Regen 70/h)

Stamina: 170/350 (Regen 35/h)

Vitality: 7

Strength: 5

Endurance: 7

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 19

Control: 20

Affinities:

-Earth: 7%

-Water: 4%

-Fire 2%

After finishing his stat sheet, Tide carved out a hole into the side of the cavern big enough to hide in with Onyx. Once inside Tide sat down to begin meditating. It would take roughly three hours to get roughly to full stamina and mana. Once he sat down and got comfortable, he semi sealed himself in the wall to hide. While he was meditating, he was defenseless, and a roaming slime could interrupt him.

Tide was glad he didn’t have claustrophobia otherwise he would have a panic attack with how small the space was. He added a couple of small holes to keep the air inside fresh and cool. Onyx who was also tired out, curled up on Tides lap spilling over his legs slightly.

Taking deep breaths Tide slipped into a clear state of mind and began to absorb the ambient mana from the stone around him.

Once his body was full to the brim with mana, he opened his eyes and freed himself from the hidey hole. He took a quick look around for any slimes that spawned and didn’t see any. Without anything else stopping him Tide made his way towards the cavern containing the black slime. He stopped at the entrance and summoned Pebble.

Tide took one more deep breath, and steady his nerves before walking in. This cavern was roughly the size of a gymnasium. There was a dim glow of light coming from some moss spread on the stalagmites and stalactites. Along with his torch Tide had plenty of light to see the ominous black slime on the right side of cavern. To the left there was a reservoir of stagnate cave water that reflected the low lighting in the room. Tide made his way to the middle of the room getting himself in the place with the most room to fight.

First, he summoned another earth golem with a minor amount of mana, which he sent up to aggravate the slime. The golem was about a foot tall and looked more like a large toy rather than combatant. Tide had it run up to the black slime and let out a punch. Of course, it landed without much power due to its small stature, but it seemed to not affect the strange slime at all. Even weirder was the crisp clanking sound the impact made.

This blow was enough to get the slimes attention who instantly retaliated. It fiercely lunged at the small earth golem and shattered it into pieces. It shot out at such a fast speed that rather than stopping after hitting its target it continued to soar across the cavern before shattering into the cave wall. The black slime’s impact with the wall was strong enough to send shards of stone flying.

This thing isn’t a slime it’s a fucking cannonball! Tide thought to himself. The scariest part wasn’t the force in which the slime attack it was that Tide couldn’t tell it was going to. It didn’t even give off the characteristic jiggle normal slimes made before attacking. The slime transformed from an inanimate blob to a deadly projectile without even a single warning sign.

Tide had a moment to regain his cool, while the slime removed itself from the crater in the wall. His normal fighting plan wasn’t going to work here. Looks like he would need to improvise. Tide desperate for more time to think of his next move sent Pebble out to buy time.

Pebble quickly stumbled over to the black slime and lashed out with a punch and much to Tides dismay the golem’s fist crumbled to dust on impact. Looks like the slime was impervious even to the normal sized golems attack. Pebble wasn’t scared of the black slime because without pause it lashed out with its other fist. The golem bound to Tides order didn’t give up and lashed out with its now stubby arms, until even those were reduced to dust.

Pebble stood there for a second confused on what to do next, before it began to slam its head against the black slime. The results were still the same and all Pebble managed to do was gain a new head shape. At that point it seemed like the slime was tired of Pebble antics and turned it into dust like its predecessor, before getting stuck in a different stone wall.

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Tide wasn’t idle during the time Pebble bought. He channeled his mana into his hand and began to excite it. Soon fire began to emit out of his digits and gathered into a sphere in his palm.

If it could resist the physical attacks from the golem, perhaps a magical attack would show some results. The fire’s intensity slowly built up. Soon, Tide was having a difficult time keeping it stable and Tide swung his arm like pitcher to send the crackling sphere of flames crashing into the black slime. The flames engulfed the black slime and obscured Tide’s vision. As the flames began to die down Tide was shocked to see that the slime was unaffected, with the only difference being that the slime was now glowing slightly red. Rather than perishing like Tide hoped the slime was just heated up, like an ingot of iron in a blacksmiths furnace.

In response the slime launched itself at him. Tide was watching for this and threw himself to the ground the moment it made its move. The glowing black slime soared right over him close enough to feel the heat it was emitting. Instead of hitting its target the slime flew across the room before landing in the pool of water behind Tide.

A loud hiss sounded throughout the cave as steam filled the air. At least it wasn’t hot any more Tide thought as he climbed to his feet and turned towards the water. Steam obscured his vision of his enemy, unable to see the slime Tide backed up trying to put more distance between him and the boss.

He only managed to back up a couple of feet before the slime shot out of the cloud of steam right at him. Tide once again threw himself to the ground this time falling backwards. Tide’s eyes filled with panic as the slime flew closer. This time it was almost double its previous size. He wasn’t able to fall to the ground fast enough to dodge the slimes much larger body. Flexing his back muscles Tide twisted his chest, causing the slime to crash into his shoulder rather than straight on. He heard a loud crack before he was sent twisting through the air spinning pain coursing through his body.

Onyx who was only a couple of feet to the right of Tide let out a growl and chased after the slime who continued past the pair. Onyx was furious that the black slime had dared to harm his master and rushed up to the slime and began to bite and claw at it while circling it. Onyx was trying to use its speed to confuse the slime. This strategy worked and the slime arced past the wolf crashing into another wall having missed the agile wolf.

By the time this happened Tide was able to stifle the pain of a broken collar bone and stood up. Panic could be seen in his eyes. Nothing they tried seemed to harm the monster, and it was larger than when they started. It must have absorbed some off the water increasing its size. He his hopes were dashed further as he noticed Onyx’s claws and fangs only caused the slimes surface to bend in slightly and didn’t cause any damage.

Tides eyes suddenly shot wide open having realized the slimes weakness. Onyx’s claws were pressing down on the larger slime which was now much more gelatinous.

Absorbing the water didn’t just make it large it also made the slime softer. The water diluted it’s the slimes metallic body making it softer and more elastic. That was the trick to this boss! If he could get the slime to absorb more water, then it’s defenses would weaken further. Tide scrambled over to the pool and sent a quarter of mana into the water.

The mana quickly began to integrate into the water causing a large bulge to form. As it rose higher the water's surface tension was broken the blob of water separated out of the pool and formed a pair of arms and a torso. Tide’s first water golem, disconnected from the rest of the water and squirmed onto the wet rocks next to him. Rather than having two legs it’s chest just tapered off into a point that dragged across the ground.

Tide didn’t know what it could do so he gave it the broadest order possible to let it help in the best way it could.

“Get the slime to absorb as much water as possible.” Tide said hopping the golem would be able to understand his intentions. A slight ripple spread across the golems surface, almost like it acknowledged the order. It then turned around back towards the pool of water slithering back over its surface. It’s lower body connected once again with the water. Now linked up with the water supply it raised one of its arms up towards the slime. More water was drained away as a water sprayed out of the golems hand. It arced across the room dousing both the slime and Onyx in murky cave water.

Tide was impressed with the golems capabilities and was excited to see the slime continuing to swell up as it absorbed the water. This excitement abruptly changed to horror as the water also caused Onyx to slip of the caves slick surface. This momentary stumble was disastrous for Onyx as it allowed the slime to land an attack. The impact knocked the wolf away causing Onyx to hit a stalagmite with a loud thud. Tide heart dropped as Onyx slumped to the ground not moving.

Anger erupted in Tide’s mind, but he had to remain calm. He needs the slime to absorb more water before he could do anything to the slime. Still, Tide had to do something as the slime was making its way towards the downed wolf. Quickly using a bit of mana, Tide had a fist sized stone float in the air before launching it at the slime. This did little besides gaining the slimes atention.

Now that it had absorbed even more water it was three times larger when it started. Its larger body was much less viscous than before, and Tide was able to notice a slight jiggle. His shoulder once again lit up in pain protesting as he rolled to the side able to fully avoid the slime as it went past him. He needed to buy the water elemental more time.

Now that its body was more consistent with a normal slime Tide was able to see the characteristic jiggle of the slime more and more. He dodged another attack and now the slime had absorbed enough water and was almost the size of a weakened mother slime. This was working, only a little bit longer and he would use the rest of his mana to squish the slime using two earth walls.

Right as everything was coming together, Tide made a terrible mistake. He went to dodge another attack, but his injured shoulder hit against the top of a poorly placed stalagmite. The intense pain caused by the impact made Tide’s muscles contract rooting him in place. The now four-foot-tall black slime now too heavy to fly across the room rammed his lower body.

The slimes tackle bent one of Tides knees inwards with a sickening wet crunch and cause his other legs shin to fracture. He collapsed to the ground with his stomach facing up. The black slime’s momentum brought it over Tides smushed body and rolled past him. Now unable to stand or even clearly think Tide spasmed on the ground. The last part of his brain not paralyzed by the pain made him bite his cheek. The new pain distracted him from the multiple broken bones riddling his limbs and ribs. For a moment he was able to regain focus.

He told the water golem to distract the slime which allowed him enough time to use his remaining good arm to prop up his chest. Turning his head Tide looked up in time to see the slime demolish the water golem as well.

It was all over. Tide thought to himself has he leaned further back looking at the ceiling of the cave making his peace. Despair was all that he had left. He was to blame for all of this. He got ahead of himself and tried to raid a boss before he was ready.

I only made it five days past the grace period. Looks like he was even worse off this time around. Tide’s thoughts continued to spiral into despair as he began to give up. As he was doing this his eyes locked on to a single drop of water falling from a stalactite above him. It fell right onto Tide’s forehead.

The cold cave droplet ran down his forehead and flowed into his eyes which lit up with renewed vigor. Tide scanned the roof of the cave and saw a cluster of stalactites dangling from the cave’s roof directly over the slime. Using every ounce of his mana Tide reached out to the spikes of stone and pulled down. A large crashing sound followed by a POP!

Tide’s eyes sagged as his vison went black, unable to notice the system windows popping up in front of him.