III.

The slime towered over them as they backed away. It wobbled and waved. Folds of its mass undulated over themselves into a swirl of cyans and greens. The creature's body contorted in smooth and odd angles but it maintained its size by extending and shrinking in a rhythmic pile of goo.

"Audrey?" Madoka asked. Should they run? There was nothing but trees and a ridge behind them. In front of them, a massive slime and the crater it came from.

"Well, I don't have a plan," Audrey checked her surroundings. If Madoka had the time to recount all the times this girl did not have a proper plan for things, she would be uncomfortable with the results of her tally. Audrey beamed with a terrifying curiosity. "What a big guy you are, huh? How does an acidic slime work in this world? Is there something it can't melt through? Do you think it's hiding as a big lake from something more dangerous?"

"Focus," Madoka growled. Something inside of its gelatinous mass stiffened and shattered. It was preparing to attack them!

The slime bubbled and something hard burst from its side directly at them. Madoka moved to shove Audrey out the way but she was surprised that the girl dodged already. The attack was headed her way. She should be focused herself, she determined as she narrowly dodged it. A limb of gelatinous mass stretched below her as she jumped. She immediately noticed how high she leapt. Was this the work of Audrey's magic? Or was this her own strength now? Through its translucent turqoise surface, Madoka saw bones crumpled within it.

If it has a skeleton could she slay it like a regular creature? Madoka drew one of her Esmerald swords mid air and prepared for a dive attack. Either way, Madoka gritted her teeth. I will destroy it! She swore.

Air rushed across her face and knocked her hood off as she descended. Her sword felt little resistance as she cut through the slime. Did I get it? Madoka hesitated for a second. The slime oozed and she heard a slick noise as the half from where she cut slid off the bottom half. Madoka leapt back to avoid it. She saw cleanly cut bones in its center as well. They were not a part of it, she realized in horror. They were animal and human bones!

Her sword felt light in her hand. Her vision seared. Pain erupted in her grip as if she was set on fire. The sword was melting and so was her hand! Madoka screamed as the flesh on her hand began to become consumed by the slime.

"Madoka!" Audrey yelled. "Get back! It's moving!"

Right, if she were to succumb to pain now she will die. Madoka did not want to see that afterlife again so she rejoined Audrey. She clutched her hand and chastised herself for that foolish attack.

"Oh, shit, your hand!" Audrey shrieked. She took out a talisman and breathed in. Those familiar green strands wrapped her hand and sealed her wounds. "So I guess slicin' it won't do."

"T-Thank you," Madoka swallowed her embarrassment from the wound and pulled out her other sword. Her new robe's sleeve was burned completely off. Sorry, Lady Saze, she apologized to the clothing shopkeeper in her head. "Careful, it's moving again!"

The slime bubbled as both sliced parts she cut recombined and seemed to be unharmed by her strike. Madoka steeled herself as she watched its body swell. With a rumbling burst, its body erupted gelatinous coatings of itself that splashed everywhere. The two dove for shelter behind one of the massive trees surrounding them as chunks scorched and melted the forest grounds. Audrey and Madoka peered back at the slime. It rampaged and shook out more acidic artillery but still remained near the crater where they disturbed it.

The whole area became more dangerous by the minute. Madoka stepped over craters of crawling slime which left scorch marks in their puddles as they got a bit further away. Plants and trees dissolved as the monster recovered its missing bits. She guessed that they were unable to split and act separately. The monster slime seemed to use some kind of magic to heal its missing bits.

"Is this what you call a boss fight?" She wondered aloud. With a defense like that her weapons were useless, Madoka thought of her first sword that melted. The slime washed off her flesh like it was mud in the rain. She was lucky Audrey could cast Substance magic strands.

"I guess," Audrey looked up at the top of the jiggling mound. "Maybe it's an elite mob!"

She prepared a spell but then lowered her hands.

"Blasting it to pieces would be no good, those little things would split up and rejoin back into the big guy. Plus this whole place will become a wasteland if I scatter it everywhere. Can you hear any thoughts from it?"

Madoka shook her head. Focus, Madoka calmed herself down. She did not hear any thought from the jelly. Was it intelligent like a person? Or was it simply resisting her abilities?

"Do you hear that?" Audrey turned to see what Madoka was looking at. The tree's thick trunk began to burn through its center and the rupturing twist of its ancient bark crunched in Madoka's ears. A large solid spike of slime pierced the trunk right between them. "Get back!"

Madoka made sure she was clear from its stabbing attack and the tree they hid behind fell as the tentacle withdrew. She caught a glimpse of the slime's elongated and flattened form as she dove from its deadly attack. The spike withdrew from the tree and left big blue tears in its wake.

Audrey screamed as the tree shattered to pieces. Madoka scooped her up and leapt onto the high rocky ridge, dodging more of the splashing tears. She lost track of where they were. The field was nowhere to be seen through the thick forest. She felt a tug on her arm so she set her princess down.

"What a frustrating monster," Audrey complained. "Normally these things are, like, low level mobs in video games. But this thing is huge and deadly!"

"Bid... Game?" Madoka scanned the woods for movements. "You got any ideas now?"

"Well, let's see," Audrey paused. The look in her eyes did not inspire any confidence in Madoka. "It's made up of some kind of hydrofluoric acid. It's highly corrosive but it can't dissolve those bones. Let's try this!"

She jumped down in the open and Madoka sensed the monstrous slime launching another spike at her.

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"Watch out!"

Audrey seemed to have a plan as she dodged in anticipation of the attack, narrowly avoiding the projectile. The blue goo hissed as it splat against the rock. With both hands, she cast a spell. A wave of heat pushed itself against Madoka's face but the slime was hardening! Mysterious white powder rained on the slime's mass from her spell. Eventually the tangled glob ceased its writhing.

"Smash it!" Audrey channeled more heat. The slime's azure glob stiffened to match the hue of the rocky high ground they stood on. Got it, Madoka gripped her sword and prepared another dive attack.

The slime's spike was shattered like a fallen vase. Its pieces were sharp but her sword did not melt and they did not try to coalesce back into the slime. The heat spell worked but the main body went into a frenzy, stabbing at everything in a radius. The pair of girls retreated back to the rock and observed it. Did it really feel pain? The slime writhed and split itself into the form of a cage. Within its exposed center, a glowing red sphere hovered and glowed even darker as it skewered more terrain.

"Hmm, that must be its core or whatever but man! Hygroscopic solids do numbers on this thing," Audrey mused. Madoka gave her a look. "Okay, back when I was a kid on my old life I poured salt all over a little slug in the park I went to... It dissolved into goo and I felt really bad... Not my proudest moment but—"

She pointed her fingers together and looked guilty. Madoka did not know what a slug was but she pictured a much smaller version of the slime in her head. Audrey still shifted her feet but the maid focused again. Was she going to make the slime dissolve?

"That thing is far from little, Audrey," Madoka closed her eyes. The sunlight reflected off of the surface of the slime as it destroyed everything in its injured rage. She was still sweating from the princess's strange spell. "Do you think it will hurt more people and the forest if we don't kill it?"

"Yeah, it'll definitely cause issues if we let it go," Audrey prepared her magic again. Her core flared to life and those brilliant stars shined brightly even through her robes as they orbited along the bands of her heart. Wait, that must mean...! Madoka stepped back. If her core is visible that means she was preparing a big spell. "Containment Magic: Salt Blast!"

Salt? The air suddenly grew hot around Audrey. Sweat beaded down Madoka's forehead from the effects of the spell. A small white beam pointed from the princess's index finger at the slime's core. Magical particles gathered more and swirled in a disc before the two of them.

No they were not mana, she thought as she squinted at the white specks. She realized that the particles were tiny grains of salt! She did not have the time to ask before Audrey's magic rings flashed. The two discs immediately expanded into a massive ray that blasted at the slime.

"It's attacking!" Audrey yelled. "Hold onto your butt or something!"

The slime countered with a beam of its own goo. The collision shattered in midair as salt and slime tore the ground below it apart. Madoka could not look at Audrey since her core was too bright. The salt pillar continued to pile against the slime while she dug her heels into the rock as the spell intensified.

She braced herself as acid slime threatened to splash on top of her. Audrey roared. Madoka watched the white beam pierced through the slime's jelly. It was hardening into rock! She immediately sprang into action. Since the salt made a rocky bridge from the slime's spike, she figured even at the long distance she could charge into its core and destroy it. She leapt up onto the solid salt and started her assault.

"Madoka?" Audrey questioned but her voice was already behind her.

She prayed to the kind gods Audrey would not run out of her magic. The slime was quite the distance away so she kept her eyes locked on its next move. The gelatinous mass struggled and shuddered as parts of itself were becoming petrified by Audrey's spell. Madoka felt the rock crack beneath her feet.

The slime was still undulating beneath the rock like crust or a shell. She nearly lost her balance. It was a long way down if this "bridge" shattered. She was halfway there already! Rock dust and salt crunched beneath her boots as she rushed. The heat gusted her hair back and made her grip sweaty. Madoka growled and scraped for any hope or determination she had left inside her.

A quarter of the distance was left!

The flesh around its exposed core puckered then shot three bolts of acid at her. The slime must have sensed her approach! The tentacle beneath her rocked as the chunks hurled towards her. Madoka cursed and leapt as far as she could. The slime was closing itself to hide its core!

"You're ruining our peaceful copper commission!" Madoka screamed as she swung her sword in order to cut through the slime's defenses. She braced herself to be melted by the oncoming layer of acid but instead she found herself crashing through a dusty wall.

Audrey's salt magic managed to petrify its body just in time so the maid was able to break through. A disgusting brown mass awaited her as she careened downward. It pulsed like a loud heartbeat. A burning sensation crept on Madoka's skin but she knew what she had to do. She shall silence it!

She plunged her sword within the glob.

The next thing she knew she was tumbling through dirt and tiny coarse white sand. A familiar smell invaded her nose as she lay there. Madoka has not smelled burning bodies since she left that battlefield in the winter. Horror matched her pain when she realized she could not move anymore. Her flesh was melting!

"Madoka!" called a voice. "You got it! You freakin' got it!"

"You're insufferable," Madoka breathed but Audrey was too far to hear her. The pain was eating her skin down to bone. Emerald mana strands weaved her wounds and a gasp escaped her mouth. The pain was not there but she felt like she was supposed to feel it. The only remnants of her burns were the charred holes in her cloak. She pat herself and realized that only the cloak was destroyed.

"I think I'm getting the hang of Substance magic!" Audrey sat next to her fallen maid. "You were so cool, Madoka! The way you leapt and took that thing's core out!"

Madoka reached and squeezed a thigh. The princess squeaked. Her arm was not burning from the rune. That surprised her but she sat up and tore her cloak off before resting her head on Audrey's legs again.

"M-Madoka?!"

"Is it dead?" Madoka croaked. She stared up at her princess's eyes. They were shining azure orbs hosting magical skies of their own. Without her, she would have been a melted pile of flesh and bone like the skeletons within that slime.

"Well, yeah, you totally beat it," Audrey stammered. "P-Please let go of my leg."

"O-oh, sorry," the maid released her grip. The softness left her hand and she missed it already.

Audrey looked over towards something. Madoka followed her eyes to see what she did. A large pearlescent sphere impaled by a sword rested in the wreckage of collapsed pillars of salt. What was once a massive hill of turquoise slime was now reduced to shattered rocks and ashen chunks. The bridge Audrey created collapsed and the white powdery wreckage plastered the tall forest trees and littered the floors. They have won the battle despite all the damage they caused.

"I don't know what these are made out of or how many charges they have but this seems to hold up well," Audrey glanced at the talisman in her grip. "I just have trouble keeping track of you when you try stuff like that. I'm sorry you got hurt."

"I-It's fine, princess," Madoka got up and coughed out hot salt from her mouth. She was also covered in coarse minerals. Bits of white rocky chunks rolled down the ledge she leapt from while some of the slime's petrified remains crumbled down into the crater. She could hear flowing water still.

"It's Audrey," Audrey looked away. "Say, do you hear that?"

"D-Don't tell me it's another slime," Madoka retched and coughed more salt and sand out. "I think I can't fight another one."

"I think we're good for now. Here, Madoka," Audrey cast a bubble before Madoka for her to wash her face and drink. She did and spat out water. Audrey examined the core and pulled the sword out of it. "That core is deactivated, for sure. Could this be its brain?"

The two waited for the slime's remains to come back to life but nothing happened. Audrey manifested her portal and pushed her back into the core. Madoka stood by, snickering at the girl's struggle. The object was twice her height and embedded into the ground after the slime collapsed.

"Gah," Audrey sighed after she tried to shove the unyielding core into the portal. "I worked out, I fought a dragon, I crossed a mountain! Blah!"

She prevailed and pushed it out the crater it was stuck in. Madoka was impressed. The maid caught her princess as she nearly tumbled after the core rolled. And in a quick moment, the sphere vanished into nothingness. Madoka had no idea what Audrey planned with such an object but she did not ask. The flowing water did not cease its peaceful currents from a distance below them.

"Deactivated a slime's core, rolled it into my portal," Audrey sighed. "We can add that to the list of great things we've done so far. Say, did you get any XP from defeating it?"

"Ex... What?" Madoka followed Audrey to the crater.

"It's a, ah, joke, Madoka," Audrey kicked a pale blue chunk of slime down the crater. Madoka saw the source of the flowing water and heard the hardened slime plop in its current. "That's the source of the water. The thing was sitting on the actual lake the whole time."

"What's that?" Madoka pointed to an opening buried further where the lake pooled water in.

"Holy moly, it's a hidden grotto!" Audrey leapt down and skidded along the crater's slope. She caught her footing before the maid could yell at her. The water reached barely above her feet but got deeper further in. "There's still daylight! Let's explore! Come on, come on!"

"Audrey, please don't jump headlong into a hole anymore," Madoka skidded down with her. There were no thoughts coming from around them or within the lake's grotto. Instead, a foreboding darkness greeted them as they peered into the hollow's maw.

"Heh, I still got magic ready," Audrey pulled two swords out and handed them to Madoka. "And now you got two swords out of the nine or so we had left. We're good to go! Ready?"

Madoka gulped. The grotto did not seem like it extended far below the earth but she could not resist the temptation of following her princess into its darkness.

"You're an idiot," Madoka sighed. A flash of fire sparked above Audrey's finger as she held it up like a torch. The blonde haired girl stopped and looked back at the red haired maid.

"I know," Audrey laughed but her smile erased itself after seeing Madoka's expression. "You can return to the fields or to town if you want."

"And why would I go without you, Audrey?" Madoka demanded. "Why are you determined to go in there after we did all of that up there?"

"Something in there is calling for me, Madoka," Audrey's magic torch cast a shadow on her dark look. Madoka's heart sank as she knew the implication of the princess's words. "It won't take long. Trust me."