Alex didn’t understand what had happened. Strangely enough, after Blub had spat on the girl, she didn’t seem to feel any better at all. On the contrary, she suddenly went limp, as if she had just taken a lethal dose of tranquilizers, her head hanging, her bottomless azure eyes glazed over, staring into the void. Alex broke into a cold sweat. Had she died? How was that possible?

Suddenly the green Blub became covered in an icy crust. Alex didn’t even have time to react and help the familiar before it exploded. Shards of ice shot out in all directions, and miraculously, Alex managed to dart to the side and fall to the ground. A glittering shower of ice fragments flew across his face, their sharp, jagged edges shining like knives.

Alex followed the white cloud with his eyes. His breath caught in his throat. One look was enough to realize how close he had been to being pierced by the flying ice. Just a moment ago, he could have been skewered by it, but a dead rat at his feet had shielded him from the shards. It was like a living shield bristling with icicles.

“Damn it!” Alex couldn’t hold back a curse as he vented his frustration. His nerves were at the breaking point. “And Blub died again! How long can this go on? I don’t have an endless supply of Essences!”

Cursing, Alex tried to relieve his stress. It was a banal but effective method — he tried to replace the incomprehensible and the terrifying with the familiar and the common. He rephrased magical concepts into ordinary complaints about lacking Essences. Oddly enough, these clichéd complaints reminded him of home, family, and the everyday life of a poor student. It almost worked. But just as Alex was about to calm down, the System interrupted him with a new message:

Do you wish to activate the technique ‘Tower’? Yes/No.

Alex looked at the girl in horror.

“So I really killed her?” A pang of guilt pierced his heart like a shard of ice, but Alex pushed it away decisively, along with the remnants of drowsiness induced by the girl’s call. “It’s her own fault. Why did she mess with my mind? She zombified me, so she got what she deserved.”

All Alex could do now was to give the girl a second chance at life, albeit as his familiar. Well, at least she was a powerful monster, judging by the piles of corpses around her, and that persistent call suggested that she had telepathic abilities.

“Yes,” Alex said quietly.

Congratulations!

You chose your third familiar! The Queen of Frost will be your loyal companion forever!

Number of familiars: 3/3.

The illusory Tower with black walls and a single arched window materialized above the coffin. The girl’s slender body shone unbearably to eyes accustomed to the dungeon’s darkness, and a fountain of light shot into the Tower. Alex wiped away the tears and took a step back. There was a loud crunch underfoot, then another, but from a different place. Suddenly, the thawed, icy floor beneath his feet collapsed, revealing gray stone beneath.

The blinding light faded, and Alex looked around. The empty coffin was sinking, and its thin sides began to melt rapidly, like snow under the June sun. The walls of the cave also glistened with moisture. It was disturbing. Alex imagined huge chunks of ice breaking off and falling on his head.

Shaking his shoulders, he hastily popped a Rat’s Heart into his mouth. He immediately checked his stats. His Endurance had increased. Well, he'd take the risk.

The third familiar appeared in a form Alex hadn’t expected. There was no trace of the terrible wound on the girl’s body. Her long, beautifully braided hair cascaded down, barely touching her shoulders. Her beautiful face was no longer contorted with pain, but her expression was haughty and commanding. What Alex had certainly not expected from the System, however, were chains. Faintly glowing scarlet links shimmered in the folds of her frosty blue dress. The heavy chains encircled her slender arms and legs, hung from her swan-like neck, and cinched her narrow waist like a belt. Massive black curls dangled from the shackles as the girl tried to look around. The Queen of Frost was as stunned as Alex.

“You damned soulcatcher!” She hissed suddenly. “From the beginning, you’ve come here to make me your slave! To subjugate my powers!”

Her huge, glowing eyes radiated such fiery rage that the ice on the walls must have melted even more. Alex was taken aback by her sudden outburst.

“Really?” He replied. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“How? Your slime spat on me!”

“The Healing Slime, mind you,” Alex remarked.

“That’s even worse!” The monster growled, confirming Alex’s suspicion of her vile character.

“And why is that worse?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Why? It killed me! A Common Slime couldn’t have done that!”

“I know nothing, I was under your hypnosis,” Alex shrugged.

His calm demeanor seemed to infuriate the Queen even more.

“You won’t enjoy this for long, insignificant wizard!” The girl with the strange name of Queen of Frost didn’t listen to him. “You think you’ve won? No, you fool! I’ve stopped maintaining the ice. Your chains have cut off a lot of my potential,” the girl said, her voice echoing with coldness and a gleam shining in her eyes. Alex shivered involuntarily. Somewhere in the distance, a crack sounded and the ground shook. “Do you hear that? The ice is melting! It’s the end for you, spellcaster! You’ve outwitted yourself! Die, you wretch!”

Her icy blue eyes shot a scornful look, and suddenly the Queen of Frost disappeared.

“Hey, can you do that?” Alex shouted. “I haven’t freed you!”

How could the Queen leave without his permission? She was his familiar, wasn’t she?

He still had enough Endurance to bring back the angry Queen. But he decided to let her cool off alone in the tower, since she seemed quite angry and unpleasant at the moment. He could understand her: it was no pleasure to die spat on by a slime. Let her stay alone in the Tower and calm down, then they would discuss how to continue living side by side.

He had to act quickly with the information he had received. The ice was melting and the powerful monsters would soon be released. The only choice in this situation might be to escape from the dungeon. But how?

His thoughts raced through his mind.

Meanwhile, destructive transformations were taking place all around him: tremors ran through the stones hidden beneath the ice; cracks snaked along the white walls, widening with each passing moment; a shower of white crumbs rained down.

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A new deafening crack shook the cave. The icy shell crumbled from the walls, and from the underground depths came a long, low growl. The thought what giant lungs could have produced it sent a shiver down Alex’s spine. Certainly nothing less than that Boeing Slime...

Alex wanted to punch himself in the forehead. Of course! Boeing! A plane! A flight! He lifted his head to the round hole in the high ceiling — the exit was at hand. But the Slime had burst like a bubble. How much time had passed? Where was the damn timer?

Alex fumbled with the rolled-up windows. He kept opening the wrong ones. Ah, here it was!

Your familiar perished.

The familiar can be resurrected in: 8:34…8:33… 8:32…

Required component: Corpse of a Magical Slime.

There were plenty of dead slimes here. But there were no familiars left. Marshmallow and her army were gone. The slime had exploded like an artillery shell. The Queen of Frost was sulking and had somehow managed to vanish without permission. In other words, Alex was all alone against the monsters.

“Very encouraging,” he muttered and stepped away from the melting coffin towards the wall.

In the center of the hall, he could be easily surrounded, so it was unwise to stay out in the open. But he was afraid of being crushed by a falling chunk of ice.

On the way, Alex grabbed one of the frozen slimes. Straining, he lifted the icy corpse onto his back and made his way to the wall. Minutes felt like hours.

6:22... 6:21... 6:20...

Everything around him roared and shook. Alex sank to the ground, pressing against the floor. His hands gripped the frozen slime, fingers burning mercilessly from the cold. Throughout the cave, the icy layers crumbled like falling cards. White smoke from the shattered ice covered the coffin, and it disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“Damn Tower!” Alex muttered. “Why this stupid time limit?”

A wall a few yards away cracked loudly, and the smooth, thawed surface shattered into huge ice blocks. Slowly, a gigantic centipede emerged from the crack. Alex’s eyes bulged. In front of him, the creature wriggled into the cave, its body the size of a train. It had a disgusting head and elongated body. The creature moved on dozens of legs that resembled bent spikes. It climbed another wall, still intact, towards the blue sky. Fear gripped Alex’s chest.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. From the other side, another monster burst through the ice — a rat, no smaller than a tank, scurried into the snow-covered cave as if returning to its burrow. Shaking its head, and fortunately unaware of Alex, it hissed at the centipede, fiercely and maliciously. Had it found a worthy opponent? Well, that would be great! Alex wanted them to fight each other while he tried to escape this zoo.

But the stream of guests didn’t stop there — a colossal slime crawled in, the one that could fit a Cargo Boeing. Alex’s soul sank to his heels.

“Are you kidding me?” He whispered. “Couldn’t you have sent someone smaller? You shouldn’t send bosses to me!”

5:59... 5:58... 5:57...

The merciless seconds seemed to taunt him. Clutching the frozen slime, Alex tried not to move. The ground shook, every movement of the giants around him sent stones bouncing. On all fours, he turned toward the colossi, ready to stand up and run if necessary.

The giant monsters moved toward the center of the cave. The rat had already dug the coffin out of the rubble and was sniffing it like an empty trough. The centipede ran along the wall. It seemed to want a taste of the coffin as well, but it was afraid of the rat. Meanwhile, the slime shied away from the centipede. In return, the rat didn’t care about the centipede, but kept a wary eye on the slime. As a result, out of mutual fear, the creatures refrained from the fighting that would undoubtedly bury Alex in rubble.

3:21... 3:20... 3:19...

Alex’s hair had been standing on end for a long time. He wanted to reach into his pocket, take the mirror shard and check if it had turned gray, but now wasn’t the time for such nonsense.

Screams and gurgles echoed from the clefts. Streams of monsters poured into the cave: rats, slimes, and probably various species of centipede. They weren’t as massive as the first trio, but each member of the horde was clearly stronger than Blub or Marshmallow. It was a gathering for high-level beasts; small fry had no place here.

1:12... 1:11... 1:10...

Anything could happen in one minute, so Alex decided to spend it on a prayer. Right now some flying monster would be of great help to him. It would grab him and carry him to the sunlit surface. Why not? If there were giant slimes and centipedes here, why not find some normal-sized monsters?

0:21... 0:20... 0:19...

The three giants froze in the center of the cave, and their armies spread out around them. Some of the rats were already sniffing and pointing their noses in Alex’s direction. He was shielded by the debris of the walls, but it didn’t hide the smell. A six-foot rat with a huge black nose turned toward Alex. The monster emitted a searing heat, turning the ice beneath its paws into a puddle. Alex hid deeper behind the rubble. This rat was clearly accustomed to fried food, thanks to its advanced pedigree. It even cooked it itself. Alive. But the rat didn’t approach Alex yet. Instead, another one, blue-furred, crawled slowly towards him. It kept glancing at the giant rat, unsure if it was allowed to do so, but the smell was too enticing, and so the monster came closer. It was only sixty feet away from Alex.

0:03... 0:02... 0:01.

At last!

Alex leaned against the slime beneath him. Where was the list of familiars? Ah, here it was. Blub’s darkened line didn’t react immediately, probably due to nervousness.

Do you wish to revive your familiar? Yes/No.

Yes!

The frozen monster transformed into a bright ball, as weightless as a fluff, and flew out the window of the emerging Tower. Alex was already scrolling through the line with the resurrected F-rank familiar.

Choose the development direction for the Common Slime.

Flying Slime, of course! And now, the second evolution!

Choose the development direction for the Flying Slime.

1. Floating Slime.

2. Heavenly Slime.

3. Slime-Stingray.

System, are you kidding me? Alex grabbed his hair in pain. If it was gray, it wouldn’t matter now because he would just rip it out! What kind of names were these? Did a Floating Slime fly? Or did it just hang on rising air currents? No current, no flight? And a Heavenly one? Did it fly, or did it just admire the heavens? And Stingray? It was a fish! Fish! Where did a fish come from in the third level of a Flying Slime?

The blue rat ventured to lunge at Alex, its furry body spraying melting ice in all directions.

The stunned man was slow to react, noticing too late that the blue rat was quickly approaching him with its elongated jaws and shining saber-like fangs. Alex screamed, recoiled in terror, chose at random and summoned the familiar.

A beam of light from the mark on Alex’s hand made the rat recoil in fear. The monster flattened its ears, trying to gauge the danger. In front of Alex, a crimson stingray appeared, like the fish of the same name, but instead of being flat, it was convex and voluminous, with a horn on its head. But most importantly, it floated.

The blue rat turned away from the slime, as if it considered it just another monster among the many in the cave. It lunged at Alex again, leaving claw marks on the thawing ice. Without thinking or hesitation, Alex jumped directly at the stingray and grabbed its horn with both hands.

“Fly!” Alex shouted.

“Blub!” Blub echoed, suddenly jerking upward like a helicopter.

The rat’s jaws snapped at thin air, its triangular teeth making a sharp clattering sound. Its long, clawed paw managed to graze Blub, and while the slime vibrated all over, it didn’t lose any speed.

Below, a furious clamor erupted as the hordes of monsters beheld their fleeing prey. They roared, thrashed, and howled, raising a cacophonous chorus of voices, occasionally punctuated by long, solitary screams. Turning, Alex saw their twisted, hungry muzzles. They wouldn’t try a tasty human!

When Blub emerged from the shaft, Alex couldn’t help but laugh. He was safe! The dungeon was behind him and there was no turning back. It didn’t matter what trials awaited him on the surface. The yellow mold, slimes, rats and others were all in the past.

They flew higher and higher. The blue expanse of the sky felt unfamiliar after the granite caves and the ever-present rocks above. Alex’s head spun from the dizzying peaks. There were cliffs, boulder-strewn slopes, bottomless chasms, and below them a snow-covered forest. White tree trunks shimmered in the sunlight.

“Descend, Blub,” Alex ordered, as the slime seemed intent on reaching the sun itself.

They landed at the edge of the forest. Alex jumped off the slime’s smooth back and found himself at a small, solitary tree with exposed roots clinging to the bare rock of a cliff. The forest behind the tree was alive with sound: a monotonous, low rumbling, the sporadic thunderous, bird-like chatter, and the crashing of falling trees. So it was also dangerous.

Alex sighed and rubbed his frozen nose. What should he do next? Go forth and fight against high-level squirrels? There was no point in even trying to take on something stronger. The huge slime had made that abundantly clear.

A window flashed before his eyes:

Attention!

It’s time for the first Major Arcana Council!

3... 2... 1...

Everything went dark before Alex’s eyes, even the blinding snow. The next moment he found himself in a completely different place.