Four long whips grew out of the slime's body and flicked at Levi. I lunged forward and slashed my water covered sword before they could reach Levi. Unlike a metal blade, which would get stuck and rust in the slime, the water sword sliced right through like butter, severing three feet off the ends of the whips. The gooey chunks fell to the ground and instantly dried into green flakes that dusted the reddish ground. Without pausing, I twisted and cut off another two feet of the green whips before the slime could pull back.
The slime's mouth opened in a soundless roar and it shivered. Was it hurt, or just angry?
“Come on, Levi,” I said, holding my sword at the ready. “Let’s cut this blob down to size.”
The little blue snake hissed and sent a mental image of drowning the slime in lots of water and watching it slowly dissipate. So slimes could be killed that way too, huh? It was a lot easier for sure.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have enough water to do that,” I muttered.
I didn't even know exactly how much water I possessed. After all, I cultivated water essence and somehow it could turn into actual water. But I did know for sure that I didn't have enough to wash out a seven foot tall slime. Wait, I think it was a little shorter now? Was it only six and a half feet tall now? Score.
“So help me.” I jumped forward, closing on the slime fast.
The slime’s eyes narrowed. Dozens of thin cords grew all over its body and wrapped around the blob. In a flurry, the cords whipped out like a dangerous whirlwind, waiting to catch me up in it.
I skidded to a stop just out range and swung my sword, swinging in the opposite direction of the little green whips. Whip after whip encountered my water blade, the force nearly ripped the sword from my stinging hands, but I gritted my teeth and held on. Little green fragments flung everywhere, splatting the ground and my body. I couldn't stop all the whips – my sword was only so big. Pain vibrated from my shins and knees as multiple whips slashed my lower legs, leaving bruises through my armor. A particularly nasty one hit my knee hard enough to cut through my under armor and draw blood. Luckily it was barely more than a flesh wound. The blunt force trauma dropped my HP another ten percent. Damn.
I grunted and staggered back under the force of it all, feeling numb below the knees.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a thick, lightning quick tentacle snake out across the ground, aiming for my feet.
Shit! With the pressure of the whips against my sword and how numb my legs were, I couldn't dodge.
Just before the tentacle wrapped around my ankle, water slashed out and cut it off. Levi appeared next to me, welding his water like a floating sword. He hissed, attacking the thick tentacle over and over, cutting off chunk after chunk as it pulled back.
He glanced at my bleeding knee and narrowed his eyes. A small bit of water separated from his water weapon and flew over. It attached to my skin like a bandage and didn't fall off no matter how much I moved.
The cool water soothed the sting, and I couldn't help but smile a little. "That better be clean," I muttered, in good nature despite the situation. "You just use that water to cut a bunch of goo."
Levi rolled his eyes at me in an 'of course' manner.
"Thanks," I said. Was that a skill that only he could do, or could I do it too?
The slimes pulled back what it had left of the cords and rose high, squishing its body thin to grow over ten feet tall.
My eyes narrowed and I jumped up with all my strength. If I could cut off the top, it would do a lot of damage to the slime. As soon as I swung my sword, the slime suddenly flattened to the ground. Now three inches thick, it covered a twenty-foot area, the green goo rippling and shifting as it reached to erode everything.
I gasped, airborne with nowhere to land.
Levi reacted instantly. His water slid under him and lifted him into the air, hovering just over the green slime. He hissed to get my attention. Part of his water split and rushed at me, aiming to where I was going to land.
Determination burned in me, as I understood what he wanted. The spread of water wasn't very big – it was only going to fit one of my feet – nor was it very thick. But I chose to trust Levi. If he thought that little spit of water could prevent me from landing in the goo, then it could. I twisted and landed on it with one foot, wobbling horribly just twelve inches above the goo. I quickly regained my balance and swallowed my heart back into my chest.
Several goo sprouts rose up, aiming for my feet. I knew what would happen if it caught me. I'd be pulled down into the middle of the flattened goo and the whole monster would converge to wrap around me. If I didn't suffocate first, the acid would erode me within minutes. This terrifying trap was a common slime attack to unsuspecting victims, particularly in dark places. I just didn't think I'd run into it in the middle of a battle.
I gritted my teeth and thrust my feet palm down between my legs and thrust a Bubble at the reaching slime. The blast sent globs of goo flying, clearing a one foot area on the ground in the middle of the green cover. At the same time, Levi rose high in the air and came to me, evading the shoots that reached for him.
My lips pressed together as I took in the situation and a plan formed in my head. I couldn't balance here forever and I couldn't jump far enough to clear the death trap. Maybe I could use more water like the one I balanced on to make stepping stones across. But how could I use that to cause damage to the monster? Taking a chance, I cast Water Manipulation again. The first time I cast it, it only provided enough water to cover my sword. This water was the same amount now, about twenty ounces, just like what Levi was working with.
Not enough, I thought and forced more water to converge. The water expanded, growing until it was the size of a basketball. An empty pit grew in my stomach, like intense hunger, signaling that my water reservoir was empty. This was it, everything that I had. It was going to have to be enough.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The layer of slime below me was bubbling and rolling more than ever, getting impatient for me to fall off my water perch. It kept reaching up to drag my feet down. Levi jumped onto my shoulder. When I wobbled under the unexpected – albeit light – weight, he sent me an impatient thought demanding that I get my act together. He commanded the water he used to be on to cut the goo shoots for me.
Thankfully, it seemed like the trigger to the slime's trap was weight. The monster could converge right now, and cover me up to my neck, but it didn't seem to understand that. It was, after all, a brainless creature, surviving on instinct. But that didn't make it any less dangerous.
While that was happening, I took a page out of Levi's actions and divided my water ball into six, working fast. It wasn't easy maneuvering so many different components at the same time. The front of my head throbbed under the effort, but I refused to let it affect me.
The smallest of the water parts went down and flattened out so I could finally put my other foot down. The other five glowing water balls spread out, forming rings. Then I forced them to grow bigger and bigger until each one of them was almost two feet wide.
"Here goes nothing," I muttered and thrust my palm out.
The rings followed my order. They spread out, forming a straight line in front of me, spanning the whole length of slime. A stinging pain pulsed behind my right eye, causing me to wince. I ignored the pain and lowered my hand sharply. The rings shot down to the ground, cutting through the goo like cookie cutters. The blanket of slime shivered and writhed, but it couldn't do anything to break apart the rings. As soon as the pieces separated from the main body, all the slime inside the rings oxidized and turned to flakes.
I launched off my platforms and sprinted forward, hopscotching across the flaky patches. My heart didn't settle back into my chest until I touched ground on the other side. I skidded around, boots sliding over the compacted ground and took command of the rings again.
By now, the slime realized that its prey had escaped. The flattened slime bubbled and grew into the air. If it got too big, it would be harder to cut it apart. I quickly ordered my water rings to flip over and cut out more circles out of the slime. Levi followed my actions and used his own water to cut away at the edges of the slime pool. We only managed to cut away another twenty percent of the slime before it suddenly sprung together, leaking around the rings and abandoning the flaky green piles.
When the slime converged back in a blob mound, it was considerably smaller – only about five feet tall and it was missing forty percent of its HP.
My lips curled up. Good, we have the same HP now. It felt good to level the playing field.
Its angry face appeared just a second before the monster flung itself at me.
I activated the rings, curling them around and slicing off bits of slime wherever I could, leaving a trail of green flakes behind the monster. I dodged out of the way, but couldn't dodge the thick arm-like wedge that suddenly exploded out of the slime. Levi and I moved simultaneously, me swinging my sword and him cutting with his water, but we were both a second too slow. The thick wedge hit me square in the chest. My armor prevented it from stabbing through my skin, but the force was enough to fling me back several feet. The wedge splat to the ground, courtesy of Levi.
I staggered to regain my balance, coughing for air. Unlike the first time the wind got knocked out of me with the unknown horned monkey last week, my mind didn't dissolve into chaos at the feeling. In fact, the experience was becoming a common occurrence, since every monster instinctively went for the kill shot – the heart.
Unfortunately, the pain in my chest, coupled with the throbbing in my head from over exerting myself, distracted me enough to lose control of my water rings. Three of the five rings splashed to the ground before I could regain control of them. As much as it pained me to lose the rings, the mental pressure smothering my mind eased up considerably.
Levi slithered over and took control of a portion of the water before it could soak in the chapped ground. With a hiss, he flung the larger water blade at the slime. It cut along the side of the monster, shaving off a chunk.
The slime turned in Levi's direction, body bubbling and ready to attack.
I lunged forward and swung my sword, lopping off another chunk. The slime turned in my direction, redirecting its attack. I directed the two water rings to shear off more goo along the monster's other sides. The slime paused, as if confused on which way to turn since it was being attacked in all directions.
Suddenly the slime exploded, shooting out arms of goo in all directions, quick as lightning.
One arm punched Levi, flattening him right into the ground while his mouth opened in a soundless hiss, his pain screaming in my mind.
Simultaneously, two arms stuck me hard enough to shove me back three feet, one hitting my already heavily bruised leg and the other catching on my originally unhurt shoulder. Numbing pain vibrated throughout my whole body. My leg gave out as my sword slipped from my numb fingers. Another water ring splashed to the ground, leaving just one barely floating above the dirt.
In the corner of my vision, my HP bar flashed red and a System flashed. Ding! [Your HP has dropped to dangerous levels. Please seek medical assistance.]
Where the hell would I find that? My dazed mind wondered.
Levi's painful thoughts shifted to rage, shocking my thoughts awake. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him slash the goo that pinned him to the ground. It dissolved into a pile of flakes and he shot out of it like a blue arrow. His panicked thoughts converged into one thought for me. Duck!
I gasped, as a thick slime arm shot right at my face. I fell back, instinctively following Levi's words. Water flashed in front of me and spread out like a shield. The slime hit the shield and stopped. For the moment, there was a power struggle, the slime pressing against the shield, trying to break through.
No, I wasn't going to die here. And I wasn't going to lay here and let Levi protect me. I wasn't a little girl that needed to hide behind others any more.
I rolled to my feet and snagged my sword off the ground as I sprinted around the stretchy arm and at the slime. I slashed my sword, lopping off the arm as I shot the ring at the monster's head. The slime was so distracted by me, it didn't notice the water ring until it cut off the top foot of its head, leaving the monster standing at three feet tall.
Its face stretched into rage and it turned toward the water ring.
I gripped my sword with both hands and swung as fast as possible, directing the water blade through a series of quick cuts. Now that the monster was smaller, my blade could finally cut all the way through to the back side. Every time I swung, I took off a large chunk of slime, causing green flakes to rain down with every cut.
Levi joined me, flanking the monster and slicing at it with a venomous grudge. He seemed to think that it was insulting that such a low leveled monster actually hurt him.
The slime paused as if overwhelmed. I didn't give it a chance to recover, I simply continued to cut away at it. The more I cut, the smaller it got and more damage was done to its HP bar. The slime attacked with more whips, but its movements were slow and uncoordinated.
I skipped back out of the way of another attack, shot the water ring at the slime's head again. It sliced through the monster, taking off another six inches off the top and dropping its HP into the red.
"Ha!" I yelled and swung my sword down, slicing the slime down the middle.
The slime paused, its expression distorted with one eye on each half. Then both sides of the slime collapsed into the green flakes.
Ding! [Daily Task: Kill Two Monsters (1/2)].
Ding! [+115 EXP]
Ding! [You have Leveled Up!]
*****