Let’s kick this chapter off with Diana’s status, since I didn’t really show the status last time, did I? Well, here you go!
Name: Diana
Race: Human
Age: 17
Class: Slime Virtuoso Lv 4/25 Exp: 50/1150
HP: 19/95
MP: 37/82
SP: 51/84
[Strength]: 34
[Tenacity]: 30
[Agility]: 33
[Intelligence]: 33
[Dexterity]: 34
[Mentality]: 35
[Endurance]: 32
[Wisdom]: 32
[Longevity]: 9
[Skill Points]: 16
{Skills}: [Slime Valley: Lv 4/10], [Knife Mastery Lv 2/10], [Slime Magic Lv 4/10], [Assassination Lv 2/10], [Alleviation Lv 1/5], [Cooking Lv 2/10], [Internal Mana Manipulation Lv 1/10], [Bubble Magic Lv 6/10], [Slime Mend Lv 1/10], [Slime Army Lv 2/10], [Energy Burn Lv 1/10], [Danger Perception Lv 1/10], [Beast Taming Lv 1/10], [Polearm Mastery Lv 3/10], [Slime: Corrosive! Lv 2/10]
{Magic}: [Slime Magic Set]
{Titles}: [Slime Queen], [Conqueror of Slimes], [Soul Conqueror], [Dungeon Crawler]
Ooh yeah~, look at that nice stat boost man! Her stats are above 30’s now! Does that make her strong now?!
Sadly, and scarily, yes. The new advancement to [Slime Virtuoso] sure gave her a great boost in both power and skill! It’s kinda scary to witness, really…
That aside, her HP was down to 20%, and advancing with that kind of HP is never a good thing, in game, or in real life! She didn’t have any Estus Flasks on her, so that’s a bummer. And there ain’t any bonfires anywhere close either!
The only thing close to her was the door leading to the next room, which had a magic circle inscribed on the floor. It was most likely a teleport spell, just like what brought her here in the first place!
But! That can wait for later. Right now, she’ll need to heal up first. She wouldn’t want to go into another boss fight with this kind of HP.
So, with her [Slime Mend] active, she created some slime and coated it around her body. Oh! Also on the topic of [Slime Mend], despite its name, it isn’t actually a healing spell. It was close, but slight different! Instead, it was a ‘Regenerative’ spell, which allowed her to regen faster, to put it simply.
For battle, this skill was…meh, really. But for stationary healing like this, it sure was a great help! And with the added bonus of [Alleviation], her HP regen just skyrockets!
Anyways, time to regen some HP!
‘I wonder how Rei and Crystal are doing…’
………………………
To answer that thought, let’s first begin with what’s happening on Crystal’s side. Just like Diana did, Crystal faced against the second trial, the large blue minotaur. The same one as the one she fed corrosive slime…Yeah…
Diana beat the trial and was now resting, and just like she did, Crystal too came out victorious. The difference laid in the fact that it was, One, a [Flawless Victory], and Second, it was also, very, very brutal.
Alright, here’s the rundown on how it all played out. Just to note, all of this took only 10 seconds. Put that time in mind as you read on!
Just like Diana did, Crystal teleported into the room, and instantly met up with the second challenge that is the [The Great Demon Minotaur]. It roared and immediately charged at her with its fists loaded with mana.
Then, she sent two [Phantom Blades], to slice off the guy’s two legs, causing him to tumble down and slide across the stone floor. It cried out in agony as it attempted to rise back up and return to the fight. Only to find out,
That its surrounding was completely dark.
Without even a chant, Crystal casted countless numbers of [Phantom Blades] around the minotaur, so much so that it looked like it was surrounded within a dome of pure darkness.
With a snap, all the blades moved and impaled the minotaur at the same instance, causing a split second of pain before the minotaur’s life went flying back to the heavens. Alright, and there you go, battle’s over.
[Brutality!]
So now, with nothing left to do, Crystal headed for the teleport circle, and vanished. Alright, next up, let’s look at Rei!
………………………
“*Chomp!*…Yummy.”
………A…Ahem…As of now, Rei was…having her ‘lunch’. I…I don’t need to explain what’s going on, do I?...I-I do? Well…
J-Just like the others, Rei was separated from the rest and was faced with the same old [Great Demon Minotaur]. Its eyes were glaring red and mana was rippling all across its skin. Ooh~, how scary~
This time, the first one to act was not the minotaur, but Rei, as she leaped from her spot at Mach speed! A single punch was sent to its gut, before it went flying back and crashed into the wall.
She closed the distance in an instant, and began clawing at the crying beast, using her small yet sharp claws to slash and tear apart the minotaur. It was crying actual tears of blood, but Rei didn’t care about any of that sh*t and continued to rip the poor guy alive.
After about 13 seconds of constant pain and agony, the minotaur finally succumbed to its wound and died. She was 3 seconds behind Crystal, but holy sh*t was that fast!
But she didn’t stop there, and…started to…eat, the minotaur. From head to bottom, she ate…the whole thing. She even ate its two large horns which itself could probably withstand getting hit by a modern-day truck. Gah-, that’s a terrifying scene to witness…
After her ‘Meal’, she wiped off the blood on her face with a satisfied smile and walked towards the teleport circle, and teleported away.
She would probably fit really well with some of the other ghouls back in Tokyo…
…………………….
Alright, the jump cuts are over, time to focus back on the main protagonist!
Heh? Where’s Slimey and friends you ask? Well, they’re……Eh? That’s right, where are they? They didn’t get teleported to the boss battle, that I know for sure, but they’re not waiting at the third challenge either!
Actually, Slimey wasn’t even in the catacombs anymore! Did the teleportation circle take him away so that she couldn’t and have a companion to aid her?
The answer? He was brought to a different challenge. I won’t explain more, but just leave it to your imagination! It’s not very important to the main plot.
Anyways, it’d been about 3 hours since she beat the minotaur, and she’s now ready to go! After she tore away the slime from her skin, she put her clothes back on, took up her small iron wand, and stepped into the teleport circle!
A flash of blinding light enveloped her, and the next thing she knew, she was back in the same room from before! The one with many skulls and bones littered around the walls! Yay~, she definitely did not miss this place!
Ooh, Crystal and Rei were already waiting too!
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“…Diana, slow.”
“H-Hey!”
“What took you so long, dumbass?”
“I-It wasn’t that long!”
Hey! She wasn’t as strong as these two broken ass characters, alright? #plznerf2018
That aside, the big trio was now reunited, and the door leading to the next challenge was open! It’s time for the third challenge!
“Ooh, it’s a puzzle!”
Yep! You heard that right! No battles, the third challenge will be a puzzle! This could be quite fun! Fun, if your meaning of fun is trying to finish a hard ass puzzle by decrypting little hints and trying to put that into context.
And the first thing they see, was a sign filled with words she couldn’t read! Yay~, the writing looks like moon runes or something~
“Umm…Crystal, can you, uh, read it?”
“Ha? The f*ck? Can’t you read it yourself?”
“Umm…No?”
“………What the f*ck? I…You’re-, ugh, whatever. It reads, ‘The path is brought by a torch, as the remnants of what was once lost ignites once more. The ashes of the fallen shall rise again, as the flame blazes alight. The light returns as the hands of time move by.’ There.”
Hoo, boy! Now that’s one interesting message to put on a sign! No doubt that this was a hint for what to come, so she should probably take mental notes about this.
And…There! All noted down in her imaginary N-Gear! Aside from the sign, there was also a clock in the room, and also a path, the most likely led to the next area. The clock was out of juice, both hands stuck at the number 10. Alright, note that down.
Alright, everything has been mentally noted, time to move on to the next room! With that, they headed through the door, and-
Found themselves in the exact, same room as before.
“…Eh?”
It was the exact same room! Same interior, same wall ‘decorations’, same floor, and same sign-, wait, no. The writings on it looks…different. Oh! And the clock’s missing too! Guess this is a different room!
‘Teleportation…Awesome.’
Putting aside Crystal’s odd internal thought, yes, what just occurred was actually teleportation! The door they went through actually didn’t lead anywhere, but the instant teleportation made the illusion that these two rooms were connected.
“Crystal, read it!”
“I’m not your f*cking trans-, whatever. ‘The fading light of the torch burns towards the setting sun, illuminating the incoming darkness. The wolves howl towards the stars as the moon rises. The flame of the torch fizzles away.’ It says.”
Hmm…Okay. Noted down! This time, there weren’t anything else of interest besides the sign itself, so the hints were probably only on the sign.
Time for the next room!
Just like before, the next room was the same as the previous, but the sign seems to tell something different, and there was also an inverted shield hanged up on the wall, alongside the many other skeletal ‘decorations’ of course.
“Crystal!”
“Yeah, yeah. ‘A being bound by time, I am not. Obtuse, I am not, reflected upon the Night. I watch on, as the sand continues to cycle, following and followed by the hands of time.’
Woah, that was more…symbolic than she anticipated. Nevertheless, note that down, and…done! Alright! Next up is the inverted shield, but there’s nothing else to it, so, yeah. She’ll just remember how it looks, just in case.
Okay! All’s done and good, time to advance to the next room!
And through the door, the next room, was different! There were no signs, no cryptic hints, no shields or clocks, and no bones! Hooray~!
This was, the puzzle room!
But, holy sh*t, was this place huge! Much bigger than the three rooms before this one! Well, that’s great! Since there were a lot of things put inside this room, and-, what the heck? Is that a giant hourglass?
Okay to simplify it, here’s a list of what she could find after looking around: A statue of the head of a wolf, several rotatable mirrors, a stone table that housed a picture-matching puzzle, an unlit torch, a crystal shaped like a star, a picture of the sun hanged on the far right of the room, and, yeah, the giant hourglass.
Okay, just, before I start narrating this…Hoo, boy~! Haha! This is chapter be one hella hard chapter to write! Heads up, I suck at making puzzles, so…yeah! Oh, god…Haha…Haha, oh, why am I doing this to myself…
“Just get on with it already!”
Haha, yeah, yeah, sure thing! Ahem…Phew…Okay.
From what she could see, there were several different puzzles in this room. One, was the obvious picture matching puzzle on that stone table right there. From what she could see, it seems to be a picture of the inverted shield from before. This one shouldn’t be too hard.
Next, was the wolf head statue thingy. Its mouth was open, and there was this barrel coming out from the inside. Most likely, it was a cannon or something, and she was supposed to fire it at the star. Problem was, she couldn’t rotate the head itself!
And that’s where the mirrors came in handy! The cannon was already pointed at a mirror, so that’s an obvious hint. She’d probably still need to correctly rotate the mirror so that whatever this statue would shoot out would bounce around and hit the star! Simple stuff!
But, there comes another problem. How does this thing shoot? There seems to be a rope hidden under it, and there’s a small hole on all four sides, but they’re too small! She can’t even fit her pinky finger in!
And that hourglass…Actually, she didn’t really know what to do on that one, so she’ll leave that one be for now. She’ll just come back to it later.
Well, alright then! Team, roll out!
Okay, here’s how the plan will go. Crystal and Rei will first do their best to align the mirrors so that they would lead the cannon onto the star, while also finding a way to light the cannon, and also possibly how to also light that unburned torch over there.
Since she didn’t even know if that hourglass had anything to do with this puzzle challenge, she tasked herself with the one remaining puzzle, the matching puzzle!
To explain further, this puzzle required her to spin the many layers of the puzzle to finally match and create the picture. Obviously it ain’t that easy! Spinning one specific layer of the puzzle would result in spinning two other layers, so, yeah! This was gonna be tough!
Oh, and by the way, there are 20 LAYERS.
If you still don’t know what it looks like, just look up that Uncharted: The Lost Legacy matching puzzle on YouTube, you’ll know immediately. That, and make it 14 times as hard.
But, she won’t back down! It may look insane, but her heart was feeling oddly excited at it. No, not because she might lose her mind and she was looking forward to it, but because it felt genuinely fun to find out the solution!
“Time to get to work!”
“Be quiet, moron.”
…………………………
“’Cause everythin’ that makes me whole, belongs to you, I’ll give my heart and soul~…I’m yours~”
“Holy sh*t, be quiet!”
“…Chill.”
“You shut up too!”
The situation was, surprisingly pleasant. Rei and Crystal was constantly arguing over which mirror should look where, while Diana was in her own world humming the lyrics to a certain anime opening as she continued to rotate the many layers to the puzzle.
Seriously though, this thing is like an onion! There’s so many pieces to it! Not saying that she’s ever eaten or even peeled off an onion, but I digress.
Right now, she’s gotten about…a quarter of the whole way. The first five most inner layers of the rotating puzzle’s done, just 17 more, and she’d have gotten herself a home run! And the puzzle’s also steadily getting easier as she finishes more of the layers. Long story short, she’s got PROGRESS!
Oh, on a completely random note, while Diana’s busy working on to solve this puzzle, she’s also having some fun with her [Bubble Magic], which caused Crystal to become even more annoyed than she already is.
[Congratulations! [Bubble Magic!] is now Level 7!]
Ooh, random level up! Nice! On that note, she wondered what kind of cool rewards she would get once she maxed out this useless party trick. As of now, all this magic could do was create bubbles. Oh! Could she then infuse Hamon like Ceasar did?! That’ll be so cool!
Hmm…Maybe she’s getting too ahead of herself. How about being able to do a Bubble Beam, like Vaporeon can? That’ll be nice too!
“Aha! Another one completed!”
Alright! Another layer done, time to move on to the next layer!
On the other hand, Rei and Crystal…have made some progress? I guess? Crystal kept on complaining over which mirror needed to face where, while Rei just followed on with what her mouth had to say.
Honestly, these two make a bad team. Well, it’d only been about 25 minutes, so them not making too much progress wasn’t that bad. It’s just Diana was just making too much progress in that small time span. Suppose that training she had with Rei helped out, maybe? I won’t specify what the training was, but I’ll just say this, it was very…unconventional.
Let’s say it helped Diana…widen her perspective.
Also, Diana was still confused as to what the giant hourglass puzzle was. Heck, she didn’t even know if it was a puzzle or not! Hmm…Maybe she was missing something…Oh well, she’ll just think about it later. She needed to finish this matching puzzle first!
-2 hours later-
“Going on and on~, I continue, circling, with nothing but my hate, and this paralysing agony~. And slowly I forget~”
“Oh my god…she just, won’t…ugh…”
“…Chill.”
As of now…Well, nothing much has changed really. Diana was still working on the puzzle while singing, or humming, can’t forget humming, or playing with bubbles!
Meanwhile, just like before, Crystal was still looking ever so annoyed by Diana’s happy attitude, with Rei by her side casually saying “…Chill”, which ticked her off even more.
Oh, right. Progress has been made, baby! She’s now down to the last 8 outer layers! Hell yeah~! Well, that’s still quite a bit to go, but, PROGRESS!
And also, since Diana was getting slightly annoyed at seeing Crystal and Rei battle it out, she told them to take a rest, just to cool off their heads before they jump back in. And…it worked? I suppose? Crystal was still complaining though…
And, that was how the situation was pretty much. Nothing too major was happening in this scene, since Diana was just fiddling with the puzzle and trying to complete it. So, yeah! The F.O.E hasn’t respawned yet, sorry~
“Glassy sky~, above~! As long as I’m alive, you will, be part, of me~”
“Shut up, moron…”