Sláine found them huddled around the rotting remains of a rat far larger than any rat she’d seen before.

The monsters themselves were similarly impressive, the smallest of the white maggots being at least as long as her forearm and the carapace-clad adults tallying in at half of her height. Their antenna twitched at her approach, though most of them seemed content to continue with their meal, either lacking the self-preservation instincts to flee from their exterminator or simply finding her to be so little of a threat that they didn’t care to run. Or perhaps they had complete faith in their guards? There were three of them between Sláine and the rest of the white, wriggling pile, heavily armored creatures whose heads reared up in attention at her approach. Spines jutted out of each of their chitin segments, and dribbles of putrid liquid spilled from their bizarre mouths, like… the top and bottom halves of their bodies had simply peeled apart to reveal teeth.

They scuttled towards her in tandem, and with a smooth arc of her halberd's axe-blade she cleaved the head off of the one on the right. The remaining two produced a vibrating hiss that sent flecks of strange spittle everywhere, and to avoid them she carried her weight forward in another step, dodging to the side of their hungry mouths.

[ Tunnel Mite Guardian has been slain! ]

[ Axe has reached Level 2! ]

[ Dodge has reached Level 2! ]

(Tune it out, she told herself. Block any distractions and focus on the task at hand.)

This placed her in between the two remaining guards and the creatures gathered around the corpse, which wasn’t the best position to be in, so she sought to change it with a forward charge and a sideways cleave of her axe. The skin didn’t split as easily as the first kill, the edge of her weapon embedding in one of its segments with a chink. Another hiss, this time the saliva hit her straight in the face. It burned when it touched her skin - getting in her eyes and blinding her momentarily.

[ Poison Resist has reached Level 2! But please be careful…]

(Handy, she thought. But ignore it.)

It was easy to predict that this distraction would be taken advantage of, so to compensate, she didn't retreat to recover like might be expected. Instead, Sláine switched her grip closer to the head of the axe-blade and threw her weight against it, slamming one of the monstrous worms against the other.

While her sight might be too blurry from the reflexive tears her body produced to clear her eyes, Sláine’s hearing still worked just fine, and she could pinpoint her opponent’s positions from their reflexive organic grumbles. Navigating around them again, she kept kept both at bay by using her axe as a makeshift barrier.

The bug with her axe still embedded in its side wriggled the most, only forcing the blade in further. Her muscles strained against it, keeping it in place, but Sláine did this kind of thing for a reason. She’d trained to do it.

Her eyes were starting to clear now, and gritting her teeth, she pivoted her blade back and threw her weight in once more to drive a greater hole into the insect’s armor.

A gurgle. She heard a splinter, a slosh, and felt the creature slump.

The second lunched at her, mouth split and rows of teeth exposed, and she could now see well enough now to properly thrust the spine of her halberd into the soft flesh of its maw. The spear at the top pieced the roof of its mouth, letting another rush of fluid dribble forth onto the ground. Sláine raised it up, its legs wriggling uselessly as it tried to make contact with the floor, then flung it down while shoving her weapon deeper into the vulnerable parts of its body.

[ Tunnel Mite Guardian has been slain! ]

[ Berserker Class has reached Level 2! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° New skills have been unlocked. Check your class menu for updates! ]

[ Gained Skill: Reckless Spin ]

[ Damage all enemies in a circular radius around you by throwing caution to the wind and spinning very fast. It really works, trust us! Chance to inflict Bleed status effect. ]

Huffing, she took a step backwards, retracting her bile-soaked halberd and trying not to be distracted by the odd messages as she took stock of the situation. The maggots now paid her some mind, and in the dungeon’s dim, ambient light, she could see them crawling towards the edges of the tunnel - or, namely, the larger holes formed within the unknown material covering the tunnel’s walls. Sláine changed her stance, constructing an action plan on how to prevent their escape, when something occurred to her.

Where was Red, exactly?

Two things happened in a quick sequence. One - Sláine felt pain shoot up her leg as a row of jagged teeth sank into the exposed flesh of her thigh. Growling with pain, she looked down to see that mite #2 - the second one she’d thought she’d felled - still had some life in it and had taken advantage of her distraction. And two - before she could react, a spire of crystal shot up from the shadow beneath its body, piercing its midsection and suspending it in midair as the structure reached for the ceiling.

Sláine took the opportunity to aim at one of the gaps in its carapace, properly cutting the creature in twain.

[ Tunnel Mite Guardian has been slain! ]

The problem of the maggot group was solved by similar means. From the shadows lingering at the sides of the tunnel, the edges of a dome burst upwards, covering the group and then constricting inwards. A musical tone covered up the crunching squish of whatever was happening beneath that bubble, and when it dissipated, all that was left was a pile of corpses and an oozing sludge that reflected the dull light.

Oh - and an acrid stench that burned the back of her nose, but she could deal with that just fine.

Given the vibrancy of her hair color, it was pretty easy to spot Red now that she actually wanted to be seen. She strode forward, arms crossed, and Sláine gave her a slight nod of acknowledgment.

Her response was much less sedate. “I know you’re not really used to the whole teamwork thing, but I think even the Dungeoneering 101 kids know not to run ahead of the rest of the party. I am really not in the mood to keep saving your ass,” she wagged a finger at Sláine before pointing down at her injury. “And I’d rather not waste resources treating your dumb mistakes.”

“There’s no need. It’ll heal shortly enough.”

“…Huh?” Red said, her tone incredulous, and she turned the leg towards her to offer proof.

“My people are very sturdy. Flowers grow over our wounds, sealing them, protecting them, and causing them to heal at a highly advanced rate.”

[ Poison Resist has reached Level 3! ]

Sláine refrained from smiling, even as the notification supported her point. Though she did wonder - if she was starting out building every [ Skill ] from the ‘first level’, how was it taking into account the things she already could do without training? Hm.

“Huh! Well, would you look at that!”

Red crouched down to get a better look. The curve of her mask was mere inches away from the oozing wound, watching as the flowers bloomed from it before her very eyes. The spiked, dome-shaped heads and dull purple petals of her lineage’s blossom soon stemmed the blood flow, and after about thirty seconds, all that remained of her injury was a smattering of coneflowers whose spacing matched the tunnel mite’s teeth.

Even that would fade in about a day. Only the most grievous of injuries - the sort of thing that could end the life of a being with a lesser constitution than hers, like a human - would leave lasting marks.

That was the gift the Root had given her people in their quest to face the world.

“Cool. Guess that explains your stupidly high [ CON ], then.”

Red stood, and Sláine shrugged vaguely at her. Obviously, it was nothing special to her. “The strong survive; the weak do not. Everyone who has managed to stay alive in this broken world has some kind of trick.”

“Yeah, but most people don’t got instant rejuvenation and…” Red drew a line in front of her with her palm. She seemed to be looking at something. “Poison cleansing, awesome. More antidotes for me. You know, most folks wear, like… armor to prevent them from getting all venomed up, but I guess you don’t have to worry about that, huh?”

“There isn’t much metal in my homeland.”

“Plenty of metal here,” Red countered, and Sláine shrugged again.

“I’m used to fighting without it.”

“Ahh, the laissez-faire attitude of those with cheat skills! I’d be jealous if you weren’t an impulsive moron.”

Sláine had a brief internal debate about the pros and cons of challenging her statement. On the upside, it’d satisfy her pride, and she had her own logic to fight her with. But that also seemed like a lot of effort, and the woman felt little need to prove herself to Red.

The scattered bits of exoskeleton crunched beneath Sláine’s heel as she turned to continue on. She didn’t hear Red follow her, and she didn’t particularly care to find out why.

Regardless, she made it clear soon enough. “You aren’t even going to stop to collect the loot?”

She couldn’t possibly imagine what she’d want from those corpses. “If there’s something valuable there, you can pick it up, right?”

Sláine’s voice echoed slightly in the damp tunnel. She didn't stop walking; the slight buzzing she could hear in the distance meant there was far more prey to be had. Maybe after she’d satisfied herself a bit more, she’d try to figure out how to activate that ‘menu’ the message had mentioned, see what her new ‘skills’ were. But for now?

She trusted her own abilities.

“…Wow, you know what? Fuck this. You may be totally invulnerable and blithely unafraid of death, but I’m not, so…”

Red’s tone bit into her, and Sláine paused, realizing that maybe she had crossed a bit of a line there. She was even just about to apologize when she heard a splitting crunch from behind her, like splintering wood overlaid the muffled puff of dried leaves being hit with a rake.

In the dim corridor, she saw Red with her boot planted deeply in the strange structures the bugs had left behind. Sláine opened mouth formed into a question, which Red preemptively - and quite cheerfully - answered for her.

“Tunnel mites communicate via sound, and their hives are basically giant vibrating membranes built for carrying the taps, clitters, clacks, etcetera that they use to chat with each other. Knowing that - and knowing you weren’t even gonna be a teensy bit quiet - I’ve been using magic to make it hard for them to notice us, but…”

Red kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest again, then a third time for good measure, sending a flurry of dusty particles up into the air each time she did so. “I’m really not into unappreciated work, so thanks in advance for the paycheck, and have fun!”

With that, she was gone, her form snuffed out as she vanished entirely into the darkness. Sláine thought briefly back to her encounter with her earlier in the hall, along with how she was almost certainly able to teleport, and figured that her apology would have to wait.

After all, she could hear the buzzing grow more fervent, and Sláine was grateful for the sourceless light filtered through the air as she stood alone there in the hall.

>> Get ready for a fight.