Apexus only grew to loathe the desert more with every bare-footed step he took. The days were horrendously hot, to the point that the air itself wobbled and waved, as if exhausted. The nights would have been even worse, had it not been for the tent. So cold that even Aclysia shivered and that it gave Apexus his first idea what ‘freezing’ meant, it was impossible for them to continue walking through it. Instead, they huddled up together, under the blanket, and let the slime’s heat get them through the dark, chilling, night.

The lack of food was also a problem. There was nothing to hunt between oases. Nothing with enough meat to be worthwhile anyway. Even at those miraculous ponds, there was fairly little to sink teeth into. Instead, they had to rely on fruit from the palm trees. It worked well enough for Apexus, who could eat them, including the big seeds inside the firm body. For Reysha, it was an absolute nightmare. Only about half of the fruit was digestible, it was disgusting due to her Noir condition, and it stuck to her teeth due to the sugary, thick, consistency. As much as she enjoyed the desert itself, eating those fruits had her agreeing with the slime that they needed to get to their target as quickly as possible.

Luckily, the desert wasn’t too large. Even with the hassle of traversing the waving dunes, it only took them three days to arrive at the Myrm Nest dungeon. The entrance was a pillar of light brown stone that stuck out of the sand, with a large cave entrance leading underground. The decline started steep and only shallowed out when the entrance was a distant point of light behind them.

The Myrm Nest was a particular challenge for new adventurers and, despite being in the same level bracket as Myrlight and Verdany, was recommended to people when they had beaten those two dungeons first. In the words of the guide the group had purchased:

‘Myrm Nest is the first dungeon where the value of a dedicated support Class will seriously show itself. The surrounding desert means additional rations have to be packed in order to survive. While the water of healing fountains can be used for hydration after being boiled (or thinned out with regular water), the meat of dungeon creatures is guaranteed to create a hostile mana reaction. A support Class should have the storage to pack extra rations and the utensils to stretch them. Furthermore, Myrm Nest is a dungeon without natural light. While torches and basic light spells are readily available, carrying either in combat is not ideal. Relying on a support Class means that the combat Classes can fight to their fullest potential and keep their adventurer’s bags full of their equipment. Lastly, in the specific case of the Myrm Nest, support Classes come in handy because they, particularly Scouts, specialize in sensing dangers. Something quite useful when dealing with Myrm.’

While the trio that entered the darkness didn’t have a dedicated support, they were confident in their ability to get through with only the expected level of danger. The limitation on rations didn’t apply to them as dungeons were the environment for Apexus and Reysha to gorge themselves. The Noir condition was, at its basis, the integration of that hostile mana into the tiger girl’s body. That did cause its own disadvantages, but it also meant they would only run into the rationing issue if they ever went into a dungeon where enemies were entirely rock or some other kind of inedible material.

Raising his hand, Apexus let his fingernails emanate a steady glow, eliminating the need for a torch. A pace behind him, positioned between himself and Reysha, Aclysia conjured her Ilumni. While the spell wasn’t as bright as Apexus’ nails or a proper torch, a secondary light source was good insurance to have. The metal fairy was as close to their support as they had. Together, they eliminated the second hurdle of the dungeon.

As for the third, relating to the Myrm, the primary monster of the dungeon itself, Apexus had all the senses that would be needed to deal with them.

The slime walked along the right wall, keeping a hand on the rock and careful to have one foot firmly planted on the floor at all times while advancing. Although the slime had come to rely less on it as time progressed, his first sense was still much sharper than average. What Reysha couldn't hear, no matter how much she strained her ears, he felt as a hundred little vibrations in the walls.

“Watch out for holes,” Apexus warned. The rock was too firm for something to break through, at least the guide had said so.

“Roger that,” Reysha confirmed and gave up trying to hear anything. Instead she concentrated on trying to spot irregularities in the darkness. “Does it distract you if I talk?”

“No, I like it, but I might only listen to your voice,” Apexus responded, still concentrating on the tremors.

“That’s a way to say I’m blabbering vapid shit,” the tiger girl playfully complained. “I know you’re only keeping me around for my sharp knives, but I’ve a sharp tongue too, ya know?”

“What may be affirmed is that you know how to fence with it,” Aclysia stated.

“D’awww, I like kissing ya too, bubble butt,” Reysha let out a series of giggles. “Upstairs, downstairs, I ain’t picky.”

Aclysia looked over her shoulder and, drily, answered, “I was referring to your wordsmithing ability.”

“Nimble tongue translates into a bunch of good things,” Reysha continued to laugh. “I know how to get into pants and stay there. The trick is going up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right,—”

“Back!” Apexus shouted and quickly reversed the direction of his steps. Instinctively, Aclysia and Reysha pulled along with his command, the metal fairy hovering backwards and Reysha drawing her dagger. A group less in sync would have fallen over like a chain of dominos.

The slime had moved in time to avoid the strike of a creature that shot out of one of the walls. Massive, red-tinted, teeth clacked into the air. Quiet, but frustrated, the entire monster slid out of the wall and raised its head to search for the prey that had eluded it. The creature was of a light pink, the furless skin hanging loose and wrinkly on its pig-sized frame, while also covered in a sort of slippery mucus. Its raised head was simultaneously simple and grotesquely misshapen.

Their eyes and ears were tiny and barely functioned, only enough to make out the direction of the party. To compensate, its nose was quite large, extending above its mouth and four large incisor teeth. A stubby tail moved around when the Myrm audibly sniffed, its entire head wrinkling even more with each quick inhale. It turned on its four legs towards the group, having found their exact location from their scent. Saliva dripped slowly from its partially open mouth.

The Myrm carefully tapped forwards one step, sniffed again, and then suddenly charged. Apexus dropped on top of the creature. They were about matched in size, but the slime was heavier. Something that, as it turned out, didn’t count for much if one’s foe was lubricated beyond anything reasonable.

Apexus tried to grapple the naked, rat-like monstrosity, but it slipped out of his arms before he could envelope anything in a meaningful amount of acid. As a parting gift, the Myrm bit into the slime’s leg. Four teeth were all it needed to shear a piece of bone out of his thigh. It pulled back before the acid could hurt those iron-reinforced teeth.

Reysha threw a knife at the Myrm. While it did connect, the piece of iron only penetrated flabby skin. It wasn’t even a proper inconvenience for the Myrm, as it sniffed around some more and then decided to attack Apexus again. Slower than his assailant, the slime just let the enemy commit and spread out his slime in anticipation. That was until he felt more tremors under him, his priorities suddenly shifting.

“Left!” he shouted, trying to get out of harm’s way and assist the tiger girl that was about to get attacked. He wasn’t allowed to. Incisor teeth tore through his membrane as if it was wet paper and slid between parts of his ribcage, keeping him where he was.

Reysha, however, reacted in time. Out of a hole to her right, sides inverted due to positions, slid another Myrm. It burst out of the slimy tunnel with a level of speed its digging claws would have never allowed it to reach while running. Still, with the warning, the tiger girl twisted out of the way and even managed to raise her knife in the path of the creature. It sliced through skin, the second Myrm unable to stop its accelerated state.

Although the entirety of its length was cut open, the wound still wasn’t overly bloody. Not letting a single sound of pain be heard, the monster just landed a couple metres away. The excess skin continued to be a reliable shield. The mucus covering it only added to the defences, making the Sunlight Bolt Aclysia launched at the monster almost ineffectual.

“Fucking Hellroots, this is disgusting,” Reysha complained, noticing all of the goo that had covered her weapon and had been splattered over her clothing. “Your insides better be as delicious as you are fugly.” She discarded the dripping dagger by dropping it. “This is NOT the kind of slime I want around, on, or in me!”

“Fugly is not a word,” the slime she wanted around, on, and in her pointed out.

“Not the time, tentacle stud!”

Apexus would have retorted, but he was getting his neck separated at that moment. Losing most of his senses in one moment was a rather large inconvenience, making him reconsider putting all of them in the head area. Despite that, he felt all around good about the progress of the fight. The loose skin, great as it was for defensive purposes, made the Myrm rather dull on the sensitivity side of things. The entire time it had spent gnawing at the slime, he had flowed around it. Not to digest it, yet, just to dissolve the mucus that made it so hard to hold onto the damn thing.

Now was finally the time and Apexus gave the naked rat creature a deadly embrace. Surrounded by acidic slime, their speed difference was switched to his favour and the Myrm only realized that it was in a sticky situation when its airway was blocked. Now bereft of its only reliable, if highly acute, sense, all it could do was thrash around in an attempt to get out. It succeeded in breaking the membrane with its outstretched limbs, but Apexus didn’t let it escape his grip. A couple more minor losses of biomass wouldn’t matter, not as he was actively replacing it with the rat.

While all of that was going on, Reysha had switched her weapons. ‘If shallow cuts don’t do the job…,’ she thought, weighing the pickaxe in her hand. They had bought it as a ‘mercy’ weapon, but there was no need to confine it to that singular use. Charging at the Myrm she had cut earlier, she swung the double-headed mining tool at the creature.

And completely whiffed.

The top-heavy weight of the swing influenced the arc of her attack in different ways than she was used to. Having smelled her approach, the Myrm barely needed to move to get out of the way before immediately lunging at her leg. “RATS DON’T EAT CATS!” Reysha screamed, even while she rammed the tip of her shoe into the monster’s throat. The aggressive strategy (or reflex, as it was more aptly described in the instinctive fighting style of the tiger girl) paid off. The foot in between it’s jaws prevented the muscles from clenching.

Utilizing the head of the pickaxe as a blunt weapon, Reysha slammed the Myrm in the head and retreated in the ensuing daze. She tried to get back two steps with her usual grace, but slipped on a mixture of thick saliva and spread out mucus, landing on her ass.

The Myrm, for no reason other than instinct, turned towards the other source of unusual smells. Running at Aclysia, the monster was met with another Sunlight Bolt, which left it largely unharmed, and then a jab by the lower end of the metal fairy’s staff. A panicked and unsuccessful attack, Aclysia’s physical inferiority making her unable to put a noticeable dent in the monster’s momentum.

The maw opened. Incisor teeth parted and then closed again, penetrating the light metal the angel was made from as if it had bitten through an iron sheet. Aclysia cried out in pain, as the front half of her left foot was almost entirely separated from the back. If the bite had been just a little bit better placed, the entire foot would have been gone.

Before the Myrm could try to make that a reality, Reysha shattered its skull with an overhead swing of the pickaxe.