Apexus struggled against the closing mechanism of the Laghast’s jaw muscles. Sitting on the back of the creature, his fingers penetrated by the anglerfish-like teeth and his legs getting cut by the thorny-protrusions of its ribcage, the slime kept the boss monster down. The tentacles that were connected to the depth of its throat wrapped around Apexus’ hands in an attempt to pull them away. At the same time, Apexus tried to break the creature’s neck.

Before either of them could succeed, Aclysia kneeled in front of the immobilized boss monster and aimed the tip of her staff as closely to the wide-open maw as she could. The lantern dangling from the humanoid-creatures head quivered violently. Then a Sunlight Bolt evaporated the surface of the shallow water and flew into the mass of tentacles and teeth.

The magical energy seared the monster’s head from the inside out, killing it quickly.

“Found the path down!” Reysha shouted from elsewhere. That her voice was answered by a myriad of quickly approaching screams and gargles was neither surprising nor a mistake on her part. The other Laghasts on the upper layer were attracted to the fighting noises. One of them, still showing the less eldritch and blue-skinned base form before the Phase Mutation, appeared behind a wall of the labyrinth. It was sprinting as fast as its lanky limbs allowed it too and slithered across the watery floor to get around the corner. Approaching Apexus and Aclysia on all fours, it screamed.

The high-pitched sound was infused with a fear inducing spell and, for once, the two of them let their mind be overtaken by that. Towards Reysha, who held open a hatch of solid metal, the two of them ran. Not slowed down by the water, Aclysia arrived first and dived down through the hole, pulling her wings in to neatly fit through. Apexus overcame his fear when he was at the edge. “You first!” he insisted and grabbed the edge of the hatch.

Reysha opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself when a second Laghast entered her field of view. They had no time for disagreements. Her hands let go of the hatch. Immediately, Apexus could feel the sealing mechanism press against him. Reysha quickly circled around and jumped. The Laghast closed in, just as Apexus got ready to jump. It wasn’t easy, the second he relaxed the hatch would slam shut. He increased his body heat and his speed with it.

At the very last second, Apexus dove down the hole. The hand of a Laghast reached after him. Bones crunched and broke under the slam of the hatch. Screaming, skin shaving off, the monster drew its arm back. The screams of itself and its kin suddenly vanished when the gap closed completely.

Apexus was sliding down some kind of tube. It was similar to the end of the White Ice dungeon, but nowhere near as long. After only about twenty seconds of a steady descent, he emerged in ice cold water.

“LITTLE HELP HERE, BIG BOY!”

Reysha’s scream had Apexus get to his legs as soon as possible. Not that her voice was necessary to alert all of them to the massive white crocodile that chased after the tiger girl. The room was dark, hiding deep holes under the surface of the shallow, milky water. Apexus could distantly feel their presence thanks to the vibrations under his naked feet. “Light,” he instructed Aclysia, while charging at the boss monster.

Repurposing mana she had gathered for an attack spell, Aclysia conjured as bright of an Ilumni as she could. It was only at the same level as a torch, but it was enough to show the depressions around as darker spots in the water. At least, as long as she was close enough in the large room.

With the aiding light, Reysha managed to jump over a hole, rather than fall into it and likely meet her end between the massive jaws of the frost-exuding reptile. It tried to open its jaws again, but Apexus was in reach now. Wrapping his thick arms around the snout of the creature, the slime kept things shut. The opening mechanism of a crocodile’s maw was considerably weaker than the closing one, but it was still difficult to keep a grip on such a massive and powerful creature.

The surface of Apexus’ body would have started to freeze, had it not been for his continuous ramping up of the temperature. Steam started to rise from his skin, water and energy evaporating at a rapid pace to give the slime the boost in speed and power he needed to keep up with the crocodile’s thrashing.

Soon the layout of the room that would normally allow the boss monster to catch its prey became its undoing. One of its legs sunk away, tilting the entire beast and slowing it enough that Reysha could ram the hastily-drawn warpick into its side. The hit wasn’t as decisive as it had been on the first one of these monsters they had fought, but neither did it need to be. Again and again, between the thrashing of the boss, did she hit the creature until it collapsed dead.

The holes all around started to bubble. Getting immediately ready for another attack, the group kept an eye out for monsters. Source of the bubbling was the air that rushed upwards to take the place of the water that was now being drained away. The natural light in the chamber grew more intense, until the Illumni was entirely unnecessary.

Then they heard a loud ‘CLUNK’, as several gears in the walls started moving. Spikes shout out of the ceiling, which then began its slow descent.

“Fuck, this dungeon keeps us busy,” Reysha complained, as they looked around for a route to escape. Apexus was feeling the fatigue set in, as his body cooled down. He was visibly slimer, a chunk of his biomass having been sacrificed to maintain his elevated state. Even now he was losing water, the cooling down needing its time.

They didn’t need to guess what their escape route could be, only which of the holes was the most promising. At a moderate pace, they inspected the openings large enough for a human to fit into. The ceiling was a constant threat, but not an imminent one. Reysha took the time to leisurely put away the warpick.

“There is faint light down this one!” Aclysia shouted and dove down.

Apexus and Reysha waited. Because she could hover, the metal fairy was the ideal scout in this situation. “Soooooo,” the tiger girl looked her lover up and down and bit her lower lip in an exaggerated fashion. “You come here often, handsome?”

“Not if I can avoid it,” Apexus responded, with a worried look at the spiked ceiling.

“Really? ‘Cause I may have a whole lot more than three holes big enough to fuck if we stay here,” she purred, the sweetness of the tone clashing heavily with the grotesqueness of the words.

Apexus glanced at her with one raised eyebrow. “Another thing I would like to avoid. I like your body as it is,” he told her.

“Think of it though – omni-penetration.”

“That’s disgusting.”

Reysha laughed out loud and bowed over the hole, “I found the comfort limit of the slime monster, bubble butt!”

“That’s good?” Aclysia’s voice echoed from down the hole, highly confused. “Either way, it seems safe!”

“Good enough for me,” Reysha said and got ready to jump. When Apexus grabbed her by the wrist, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I reconsidered the extra holes,” he told her.

“Awww, so you DO want to be inside of me as much as you can,” the redhead grinned madly and turned towards him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I do like guys with a bit less body temperature and a bit more mass, though,” she said and then leaned up. They kissed.

When the tip of the spikes was about to tickle Apexus’ head, they jumped down the hole together, landing in a pool of lukewarm water below. It was clear and Apexus was quick to start drinking from it to make up for lost fluids. The walls were of the cobalt blue typical for the lowest floor.

Between the ceiling and the surface of the water, there were a good three meters. The pool itself was another three metres deep. There was nothing to the square room aside from the holes in the ceiling and the walls.

“Wonder what would have been down the other holes,” Reysha thought out loud, while holding onto Apexus. Having filled his stomach with an abundance of air, the slime was effectively a buoy. Since Reysha was only an adequate swimmer, she did like having something secure. Aclysia hovered above.

“We are not heading back up to check,” the metal fairy said.

“But bubble buuuuutt,” Reysha cried like a spoiled child. “There is food up there!”

“How would you even get up there?” Apexus wanted to know.

“You could carry me like the princess I am?”

“I can’t fly up there. The hole is too narrow. Not that I could even start from here,” Apexus moved his wings, more to stabilize his floating position than to demonstrate anything.

“Hey, Clysia, feel up for carrying me?”

“No,” the metal fairy shook her head. “You’re too heavy for me.”

“Oy, I’m not fat, I just have thick bones!”

“You have a thick skull, that’s for sure,” Aclysia retorted and both of the swimming members of the group laughed. It was rare for the metal fairy to have such an immediate comeback delivered in such an earnestly exasperated tone. “You can pull yourself out over there,” the metal fairy pointed at a number of stones along the wall that lead up to another hole in the ceiling.

Apexus and Reysha swam towards that wall, when the slime noticed another hole at the lower edge, far under the water. “…Would you protest the dive?” he asked.

“Why? Oh,” the tiger girl asked, then spotted. “Well, if you go first and report that it's not so long that I’ll almost drown, I’d oblige. I’m already wet.”

“I will trust your intuition, darling,” Aclysia said from above, even if she wasn’t too keen on getting soaked. So far, she had managed to only get pretty moist.

“Wait here,” the slime said and the dove under. Opening his mouth, he let most of the air escape, easing the sinking process. More climbing than swimming, he made his way through the tube. He emerged in a room with a circular pond in the middle. Quickly, he returned and reported, “There’s a healing fountain.”

“I would be in agreement to target that room first. Above is a simple continuation of the path,” Aclysia reported and so the decision was made. Reysha went ahead of all of them, partly because she needed air the most and partly because none of them wanted to repeat the Drowned Altar disaster. After her, Aclysia, and then Apexus surfaced in the healing fountain room.

“10 silver that we get attacked by Myrm again,” Reysha bet, while she started to strip.

“I bet against that,” Apexus said, thinking the chances in his favour.

They had been inside the Long Way for over two weeks now. By now, they were pretty used to the constant chain of events that unfolded whenever they left a safe haven. Each segment of the dungeon was its own gauntlet and the deeper they went; the more deadly things became. At the current depth, it was fairly common to face boss monsters on their path. That was, aside from the Laghasts that always were a threat when they moved through the upper layer.

“Do you feel comfortable stripping?” Aclysia wondered, looking at the walls. They were of the smooth, dark blue that betrayed that it was a one-way window. Anyone or anything on the other side could spy on them and they would never know it.

“Who the Hellroots would be this far in to sit on the other side of a wall and jerk off?” Reysha asked.

“A fair contention,” Aclysia nodded, somewhat hesitatingly. Logically speaking, the chances of another person even being able to survive inside the Long Way for long enough to go after such activities were unfathomably small. The food question alone made it downright impossible. After having convinced herself of that, Aclysia slipped out of her own wet clothes. They all put their adventurer bags far away from the water and spread out their clothes to dry.

Apexus inspected his with some worry. “Maybe I should continue without clothes,” he said, checking the many holes they had by now. The robe he wore to cover his chest was easily folded down and got out of harm's way most of the time. While his pants were usually safe in a similar fashion, his recent strategy of pinning down Laghasts had caused their spiked to tear all sorts of holes into the fabric.

“Not like we’ll run into anyone out here,” Reysha shrugged, herself naked. “Save for Myrm.”

“It is heavily advised that we keep our weapons close for at least thirty minutes,” Aclysia said. As dangerous as the dungeon was, it was also pretty fair when it came to warning signals. If they didn’t notice anything off relatively soon, this healing fountain would be as safe as most were.

“Thirty minutes… however long that is,” Reysha said and dipped her toe into the water.

Apexus looked around the rest of the room and the two exits. One was in the ceiling, another hatch that would allow them to ascend to the upper level. Wherever they could, they avoided those paths. Moving over the upper level, they had found out, allowed them to backtrack to earlier segments, while the middle and lower one always progressed in some way. They had no idea in what direction they were progressing, but they didn’t emerge at the same point twice.

Moving through the upper layer was only worth it in two cases: either the dungeon delver wanted to head back or they wanted to hasten towards the exit. Neither condition was true for the trio. They were content dealing with the ramping difficulty. Dealing with a dark labyrinth full of Laghast didn’t strike their fancy. Especially since they hadn’t scouted it out for long enough to confirm if there was more than them up there.

The other path was a simple corridor leading deeper down this floor. It seemed pretty standard, save for the continuous, deep blue smoothness of the walls.

“I need to plunder our rations,” Apexus said and opened their community bag. They tried to keep chunks of yesterday’s kills around for cases like this, where the machinations of the dungeon made the bodies inaccessible. For the sake of storage, the meat was drained and lightly seared with magic. Apexus preferred the taste of raw meat.

“Of course, darling,” Aclysia allowed him.

“Toss some over here!” Reysha demanded.

And so they took their break.