Chapter 7: Sneaky slimes "Slimes? Really? A slime dungeon?" George complained as the party gathered together after clearing the first room. "It could've been worse ya know" Harry replied, "Could've been one of them undead dungeons. Heard those are spooky." "I'm glad that it's a slime floor, with the bonus, we'll all be well on our way to level 7, maybe 8, after we're done here." Jones finished, indicating to the group to start moving again. Reviewing the short encounter it self, Jones couldn't help but feel proud of his party. They had faced tougher fights than the one they just had while traveling to Lityus but the fact that they couldn't get a contract there for the last few weeks had made all of them start to doubt their skills. The fact that everyone was able to coordinate as well as they did even with all of the ambushes went to show that all of their training at the village hadn't gone to waste. Thinking back to those gruesome days when the elders had trained the five of them from dawn to dusk, he couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. They had been able to escape those monotonous times but none of them took their training for granted. By the time they had reached Lityus, without any adventurer classes as well, the group had already realized the importance of what they had been taught. The fact that none of them had realised this before leaving caused everyone, especially Jones as he led them out, a deep sense of shame. Yet, having come this far, the brothers couldn't simply go back. Even with all of the setbacks, they still had the hope that they would all grow strong and their road to that dream started with this dungeon. Lethe continued to watch as the group returned to their formation and went into the tunnel. He was eager to see if any of them would be grievously injured with the ambush but he doubted any of them would perish here. The party slowly trudged down the curving passage, the light from the small bobbing rob barely covering the walls and a part of the ceiling. As they passed the midway point, Lethe braced himself for the fight he knew was coming. And within the span of a few moments, he watched transfixed as the [Stone Slime] attached to the ceiling released it's hold and attempted to envelope both the [Hedge Mage] and [Acolyte]. Due to the large surface area of the slime and it's stone membrane, the bubble shield of the [Acolyte] had only managed to knock him down and couldn't repel the slime at all. As the other 3 watched slowly in horror, the [Hedge Mage] broke a small bone and instantly cast [Flare] without having to waste time with the chant, while yelling, "AMBUSHHH!" Furthermore, being so close together, the [Skirmisher] tried slashing at the stone membrane while the [Shieldbearer] instantly rushed at the mob intent on freeing his party members. The encounter soon devolved into a mini episode of chaos as the melee combatants attempted to free their comrades, both of whom had curled up in on themselves on the ground, which Lethe assumed would help protect their vitals. Meanwhile, each strike of the rusted blades and wooden shield managed to dislodge a few pieces of stone from the slime, as if it was a 1 meter hollow boulder. Being a slime though, even encased in stone, it wasn't heavy enough to stay rooted to its spot and was soon knocked back by the combined efforts of the melee combatants. As soon as it was far enough away from the curled up duo it had trapped, the [Trapper] released his arrow, which started gathering green motes of wind suspected mana around itself and propelled into the stone membrane of the slime, directly hitting it's floating core. A brief pause followed before the Aline's core shattered from the force of the arrow and the monster sank into the ground, eventually despawning and leaving behind a few pieces of copper and a round smooth piece of hardened stone. Even after the monster melted away, the party continued to have their guard up for a minute or two, before finally relaxing after noticing that nothing further attacked them. Jones eventually got up off of the floor, dusting himself off and helping John up as well. "Well, glad we stayed alert hah!" Jones stated to the group, a speck of anxiety and fright in his voice. None of the others spoke up or replied to him, still maintaining their caution as if something would ambush them from the dark. "That slime was made of stone Jones. I think this ain't just a slime dungeon." Harry said, clutching his bow and arrow loosely. "Didn't even know slimes could stretch that thin!" "It is a dungeon slime. The ones we had out in the boonies wouldn't have even been rank 1." "How about you grab the loot Harry and we head on through. It's still floor 1, so I doubt there will be more of those. Make sure the light is high enough to show the ceiling and walls and just gotta stay careful." Jones said, indicating to the loot and the floating orb of light. As the [Trapper] returned with the loot, the party once more headed off, this time much more alert and cautious. Soon, they came upon the ledge leading to the second room and the mage sent his ball of light forward to scout the area. "There's another one of those pools in the middle of the room." Jones stated. "The first ones were hiding in them. I'm sure a few others are hidden here as well, so expect surprises." Jones edged to the end of the ledge and looked down. "We can't just jump down from here either but looks like the dungeon ain't that evil, we got some vines we can use to climb down. George, ya go on ahead with James and keep watch. We'll follow on through after things are clear." he finished after which the others nodded and followed through. Lethe continued to watch with both pleasure and mirth as the party split up for the first time. He was pleased that his mobs so far had managed to instill a sense of caution in the group but the lack of significant injuries so far frustrated him. Feeling childishly spiteful, Lethe attempted to command the stone slime camouflaged on the first wall to attack the [Shieldbearer] as he climbed down. Immediately, he received a glaring red notification. [Warning: Actions or modifications to the floor are not allowed while the floor is occupied.] Reading the prompt, Lethe could only dejectedly sigh as it seemed he wouldn't be able to change anything for now. Thinking on it further, he could only accept the fact that there were restrictions to dungeons as well and making the challenge unfair would be frowned upon by the system. The system had created dungeons to help shepherd souls, not to harvest them. Returning his attention to the party, he saw that they were all once more assembled on the floor of the second room. He noticed that their formation had changed as well. The [Shieldbearer] continued to be at the front of the party, but now the [Skirmisher] was at their flank with the 3 ranged members huddled together in between and the [Acolyte] continuing to be at the exact center. As the party carefully made their way across, Lethe noticed the [Acolyte] signal to the [Trapper] and [Hedge Mage], pointing at the pool in the center of the room. Both nodding, the [Trapper] fixed his arrow and aimed at the pool while another chant for [Flare] was whispered by the [Hedge Mage]. As soon as the chant finished, both of them released their attacks concurrently at the center of the pool, the arrow reaching into it first, followed by the small orb of fire. Both of the attacks were weakened by the water, but they still hit the hidden [Acid Slime], which instantly surfaced and launched itself like a ball towards the group. Instantly, the other two [Stone Slimes] hidden along the walls dropped to the floor and started rolling towards the group, sandwiching them in between. The [Shieldbearer] instantly received the first [Acid Slime] with his sword, knocking it down to the ground while throwing his shield at the oncoming [Stone Slime] while the [Skirmisher] ran out and engaged the one rolling in from behind. "Kill the acid one first!" Jones yelled as a transparent bubble enveloped the sole [Skirmisher]. Meanwhile, the other two ranged combatants focused their attacks on the [Acid Slime], each spell and arrow keeping it pinned down, while the [Shieldbearer] ran up and engaged the last slime. Eventually, the combined attacks of the mage and archer defeated the preemptively attacked slime. However, the [Stone Slime]s were proving difficult to handle for the sword users. Their rusted blades barely chipping away at the stone skin. Before the party could focus down the other two though, the remaining slimes backed up from their combat and rolled towards the other. Swerving around the bewildered party, the two slimes crashed into each other and seemingly started to use [Combine] by themselves! Lethe watched fascinated as he had no idea that his slimes could do that. Looking into the process further though, he realized that they were not combining but rather merging, as was stated in their descriptions. The difference, he witnessed, was that the new mob had increased in size and toughness but didn't increase its rank. [Merge successful!] [New mob available: [Stone Slime+]] While the slides were merging together, the party on the other hand regrouped into their initial attack formation. As soon as the merge completed, a gust of air blasted out of the now larger [Stone Slime+], pressuring the party to step back. Instantly, the slime launched itself directly at the [Shieldbearer], crashing into his shield. However, instead of being rebuffed like earlier, the slime was able to shove the party's sole defender towards the [Acolyte], who had already used his bubble spell on the [Skirmisher]. As the duo slid backwards, the slime rebounded against the shield and launched itself at the [Trapper], who was barely able to dodge the fast moving blob. As it sailed past, a [Flare] from the magic user struck the slime, blasting away a portion of its stony membrane. Quickly getting up from the ground, the [Shieldbearer] charged at the slime instead of waiting for it to attack as a wave of green energy from the now sitting [Acolyte] boosted his vitality. Being pinned down once more, the larger slime could only smash itself against the shield, each time pushing the guardian back a few feet, but unable to inflict any further injuries to the party. Eventually, the group was once more able to whittle the mob down before a flare and arrow combination took out its core, defeating the final mob of the room. As they watched the slime dissolve into particles, it was evident that the encounter had left the group winded and fatigued. Of note, Lethe noticed that the [Acolyte] was bleeding slightly from the back of his head after being knocked down and the [Shieldbearer] had let go of his shield and was clutching the arm that held it, evident that the slam attacks from the stone slime affected his arm in some form. "Finally!", Lethe joyously thought, "Substantial injuries." He had initially been peeved that the group was able to essentially clear out all of his mobs and ambushes without difficulty so far. But seeing the current injuries, he felt that it was an appropriate level in terms of difficulty. The last leg of the dungeon would be much more difficult than even this fight but he actually enjoyed seeing the teamwork and camaraderie shared by this party. He started to hope that they would survive the final challenges and walk away from here today so that they might see more from him in the future. [Ding!] [Skill unlocked due to dungeon core's thought processes and current progress.] [Skill: [Boons] has been unlocked!]