"Hey Ryan are you going to help us?", I can hear Dylan call out behind me, but I stay silent and unmoving still staring at the pile of gold coins.

"Maybe he ran out of mana.", Sophie says in response.

'It's over. I don't want to feel that pain again. But maybe we can fight off the horde.', I think, as I look around to see how the group is faring.

'It's no use, there is still a way to go before they finish things.'

I look around in desperation for anything to help me escape this situation. Looking where the commander slime died, I think, 'No commander slime core, so no chance to get a commanding skill for the slimes.' Then looking to where the unmoving, partially melted, body of John lies, I see his gun on the ground near him. Unsteadily standing up I slowly walk to the gun and bend down to pick it up. Grabbing onto the handle I feel the cold metal upon my palm, and shudder slightly, before uprighting myself.

'Still a full clip.', I think feeling the weight of the gun in my hand.

Looking over to where Bruno and Alice are taking on the mutant slime, I see the plight they are going through. Alice looking hesitant to fire off her magic, and Bruno trying to get some distance between himself and the slime. I cock the gun, aim the barrel towards the slime, and fire off three shots, which draws the slime's attention towards me. Running backwards, I try to maintain a distance between the slime and me, so Alice can fire off her spell without worry. Looking back to her, I can see her lips mouthing the words as quickly as I would imagine she can, before pointing her staff at the slime trailing me, and firing a pressurized stream of water into its bulk. Soon the slime falls apart and a slime core and a couple of gold coins now sit in a puddle of water and the remains of the slime. Looking away from the loot, I start running towards the others, who are still immersed in their battle, and say, "Come on, let's help the others."

Stopping around 15 feet from the others, I position my gun at the slime that is close to Dylan, as he seems to be struggling the hardest, given that his bow is meant to be used at a distance, and he can't seem to pull away from the slime he is facing. But the body of Bruno, shield in hand, charges towards the slime Dylan is facing, slamming it into a nearby wall, onto which it splatters into a shower of green droplets, and a single gold coin. Alice soon steps next to me and points the staff in her hand towards the slime Sophie is battling, and I point my gun towards the one that Lee is fighting. I feel a cool air manifest next to me before a stream of water suddenly shoots out at her target, with Sophie jumping out of the way mere moments before the stream arrived.

Refocusing on my target, the constantly shifting position of Lee makes it hard to aim. Suddenly, Lee steps backwards onto a piece of stray rubble, and his ankle bends in an awkward direction, causing him to tumble to the floor. I shout out to Lee, who is attempting to pull himself back up, "Lie flat on your back."

He freezes for a split second before doing exactly that, and my gun rings out twice more killing the slime looming over the fallen body of Lee. I walk forward and put out my hand for Lee who seems to be struggling to get himself up. Grabbing onto his now outstretched hand, I pull him up, and he says to me, "Thanks Ryan."

"No problem Lee.", I reply back.

The group the starts to wander over to John, who is still laying down unconscious. Sophie, who is kneeling down over him says, "There is really nothing I can do to help him with what we have on hand, wash and wrap up his face. Hey Alice, could you make some water for me?"

With a nod, Alice begins chanting and a slow and thin stream of water falls from her staff onto John's face. Sophie tears off both of her sleeves, one of which she starts using to wipe off whatever remnants of the slime's...

'What even is it? Acid, poison, hmm...'

She wipes of the remnants of the slime's body with the sleeve and then tosses it to the side, and starts wrapping his face up with the other one.

"I don't think he is going to wake up for at least a half an hour, maybe a full one.", Sophie says after finishing the wrapping.

A sense of dread starts filling my mind immediately, and my body suddenly becomes tense.

'This isn't good, this is not good. What do I do? Do I tell them we should leave immediately? No, they will think I don't care about the state of John. What do I do then? Maybe I could tell them there is a horde of slimes approaching? No, that is even worse. How are they supposed to believe that I would know that they are approaching anyway. What can I even do?'

"Hey is everything alright Ryan?", Sophie says to me, which knocks me out of my train of thought.

"Ah... uhhh yeah everything is fine. Why do you ask?", I then sputter out in response.

"You look terrible, almost as pale as a ghost, and you got a lot of sweat on your forehead. Are you sure everything is alright with you?", she then says.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe I look a little worn out from using all of my mana."

"If you say so."

'Maybe we can beat this. We are a full group this time. I'm sure we can pull through this.', I think, trying to be hopeful.

After around five minutes, John is still lying motionless, but now his head is being supported by Sophie's lap. But in the distance, a flock of birds suddenly takes flight chirping loudly, mere dozens of yards away from us in the courtyard, and the loud snapping of a branch echoes through the stone walls surrounding us. Seconds later, numerous green bodies start exiting the tree line, with 5 mutant slimes heading the pack.

"What is that?", Dylan shouts out panicking.

"A slime horde.", I say shakily.

"Can we beat them? Can we even escape?", he then says despairingly.

I look over to a large set of doors, seemingly made of gold, that are sitting near the back of the courtyard, not connected to any structure, and start walking over to them quickly.

Holding a semblance of hope for something, anything, I say to the group, "Maybe these do something?", as I place my hand on them.

A text box then suddenly appears in my vision, without even using identify.

Boss Room Door Opens in: 9:59

"Shit.", I then say in anger.

"What is it?", I hear Sophie say from behind me.

"It's a boss room door, and it only opens in 10 minutes.", I gloomily reply.

"I guess we really do have to fight those slimes.", Dylan says hopeless.

My body goes limp, and I fall to the ground powerlessly. The slimes start streaming into the courtyard and everyone else starts trying to fend them off with little success. Everyone stands up and readies themselves for the fight, and charges in. But it quickly turns bad for them. Bruno being pushed back by two mutant slimes. Dylan firing his arrows into the crowd of slimes, with almost no effect to be seen. Alice's water stream suddenly dying out, followed by her stumbling backwards with a fearful expression on her face. Lee trying to stab the slimes, still unsteady on his feet. Sophie trying her best to encourage the team to fight on. But then a slime gets to John's body, and starts to dissolve it. It isn't long before his screams fill the courtyard, almost loud enough to match that of the commander slime.

Still on the ground, I think to myself, 'I don't want to ever feel that pain again. Never, never, never again.', my body shivering just from the thought of it.

But suddenly I remember something that I can still do. Looking down at my right hand, I see the gun it still holds.

'That's right there is still that.', I affirm as I raise the gun up to my temple.

Looking back at the group, who are slowly being backed into a corner.

I think to myself, 'I'll save you next time. I swear it.', before closing my eyes and pulling the trigger.