Slime Strikers

“How are we doing this then?” John asked as he quickly swept over the slime’s Observe, hoping his question on tactics would get them back on track and get Lynn on board. “It seemed to shrug off our magic before without issue.”

“I can do some damage to it,” Aria explained and her sword seemed to glow slightly. “With Aziza subdued like that, I can only draw out a bit of her power, but it should be enough for me to cut through given time.”

John caught Lynn looking like she was fighting herself, before her expression hardened and she turned to Aria.

“I think I can affect its viscosity,” the blonde said, her voice curt. “Slow it down. Will that mess up your plan?”

“Shouldn’t,” Aria replied, a manic grin stretching over her face. “Let’s move.”

Before Aria could rush towards the approaching slime, John cast Observe on her weapon, hoping to gain some insight on just what she thought she could do against the slime.

Arcane Silver: This item conducts mana well, holding external magics for longer than other comparable materials.

Made Manifest: This item is created directly from mana and will decompose back into mana.

(Synthesis (advantage)): This item is empowered by an aspect of Aziza’s ‘Synthesis’ ability, allowing it to attune to foreign mana, making it more effective against that source.

‘That sounds a bit like the Evocation for the zilhavrum sword,’ John thought as he dismissed the displays. ‘So that’s the play. Hit the slime, get better at hitting the slime, cut everyone out. How can I help with that?’

‘Summon me,’ Senka implored. ‘I can use Snaring Shadows to help restrict its movements.’

John did as she requested, the spirit manifesting beside him. The summoning caused Aria to glance back as she crossed over the narrow bridge.

“Guess I wasn’t the only one to have someone up their sleeve,” she remarked in a good natured tone. “You got a plan?”

“I can assist in binding it,” Senka answered as she and John raced across the bridge, darkness gathering around her hands.

“And I’ve got a sword that’s good against magic,” John added, equipping the zilhavrum sword. “That should help in cutting this thing, right?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Aria shouted back as the slime extended a short tendril with a bulbous tip and threw it at them. Before it could land on them, Lynn let out a shout of effort from her spot behind them and the projectile veered off course, landing on the edge of the platform before it slid down into the water below.

“I’d say we could try to get it to keep doing that, but I don’t think I can do that move forever,” Lynn said, maintaining her position on the other side of the bridge.

“I’m more for the hack and slash method anyway!” Aria yelled and surged towards the slime. She was a blur of silver and white as she swiped at the slime before it could fire off another piece of itself. Her blade cut into the creature, a wet squelching noise echoing over the sound of rushing waters as the weapon passed through it.

John saw the blade was stained with the blue goo but then its glow grew more intense. The residual slime began to sizzle as if the weapon grew extremely hot and evaporated away in a few seconds. Once the blade was clean, the white glow changed, taking on a faint blue hue.

Aria let out a whooping battle cry and pivoted on one foot, spinning back to deliver a second strike. This time, when silver met the slime, there was a loud hissing as a massive tear appeared where Aria's blade passed, as if it was a much larger weapon.

The slime wriggled and writhed as it lurched away from Aria, clearly interpreting her as a major risk to its existence. It landed several meters away from her and wound up to jump again.

"No, you don't," Senka called out, the dark vines of Snaring Shadows sprouting from around the slime and wrapping around it.

"Hold 'em there," Aria yelled as she raced back towards it, heading right to where her once unseen partner was.

Before she could use her sword to pop the bubble the dark haired girl was in, the slime quivered intensely, both sliding back from Senka's binding and drawing the bubbles everyone was in closer to its center.

Aria’s cutting swing tore out a good chunk of the monster's gelatinous flesh. The rupture quickly closed and a tendril shot out from the restored area.

John activated Rushing Winds and sprinted to Aria’s aid, slicing into the tentacle before it could reach her. While there wasn't a satisfying hiss to accompany the spike, the zilhavrum blade cleanly cut through the appendage.

"Fall back," Aria said, her breathing hard, and John nodded as he followed her back towards the bridge they came from. The slime regarded them with caution, not attempting to attack as they retreated.

"Bastard's pretty smart," the smuggler breathed out. "Figured out we were aiming for a rescue and pulled everyone in."

She turned her head towards Lynn. "Think you can try and pull Aziza’s bubble closer to the surface?"

Lynn looked at the slime, a drawn expression on her face. "No. It's actively keeping them there. Even if I put everything into a pull, it can exert more than enough **** to counter."

"Fuck," Aria spat. "I can't do enough damage in one go to free anyone."

'Do I have anything that can help here?' John thought, thinking about every item he brought along and every skill at his disposal. ‘Throwing fireballs probably won’t work and I don’t want to risk the blast hurting anyone inside it. Hex didn’t work before so I doubt it will now that it’s actively fighting us. And just going full Conan on it might not get us anywhere, even with the zilhavrum sword being able to cut through it easily enough.’

The slime, seemingly done with its assessment of them, resumed its attack by firing a blob at them. Lynn shot her hand out then jerked it down hard, forcing the viscous projectile to hit the ground with a wet splat.

The pile quivered as it reshaped itself into a mini version of its progenitor, but that’s all it was doing due to Lynn keeping it held down.

“Can’t hold it down forever,” the alchemist griped.

“You can let go,” Aria shot back as she thrust her sword into the slime’s center. A large cone of destruction bloomed as the silver blade parted the blue goo, almost like instead of a sword, Aria wielded a drill.

With a large chunk of it missing, the slime lost all cohesion and collapsed into a thick puddle before beginning to quickly evaporate.

“Good to know a good hit will just burst them,” Aria said, bringing her attention back to the harvester.

“We just need a way to do it,” Lynn snarked between mildly heavy breaths. “And since it seems to be gauging our reactions too, it might send a bigger piece of it at us. I don’t know if I’m going to have enough mana to wrest control of bigger ones and have enough left to deal with the main one.”

‘Control,’ the word struck out in John’s mind and his eyes snapped to the channel the water around the chamber flowed. He could just make out the glow of a water control glyph and his mind began to run.

‘If I could use that power against it, Lynn can pull out Aria’s friend and she can power up and win,’ John thought, eyes running across the area, trying to estimate the distances involved. ‘I think the room’s too big to fully cover, but if I cast it close up, maybe this could work.’

‘John, what are you thinking?’ Senka cut into his rambling musings.

‘Arcane Wellspring,’ he responded. ‘If it can tap into the water controlling aspect of this place, it might weaken the slime’s ability to resist us, or boost Lynn’s hydromancy. Maybe both.’

‘It’ll be a gamble,’ the spirit advised. ‘And it will take around half of your remaining mana.’

‘We aren’t really blessed with choices right now,’ John countered. ‘If this doesn’t help, all we lose is some mana and a few seconds. And it still might give us something to tip the scales in our favor.'

Senka was silent for a second then thought, 'I'll be right behind you. Let's get our girls back.'

John grinned then said aloud, "I've got a plan."

"Considering we've been going with 'let's just hit it and pray', I'm game for a new play," Aria remarked. "Hit us with it."

"I've got a spell that lets me manipulate the local mana," John explained Arcane Wellspring as basically as he could. "I think I can turn the magic that controls the water flow against the slime. Might be able to make it easier for you to pull everyone out. Downside is, I can't guarantee the exact effect and we'll have to get closer to make sure we can use the effect to the maximum."

"Sounds like a hell of a gamble," Aria muttered. "But we aren't helping by just standing around."

John turned his attention to Lynn and found her eyes locked on the slime. More accurately, on Beth, and his stomach churning with renewed worry.

"Let's do it," the alchemist said, her jaw clenched.

John nodded and he began to slowly advance on the slime. He concentrated on the mana around him, specifically the flowing energy of the water glyphs. He was dimly aware of Senka, Aria and Lynn behind him and the slime to the fore. He ignored the slime’s aggressive shift in posture, numerous tendrils sprouting from its lumpy body, and cast Arcane Wellspring.

Wellspring Effect: Effects and abilities that are cast with at least 50% water mana are (Int)% stronger. People with water dominant mana have this effect doubled.

Lynn took in a surprised breath as the effect took hold, clearly feeling the boost to her power. Power she took immediate advantage of as the slime swept a tentacle at them. The blonde cast her arm out in an upward arc, her hand held flat like a blade. The leading edge of the tentacle exploded, raining small bits of slime away from them and down into the water below.

“Now that’s some boost!” Aria cheered as the slime flinched back. “How long do we have?”

“Ten minutes,” John answered after a moment of quick math.

“Won’t need more than two,” Lynn snarled and she began to move her arms, miming a pulling motion. The slime’s body began to distort from her actions and the bubbles their comrades were trapped in began to slide towards the outer edge of the monster. The slime quivered angrily, inward traveling ripples working against Lynn’s extraction.

“It’s fighting back,” the alchemist growled, her body tensing as the magical tug of war grew more intense. “Can’t focus on all of them.”

“Then wheel back to the first plan and get Aziza out,” Aria shot back. “And keep it occupied so I can end it.”

Lynn grimaced, her eyes flicking to where Beth lay within the slime, only a meter or so from escape, held back by the inward flowing tide. With a pained expression, Lynn’s eyes snapped back to Aziza’s bubble and she pulled.

All the others were pulled back to the center of the slime as the pull on Aziza overcame the slime’s efforts. With a loud pop, the bubble the dark haired girl was in burst, her **** body spilling to the floor.

Immediately, there was a surge of power to John’s left and he turned to see Aria undergo a change. Black lines, like the ones snaking down her arm, manifested on her face; running straight down from brow to chin, centered over each eye, which were now deep red instead of their usual blue. Most striking were the pair of black horns that sprouted from the sides of her head, standing in stark contrast to her hair despite their small size.

The glow from her silver blade spiked dramatically as Aria said, “Not full power but it should be enough. Think you can give me a clear shot at its center?”

“I can try,” Lynn grunted. “Would be easier if I didn’t have to stop it from sucking your powerup back in.”

“I’ll grab her,” John said. “Senka, see if you can divide the slime’s attention.”

“Understood.” The spirit nodded and dark vines shot from below the slime, wrapping around it. Reflexively, the creature roiled, trying to throw off the shadow binds. John didn’t focus on that, instead honing in on the small woman he tasked himself to rescue.

He empowered himself with Rushing Winds once more, burning another six mana to race to collect her. With a grace he usually lacked, John scooped her up in his arms and darted away. He spun on his heel to keep facing their enemy, which let him see the bubbles containing everyone steadily migrate out from the center of the slime, which was clearly struggling against both Lynn’s control of its body and Senka’s thorny vines biting into its exterior.

“Got a good shot lined up,” Aria called out, raising her sword up high beside her head, its blue glow radiant. “Let’s pop this oversized pimple!”

In a burst of speed, Aria launched herself at the slime. Between her speed and the efforts of Lynn and Senka, the slime had no way to prevent the silver from piercing it. In a flash of brilliant blue, the center of the slime was obliterated, leaving a gaping hole a meter across running up through the monster’s core.

With so much material destroyed, the slime began to destabilize as it tried to fill the void, its body vibrating violently as it attempted to condense, the area around the whole growing dark and opaque.

“Guess you’re a bit tougher than the ones you spit out,” Aria said through heavy breaths. “Looks like we’ll need something heavier.”

“Just give me a minute,” Lynn cut in. “It lost a lot of strength. I can unravel it with a bit of work.”

Aria shook her head, threads of silver spinning around her blade as she steadily walked backwards away from the slime. “I can take it out in a few seconds. Just need some running room.”

The silver lines weaved into an overly large blade, larger than the Greatwood Swords. Even the handle was increased in length, letting Aria grip the now ridiculously large weapon with both hands.

With a battlecry, she raced back to the slime, jumping into the air with the sword hefted over her head. The blade flashed as it cleaved down the slime, cutting it into two disconnected pieces. The twinned halves quivered one final time before they darkened and began to sag, the magic animating them gone.

464(24) EXP Gained.

‘It’s weird getting experience without there being any chance of loot,’ John mused as the slime began to evaporate. Before it completely did, Lynn carefully extracted everyone interred within it, leaving a large pile to the side as Aria impaled her massive sword in the floor to support herself.

“How many times do I have to tell you to not use that much of my power when I’m not able to help focus it for you?” a dry and unamused voice sounded from John’s arms and he reflexively looked down at the now awake woman in his arms. She stared back up at him with red eyes in a nonplussed expression, the same shade as Aria’s had been. She also had the same small black horns Aria had grown.

Before John could say anything or attempt to place her down, the lithe woman's body flashed with a pale light and she vanished from his arms, appearing next to Aria an instant later.

"What, no thank you for saving us?" the winded smuggler asked.

The horned woman just shook her head as she helped Aria back to her feet. In the same moment, Lynn ran to where Beth lay and John followed after her, Senka at his heel.

Whether by chance or Lynn's efforts, Aeolia, Vivian and Kiera were right beside Beth, and John kneeled down to check them. Before he could even try to rouse them, they were already coming to and unharmed, something Beth was quick to attest to.

"I'm fine, Lynn," she groggily complained as her sister broke from the hug she had initiated and was checking over her. "Ugh, what happened?"

"Trip got messed up," Senka supplied. "And everyone but John, Lynn and Aria got scooped up by a slime."

"Surprised I don’t feel all sticky," Aeolia remarked as she willed herself to full height. John was quick to pull her into a hug.

"I'm just glad you're all alright," the Gamer said, breaking the embrace only to give Vivian one once he had helped her up.

"It's not the worst we've been through," the redhead said as she leaned into the hug. She pulled back a moment later and stood up, turning towards Aria who, along with Aziza, was helping Barbara up. "We did make it to Detreye, right?"

"We're under the capital," Aria answered. "We just have to get out of the sewers and find Martius."

"An easier thing said than done," Senka remarked as she helped Kiera up. "This place is a maze."

"As long as we stick together, we'll be fine," Aria dismissed Senka’s concerns.

"There is something we have to address before we go," Lynn said as she finally stopped examining Beth. She waved her hand and the remaining slime spilled out of the pile it had settled into. It wasn't empty.

"Figured it'd be safe to keep her in the slime until we got back on our feet," the blonde said as a tall and thin figure slumped to the ground, her long green hair spilling out around them. A band of slime remained bound around her midsection, pinning her arms to her side.

“Certainly not a native,” Aria said, her eyes narrowed as she took in the woman’s appearance: a white shirt, thin black tie and black slacks held up with suspenders. “Anyone want to bet she’s the reason we got pinballed?”

“No one’s going to take that bet,” Aziza remarked.

“It is fairly obvious,” Vivian chimed in. “The question is how did she mess things up?”

Barbara walked up to the **** woman and hummed. “Definitely has our Barrier’s harmonics on her.”

“She might have tried to break up right as we shifted over,” Vivian offered as a theory.

“We would have felt it,” Aria said, shooting down Vivian’s suggested version of events.

“Only way to find out is to interrogate her once she wakes up,” Barbara muttered.

“Which won’t be long now,” Lynn added. “Whatever compound they added when making that slime to knock people out doesn’t seem like it’s long lasting. Everyone woke up pretty quick.”

‘I don’t think I need to wait,’ John thought, letting Senka hear his musings. ‘There hasn’t been any sign they’ve picked up on me using it.’

‘I think given the amount of secrets everyone’s kept, going for it wouldn’t be too much of a risk,’ the spirit remarked.

With her backing his play, John cast Observe on the mystery woman, who was just starting to stir.

‘Wait, she was hired by Vanessa to spy on Beth?’ John incredulously thought as he reread the sheet. ‘Why? Is it over that wardrobe malfunction thing? She isn’t that petty to put what she has to think was an accident on her, right?’

‘We can worry about that once we’re back on the same plane of reality,’ Senka advised.

John let his acceptance of her assessment of the situation filter through their bond. He left the Observe open so Aeolia, Vivian and Beth could read it as their unexpected guest’s chocolate brown eyes fluttered open.

Despite the literal sticky situation she found herself in, Piper only blinked as she took in their looming presence and tried to move her arms.

“Well, this isn’t how I expected today to go,” she flippantly remarked.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.