Defeat.

Cecilia let out a guttural scream, her blade igniting in a burst of divine radiance that incinerated three of the creatures instantly, turning them into acrid smoke. 'Is that all you have, you mindless filth?!' she roared, her breath coming in ragged gasps. But for every slime she cleaved in two, three more seemed to seep from the very walls of the cavern, sliding across the black water to swarm her. She sliced through another, then another, her arm shaking from the effort, but a massive, pulsing mass slammed into her back, knocking her forward. She gasped as her face nearly hit the water, and before she could recover, a dozen sticky tendrils wrapped around her wrists and ankles, pinning her flat against the cold, submerged stone. She struggled, her muscles straining against the gelatinous bonds, but the slimes were everywhere now, their hot, hungry bodies sliding over her skin and pulling the remaining scraps of her clothing away with a slow, deliberate suction.

Cecilia’s eyes flared with a blinding, golden light, her voice echoing with a power that wasn't entirely her own. 'BEGONE, FILTH!' she shrieked, throwing her arms wide. A massive shockwave of divine energy erupted from her body, a supernova of white heat that incinerated every slime in the chamber instantly, leaving nothing but scorched stone and drifting ash. For a few heartbeats, there was only the ringing silence and the smell of ozone. Cecilia gasped, her body trembling, her mana completely drained; she felt hollow, a shell of a woman shivering in the damp air. But as she tried to push herself up, a single, wet *plip* sounded above her. She looked up to see the ceiling weeping; thousands of tiny, translucent droplets were raining down, and from every crack in the walls, the slimes were oozing back in, larger and hungrier than before, sensing her total lack of defense.