Chapter 80 : Slimes Are Evil
Once more the Trickster class adventurer was doused by slime’s acid. Since she’d forgotten to stow away the cloak, which was hastily tossed over her left shoulder, thus it was quickly dissolved along with it a large hole in the magical barrier.
What’s more, Ariadna wasn’t attacked by a single slime, but multiple. The masses of acid flew through the air, some spreading apart and others clinging together like water droplets. The spherical shaped ones hit Ariadna’s back like bullets and burst on impact whilst the rest caught her on various parts of her body. The impact resembled a bucket of water being poured across someone’s shoulders.
She released a yelp of pain mixed with surprise as she jolted away from her position, but it was too late. The entirety of her overcoat and shirt was melted away, along with half of the barrier spell which caused a translucent white aura film to become visible against Ariadna’s body.
“These things are evil!” She shouted as she turned around, swordsword in hand. Ariadna was prepared to dash forth and deal some damage to her wobbly foes.
“W-wait!” Merri shouted as she attempted to grab the Trickster, but Ariadna would not be stopped!
“I just bought this outfit, now I have to get it repaired!” She shouted, her face full of fury as she moved. Ariadna’s freehand began to be filled by small black dots of energy which resembled growing fungus. The mana masses ballooned, forming together into one large mass of magic which Agni quickly recognized as Darkness element magic. She then leapt forward and came down with her shortsword, cleaving the targeted Grimlock clean in two.
“Ariadna, stop!” Merri shouted as she too stepped forth, preparing the large shield on her back for use.
“I thought slimes were impervious to weapons?” Agni asked as she prepared a fireball in each palm.
“I thought so too. Gates said as much, but maybe he was mistaken?” Katrin commented as she called forth her Grimoire which lingered next to her left shoulder just less than half a meter behind her. The living book was charged with a glow of green energy, signaling to Agni that Katrin was preparing an earth element spell of some sort.
Altogether there were just five slimes, and after a few seconds it was apparent to Agni that their caution was unwarranted. Ariadna by herself seemed to be enough. After slicing through the first slime, Ariadna directed her charged darkness spell towards two a couple of meters away. At first it wasn’t obvious the effect her spell would have, but soon black scythes of darkness rose from the ground nearby her targets and came slicing downward onto the creatures’ body.
“Wow. What is that? It’s…really cool!” Agni mouthed as she watched Ariadna work. Merri too stepped forward, but rather than attacking she used her large buckler to block the acid attacks of the remaining slimes on Ariadna’s flank. Surprisingly enough the shield didn’t melt either! Ariadna quickly took care of three slimes and moved onto the other two, repeating her earlier tactic of slicing the nearest slime and using darkness magic on the remaining one.
The battle was over in less than a minute — or so they believed. As Ariadna was walking back towards the group with a look of self satisfaction on her face she was pelted from behind by multiple balls of acid. The same held true for Merri — and although her armor was more resistant to the acid, it still managed to eat a significant hole through the metal.
“I thought they got them all..” Agni said as she tossed a fireball in the direction of the attacks, but strangely enough she was having trouble locating the attackers.
“Dammit. What the?” Ariadna practically shouted as she grasped her back, wiping away the quick dissolving goop with her free hand. She looked around, desperately for her attacker, only to realize far too late that the slimes she dispatched with her blade simply split in two. A flurry of forward motion erupted just under Ariadna’s gaze as a small green ball shot upwards towards her and slammed into her abdomen. The blow was powerful enough to cause the Trickster to step backwards, clenching her stomach in the process, as air was knocked from her lungs.
“Holy s***!” Agni exclaimed as she watched the smaller slimes begin to launch themselves towards both Merri and Ariadna. Merri was having an easier time fending off the creatures due to her shield but not much. The creatures could not only launch themselves but also began to take on shapes as well, some resembled spiked maces, others cones or squares and all of their strikes looked like they hurt!
“Agni.” Katrin said, nodding towards Agni as she began casting a spell. The color of her Grimoire’s magic changed from green to light blue as bursts of wind blades shot forth and sliced two of the creatures in mid air. Agni directed a pair of fireballs and managed to blow up the remaining two without much resistance.
Although the creatures weren’t strong it was obvious that the group of adventurers underestimated their prey. Ariadna was now completely topless and half of her pants legs were gone. To make matters worse, Ariadna’s shortsword fell apart, the acid having eaten the blade clean in two. Merri, on the other hand, was staring down at her half destroyed shield as the makings of a cry lingered in the corner of her eyes.
It was a strange sight to see a tall, muscular woman with minotaur horns begin to sniffle. Strangely enough, Agni felt harassed enough for the both of her party mates. Ariadna’s hair was messed up and disheveled while Merri was struggling to process all of the small (and large) holes and cracks in her armor. Agni could clearly see the minotauress’ six pack beneath a half dissolved armor plate. Even one of her bracers had been eaten away.
“They want us to kill more of these things?” Ariadna stammered as she slowly walked back towards Katrin, who had already begun to use a potion on the two adventurers.
“Save it. I don’t need it.” Ariadna said with a wave of her hand. It was true, though she’d been struck several times the blows were apparently only able to keep the Trickster off balance. Agni wondered what would happen if the slime had performed such attacks at its original size.
“These little demons are evil.” Ariadna groaned as she rubbed her stomach. She then paused and glanced at Agni’s horns which poked out ever so slightly from beneath her witch’s hat.
“No offense…” She then added.
“None taken.. He he.” Agni replied.
“Um..here. Take this. I probably won’t need it. Probably..” Agni said as she handed her cloak over to Ariadna.
The black haired girl looked at the gesture, as if unsure what to make of it before she responded, “Thanks.” The look of anger on her face softened somewhat as she accepted the cloak from Agni gratefully.
“That was only… six of them! What are we going to do?” Merri asked dejectedly as she nursed her ruined shield. Unfortunately there was not much Agni could do to make Merri feel better about her predicament, save a shoulder pat.
“How about…Katrin and I take a crack at it next?” Agni offered, after all she was beginning to feel guilty for having a hand in their current predicament. The next forty five minutes would be a very sobering experience for all involved. They continually engaged small groups of slimes and little by little their patience (and their clothing) were worn away despite all of the protections in place.
By the time the four young ladies returned to the meeting point they had learned several valuable lessons about dealing with slimes. For example, slimes can morph their body into whips to lash out. Slimes can fall from trees, crawl from behind rocks, or even wobble out of bushes. What’s more, slimes of differing varieties exist! Green slimes could be considered the basic, while red and blue slimes each have matching affinities and abilities. Imagine a flaming fist to the chin — such a blow caught Agni completely off guard and in the process triggered her anger.
After nearly setting the woods on fire with fire magic, the three cloaked girls returned to the meeting point. Agni was forced to share a cloak with Katrin whom she was carrying piggyback as they returned.
“This has gotta be biased against women. Sexism! That’s what it is!” Ariadna said as she walked back towards the meeting point dejectedly as she kept a keen eye out for any of the wobbling invaders. All in all they’d managed to defeat quite a number of slimes, but that was also responsible for their current plight.
By slicing the creatures in two with weapons, the kill count would increase. Unfortunately, the smaller the slimes became, the more quickly they could move and attack. They’d managed to kill just over a hundred in less than an hour — but their clothing was the biggest casualty.
Even Agni was beginning to pout somewhat by this point.
*I could easily destroy them if I could use my Halberd.* Agni grumbled to herself. Shula’s incessant laughter wasn’t helping either. Every time Agni would get tagged from behind or squirted Shula would erupt with joy.
*Ugh. Shut up. It’s not that easy. You want to try? Huh!?* Agni inwardly exclaimed.
“No thanks. I’ll pass. Hey, remember when the one fell on your head and you started stumbling around like a blind man? Ha! I wish I could record it and show it to Bracha.”
“Um.. Agni, are you…okay? I keep hearing strange voices coming from you. I wasn’t sure at first but…now..” Ariadna said as she glanced back at Agni. Apparently Shula managed to speak aloud once more.
“You’re not…possessed or something are you?” Merri asked as she struggled to hide her physique beneath the cloak lent to her by Gates. Despite having a muscular and fit body, Merri’s breasts were easily C-cups. Her tan colored nipples peeked through occasionally as she moved.
“I also heard a voice several times. It sounded like a little girl. Mostly laughing. Maniacal laughing… it sounded …..” Merri paused for a moment as a nervous look overcame her.
“Evil.”
“Well, sometimes I do feel like I’m possessed. Or maybe even cursed….but no. It’s my familiar. My rude, unruly familiar!” Agni said aloud, mostly addressing the reply to Shula.
*Hmph. I might be rude, but at least I didn’t get drooled on by jello snacks.*
“She’s just got a sassy mouth. I honestly don’t know much about familiars myself so I can’t tell you why you’re hearing her.” Agni responded.
“We’re here.” Katrin pointed out. Katrin was the lucky one, although her dress was completely dissolved by slime acid, she managed to maintain both her boots and witch’s hat. The men were nowhere around, so the women made themselves at home as they took a load off.
“I’m already tired. I just want to go rest..” Ariadna said as she took a seat next to Katrin and Agni. She seemed to have softened up somewhat since their shared trauma.
*But then again baring your flesh to someone can bond you in a certain way.* Agni thought to herself. Ariadna’s look was very striking, her hair was pitch black with streaks of purple and occasionally grey hairs. Her eyeshadow was purple and multi toned and the Trickster had long eyelashes. At first Agni thought they might have been fake, but the more she looked the more she realized the opposite.
Merri on the other hand had already begun to read a book, almost as soon as the group took a seat.
*She really loves to read…* Agni thought as she squatted, allowing Katrin to hop down off of her back.
“How are we going to share the cloak now?” Katrin asked.
“Eh. You take it. I don’t really care that much. Besides, I can switch back into my armor for right now.” Agni said, doing as she suggested with ease. The group of ladies barely had time to rest their heels before the sound of rustling and commotion found them again.
“Ugh. Why won’t these wiggly blobs leave us alone. Agni can you just zap them or something?” Ariadna said as she slowly got to her feet, preparing to take off her cloak in order to fight.
“Huh? Gates?” Katrin said as she got to her feet. Gates came sprinting out of the nearby woods, his clothes dissolved to ribbons and barely hanging onto his body. Sypha was not far behind them and both looked alarmed as they laid eyes upon the group of women.
“Run! It’s coming!” Gates shouted as he dashed towards them, ushering them away in the process. The nearby trees where both men entered the small clearing began to shake as a large, three meter tall slime squeezed its way out to confront the group of six adventurers.
