Better Than One - Chapter 12 Summertime Snowman.

I had a bad feeling about this place. Lan’s map for the third level was incomplete, only showing the size and shape of the chamber as if mapped out from the safety of the stairwell. Despite the few odd features and the ominous clicking sounds, the place didn’t appear dangerous. Sporadic groaning noises were accompanied by something being dragged along a stone floor. Something was afoot, something was about to happen.

Estra was looking around like nervous a cat in a dog yard. Lan however, appeared unaffected, he was moving with the kobolds at a steady pace as if at a military parade.

“I’m pretty sure we’re walking into a trap.” I said, and Lan simply nodded. Everyone was on the same page about that.

We were more than halfway to the exit at the opposite end. I was beginning to wonder if anything would even happen, when the trap was suddenly sprung. But very slowly, and with ear piercing screech, as if hundreds of old rusted iron gate hinges cried out for oil. The door to the stairwell behind us slammed shut, and then broke off the wall and crashed forward to the floor.

“Oh, kitty poop.” Estra whimpered, and the chamber came alive with a shudder, followed by a loud clang and a clattering noise like something snapped. The door panels on the wedge shaped ceiling opened up like skylight windows. Well, a few did, most just stayed closed while the rest only managed to open a smidgen. I could taste the metal as rust was dusting down from above. It bet this trap worked great before, and was just marvelous, but now I was almost disappointed by their catastrophic failure.

“This is what happens when you neglect periodic maintenance!” I spoke up loudly to no one in particular. “Shit stops working.” I said, and gestured at the stuck door panels to make my point.

A flood of slimes poured out of the few that managed to open, piling up on top of each other. These piles were perfect targets for a [Fireball] making me giddy with the stream of Essence we were all getting. Due to my increased use of the large shield, Estra and I came to an agreement that I would man the legs and leave Estra to focus on casting spells. I just had to make sure the body was turned in a way so that she’d have a line of sight, and if there was one thing that Estra was good at, it was being a snappy fire mage. She didn’t hesitate or waste a second, but shot out [Fireballs] with deadly precision, while maximizing the impact of [Fireball’s] area damage to its full effect.

Learned: Shield Slam [Tier 1 skill]

[t1] Uses 20 stamina

[t1] Stun chance increase of 10%

[t1] Knockback chance increase of 10%

[t1] Shield Slam damage increase of 10%

Essence gained: +5,584 [Current: 5,593. Total: 38,145]

The dungeon was feeding us tons of Essence, and I was happy for it. Any that survived Estra were swept and slammed out of the way by my large shield, or cut into pieces by Globba or Lan. We were making great progress forward, but things didn’t stay easy.

A [Large Metal Slime] as heavy as a bulldozer silently fell from above, and instantly a single hp bar winked out of existence. There was an audible crunch followed up by a splatter of bloody kobold goop. The kobolds scattered in every direction. It was a nightmare. While one kobold was completely squashed, another was seriously injured, I cringed at the sight. One of his legs was jutting out at an unnatural angle. He was in too much of a shock to cry out in pain. The slow Metal Slime was having a hard time changing course following the injured kobold, while he was rolling around trying to stay alive like a squirrel running mad under a slowly moving sixteen wheeler.

I ran in, grabbed and pulled him for the closest pitfall, while Estra got to healing him. It were a precarious few minutes as the Metal Slime was chasing me, while I was running in circles around the pitfall with the injured kobold in tow sliding around. After the third time around the pit the Metal Slime lost interest and switched to another target – Eolas. Estra finished [Healing] the kobold and he managed to get back up on his feet.

The Metal Slime appeared as if it was made purely from mercury, like a chrome plated blob.

Large Metal Slime. [Rare]

Weight: 53,000 lbs (24 metric tons)

Height: 5′ diameter (1.5m)

Total Essence: around 173,000

It was indiscriminately squashing and punting any slimes that got in its way while relentlessly pursuing Eolas. Despite its relatively small size, the weight it had was alarming, something like that couldn’t be stopped by any of us. We were all playing a deadly game of tag.

Globba’s attacks, and Estra’s [Fireballs] had little to no effect on it. Eolas had a mad plan. While he was fast enough to keep out of reach from the bulldozer of a slime, he was instead standing ready with his back to a pitfall. If there was an idea as to how to kill this slime, dropping it down the pitfall would be at the top of my list. However, what nobody knew or accounted for, least of all Eolas, is that this Slime had tentacles.

The slime picked up speed and Eolas tumbled to the side. In mid air, the slime reached out with a short tendril, wrapped it around his leg and pulled him along. They went straight down the chute and were gone from view. I leaned over the pit, but only saw darkness looking back. His party hp bar dropped by more than half, but somehow he survived, somewhere on the next lower level.

Essence gained: +2,780 [Current: 8,373. Total: 40,925]

“We better hurry up and find him, his health is dropping fast!” I said.

We picked up speed and plowed through the remaining slimes on the way towards the exit. It was a race against time to save Eolas on the next level. I received a notification that my Luck increased by +1 from the [Redundancy] part of the [Better than one perk], signifying that it was past midnight.

It was another spiral staircase with yet another increase in heat and humidity. On top of being out of breath from the run, the air was stifling and had a medicinal tinge as if we descended into an underground hospital. Light emitting orange moss was growing on the walls made of many thin layers of stucco like substance. The layers were peeling off, creating a rounded corridor that looked like a dried out shower drain with years of mineral build up.

Somewhere up ahead was Eolas, judging by the party system’s ‘sixth’ sense of direction. We had to tamper our need to find Eolas quickly with prudent caution to avoid rushing headlong into an ambush, or another trap. I took point, but felt uneasy walking barefoot and without a respirator over such a foreign moss, which could readily have been this world’s equivalent of anthrax. My steps crushed the fallen flat stucco layers underfoot with a satisfying crunch.

Eolas’ health bar took another hit and was dangerously low.

My bat ears with lengthy hair tufts were brushing up against the corners of the tube. The pitch forward was steadily increasing the further we went, but soon opened up into a large spherical room with similar passages going in eight different directions, placed seemingly random around the sphere. Green and white slimes rolled around the bottom, and in the center was a Necrotic Ooze with Eolas.

Necrotic Ooze.

Weight: 18,500 lbs

Height: 8′

Total Essence: around 46,000

The Necrotic Ooze was made of blobs stacked one on top of the other, like a badly made snowman on a warm day. Out of one side was the top half of Eolas, sticking out like a muppet. It looked like he was gasping for air, but no sound was coming out. He was being slowly sucked into the gelatinous mass. The last sliver of Eolas’ health blinked and the whole bar vanished. We were too late.

While I was thinking about a plan of attack, Estra acted. A [Fireball] flew out and lit up the place. Everyone shuffled out of the tube and charged down the slope to engage the slimes. Shield held in front I charged into the pass of slimes, creating a path. Unlike with the metal slime, the [Fireballs] and physical attacks were effective. Angry at the loss of another companion, the crew took out their anger and frustration on the slimes, quickly clearing the place of anything that wobbled.

Learned: Shield Charge [Tier 1 skill]

[t1] Uses 25 stamina

[t1] Charge speed increase of 10%

[t1] Stun chance increase of 10%

[t1] Knockback chance increase of 10%

[t1] Shield Charge damage increase of 10%

Essence gained: +1,459 [Current: 9,832. Total: 42,384]

Among the carnage we found a large rucksack filled with bars of steel, which was probably from the large metal slime, though I wasn’t sure how it had ended up there. We also got more vials, and Eolas’ armor and weapon. Eager to get out of the dungeon, we took a short break to catch our breath and trudged back home. In all, we had killed hundreds of slimes including a rare Large Metal Slime, got close to thirteen thousand Essence each, and made it to the fourth floor. But we paid in lives.

“We got more Essence today than we did in over a year.” Lan told me in private, as we walked. “We’re going to have five dragonborn tomorrow.” For an impassive kobold, he seemed excited. He explained that a dragonborn was the most popular [Evolve] option among the kobolds in this region. It was a taller, muscular version of a kobold, the size of a human, with sharp claws, strong jaws, and a thick tail. Considering today’s losses I wasn’t sure what to make of Lan’s bright side. It was a grim reality. Get strong now, or lose even more if we’re not ready for when humans come around.

The way back out was mostly devoid of slimes, but the few that got in the way were quickly dispatched. We hadn’t planned to stay out this long. Everyone was exhausted and starving. We returned in the middle of the night. Scattered around the main chamber of the clan’s dwellings were more refugees, sleeping on makeshift cots, blankets and rugs. Just a few were awake to greet us with some water and food. Estra and I drank a gallon, and went straight to bed. In a moment we were out cold.