I didn’t understand why Dorin ran, but I had to admit that he did make a very distracting target for the drake. It charged, completely fixated on the very loud and obvious target in front of it. So intent was it on eating Dorin that it barely even registered a slime leaking out of the ceiling, only to fall immediately as the drake passed underneath.

  It tossed its head once, trying to throw me aside like I was one of the lesser slimes. The attempt was weak, and I clung to its horns with ease before climbing down its head frills and gripping tight to its neck.

  This drake was different from the last. The flavor of its magic was warmer and was infused into its scales, forming a defensive sheen of mana. I could see the interlocking threads of light. They formed a matrix that strengthened each scale individually, as well as connecting them together into an impenetrable defense.

  Or at least, it would have been impenetrable, if I weren’t specially equipped to handle such defenses. Sealing Touch ripped through the shimmering matrix between the scales. Shimmering bonds shattered and dissipated until the entire spell dissolved. With the barrier out of the way, my acid went to work. They gave beneath my touch, tasting vaguely like the fiery rocks strewn around the dungeon floor. Scales gave way to flesh, which gave way to bone.

  The drake stumbled and crashed to the ground. By the time it reached Dorin’s feet, it had come to a complete halt, the light drained from its eyes.

  “That…what did…” Dorin tried to form a cohesive question, while I just wobbled happily from the back of the drake.

  “I believe you requested a dead drake?”

  “Uh. Right, can you find me a sharp rock?”

  I looked around, not sure why he needed both a drake and a rock. Still, rocks were becoming something of a specialty of mine. Between the rocks I’d eaten on my journey so far, and the rubble in which Dorin was nearly buried alive, I felt I understood rocks better than most.

  Hopping down one side of the corridor, I found only small, rounded pebbles. The other side wasn’t any better. I scoured the ceiling, searching the tiny nooks and cracks for anywhere that I could melt the rocks into something Dorin could use. In the end, I found only a wide, flat rock near one of the walls. It had been smoothed over time, likely from thousands of slimes moving over and around it as they travelled through the dungeon. It wasn’t sharp by any definition of the word, but it was the best I could manage.

  I squeezed some of my slime under the little rock, balancing it until it was squarely on my top. With careful hops, I returned to Dorin and the drake corpse. He was busy trying to wrestle with the creature’s mouth.

  “I brought you a rock. It’s not sharp, but it’s the best I could find.” I lifted my slime up, offering him the rock.

  “Actually, that’s perfect,” he said.

  Without any warning, he hurled the rock at the dungeon wall. I hopped back in alarm. The rock shattered into pieces, and Dorin carefully selected one from the mass.

  “Most rocks shatter with sharp edges,” he explained.

  There’s more about rocks than just their taste?

  This was big news to me. As a slime, I was built for living in the tight cracks of rock walls, constantly navigating their structures in order to make my way in the wider world. Yet, I’d never considered what was inside the rocks beyond what made up their various flavors.

  The whole world was made up of rocks…how many different kinds of rocks were there?

  I watched with fascination as Dorin used the sharp edge of the rock to split the drake’s hide. He expertly peeled muscle from bone, setting aside several long pieces of the drake’s skeleton for some unknown use. Then, he gestured to me.

  “Could you melt through its horns here and here?” he pointed to several spots. “I need them separated from its skull.”

  I did as I was told, using my acidic body to carefully melt through the creature’s body until Dorin had two long drake horns. With careful hands, he cut a portion of the beast’s hide into long, thin strips, which he then used to affix the horns to one of the bones he carefully selected from the pile. He held up the completed work, revealing a sort of pick.

  “It’s no axe or sword, and certainly nothing I’d sell in my shop, but it’ll do.” He gave the pick several test swings to test the balance. “Days like these I’m glad I retired as a blacksmith. My wife said I should be a book binder to build her a library, but you can’t fight dragons with binding glue.”

  “So, that’s what you were doing!” I said. “Humans are so dependent on tools.”

  Dorin snorted in laughter. “Not all of us are made of pure magic and acid.”

  “Your loss.”

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Whatever you say. Which way to the boss room?” I pointed with a pod. He nodded and began walking, his steps filled with much greater confidence than before. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get out, I suppose.”

  How curious, I thought as I watched the blacksmith walk away. Before, he practically shuffled along the wall, as if he wanted to melt into it at any moment. I could hardly judge the desire to do so, but it surprised me just how differently he walked with a weapon in hand. Though he still limped slightly from his injuries, his shoulders were square, and his grip on the bone weapon was steadier.

  Yet, it wasn’t enough to fool me. His fire still burned lower than it had on the surface. Dorin wasn’t at full health, but something—perhaps determination, perhaps the necessity of a leader to always appear his best—drove him forward anyway.

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  That was fine. A warrior as strong as him would still be useful in a fight, even if they were on death’s door. And, if he needed it, I would protect him. That was all I could do.

  “Are you ready for this?” Dorin asked as we stood before the ornate door.

  Fire breathing dragons were carved into the great double door, illuminated in my arcane sight by the thick veins of copper dungeon magic that reinforced the stone. If there was ever a more intimidating image, I had not experienced it.

  I shifted my slime in a nervous series of wobbles that held no true meaning beyond keeping my body busy as I worked up the courage to continue. Every instinct I had screamed that this was not a safe place. I was not supposed to be here. Good dungeon slimes remained in the wall-cracks, ready to feast on unsuspecting travelers. They did not challenge dungeon bosses. Whatever lay beyond that door, it was my superior in the dungeon hierarchy.

  You’re more than that. You’re more than just a dungeon slime. You can do this. I repeated the sentiment several times until the truth of it began to rival the power of my own instincts. Besides, there are a hundred and seventeen boss rooms that lead to the second floor. Surely the dungeon can’t make a monster that strong if it has to create a hundred and seventeen of them?

  “You okay?” Dorin asked.

  I wobbled an affirmation. “Yes. I’m fine. I’m more than just a dungeon slime. I can do this.”

  The perpetually gruff look on Dorin’s face softened a touch. No doubt he was just as nervous as I was. There was some comfort in that. Of course, I was stronger than him, but he was a leader, and thus well-used to hiding his fears for the sake of others. Of course, this didn’t look like fear, but I didn’t know of anything else he could possibly have been feeling in the face of that door.

  “I’m going to open the door, but it’ll probably close behind us, so don’t lag,” he said.

  “Yeah. I’ll be right behind you!”

  Dorin nodded and pushed the door open. I kept right on his heels as we entered the wide room. The copper cables of magic split to follow each wall until they met again on the far side, right behind a creature that positively glowed with inner fire magic.

  “That’s the boss?” whispered Dorin.

  I performed a human head nod. It was a massive drake, one that was easily three times the size of the ones we’d encountered in the halls. I suddenly doubted my theory that dungeon bosses sometimes needed fresh air. I didn’t see a way that this creature could fit through either the door behind us or the one behind it, let alone fit through any of the corridors that might lead to the exit.

  A thundering rumble shook the floor, flaring the magic inside the creature, but it didn’t move. I stared at it. Its flame pulsed with the rumbling in the earth.

  “It’s sleeping,” I whispered.

  “Maybe we can go around?”

  Going around was a risk in itself. The monster wasn’t leaning against the door, but its long, whip-like tail was sprawled around it. The only path to freedom took us right over the tail. There was no way around it.

  “Just, be very quiet,” Dorin suggested. He gingerly began side-stepping the monster, always keeping a very respectful distance between himself and the beast.

  “I’ll climb the wall, that way I don’t risk touching—”

  A solid THUD sent a thousand echoes around the round room. Dorin and I froze. Out of the back of my senses, I spotted the culprit. True to Dorin’s warning, the door had closed behind us…and it had done so as loudly as possible.

  Thanks, Dragon’s Gate! I thought, resisting the urge to wobble my frustration.

  The rumbling ceased. Suddenly, the pulsing of my own core seemed entirely too loud, despite making no sound at all. Across the room, the enormous drake rose to its feet and shook its head with an almost weary sigh. It opened flaming eyes which pinned us with incredible heat, and as it huffed out a breath, mana-dense flames curled from its nostrils.

  “I would say going around is no longer an option,” Dorin whispered.

  The drake seemed to agree, as it opened its jaws wide and roared. Dorin dropped his weapon, clapping his hands to the side of his head in a desperate attempt to block out the sound. Meanwhile, the force of the noise pushed me back several feet, even as I clung to the cracks in the tile floor.

  Its massive tail whipped around, and it breathed deep. The hot magic inside it seemed to creep up its throat.

  “Run!” I shouted, jumping high to shove Dorin before the two of us became little more than smears of soot on the floor.

  The action shook Dorin from his stunned state. He raced away, grabbing me in one hand and his bone pick in the other. Flames scorched the floor where we’d been only moments before.

  “Now would be a good time for new ideas!” Dorin shouted. “Do you have a way to stun it?”

  I cast my senses in every direction, taking in every detail of the room in its entirety. The walls were carved, but like the rest of the first floor, time had carved cracks into every surface. From some of them, I spied silvery pools of extremely dense mana.

  Now, what are those doing here? I wondered. If I felt uncomfortable challenging a boss room, then how had lesser slimes come to fill the cracks?

  It didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were there, and if I needed a boost of mana, Enhanced Eater would let me get it. That opened options.

  “Okay, you’re way faster than I am. You go that way and draw its fire,” I said. “I’ll get close, then use Wild Magic Wave to take it down quickly.”

  “Will that be enough?”

  “We’ll find out!”

  It would have to be. [Affinity] was my strongest stat, and Wild Magic Wave scaled accordingly.

  Dorin didn’t argue. He dropped me unceremoniously on the ground before sprinting to the left. He raised his pick over his head and shouted a great guttural battle cry. The drake snarled, flame licking from its nostrils again, but its eyes turned to track the knight.

  I began hopping as fast as I could. Heat surged through the room as the drake unleashed another stream of fire at Dorin. The knight threw himself to the ground, but the flames were close enough that his armor began to smolder. He rolled away, stifling the fire before it could grow and sprang to his feet.

  The drake raised a great forepaw and swiped at him with its talons. The knight raised his arm, as if to block with a shield, only he had no shield. The blow raked across his forearm, and he retreated, hurling insults at the drake’s ancestors.

  I hated how slow I was, but there was no helping it. No slime has ever been accused of being a quick creature…

  The drake’s paw came around for a second swipe, but Dorin was ready this time. He swung his bone pick around, slamming the drake-horn spike into the creature’s paw. He still took the force of the blow, but the drake howled and roared in frustration. It hopped back, leaning its weight onto its hindquarters to favor its injured paw.

  “Whatever you’re going to do, I recommend doing it now!” shouted Dorin. “I think I made it mad!”

  I pushed myself, hopping even faster until I was right beneath it. The drake’s eyes flicked to me with a growl, but my mana was already building. It flared outward before condensing down and exploding. Green and silver magic blinded me, but I heard the drake roar in outrage and pain. The earth trembled beneath me as the drake tried to maintain its balance when faced with such an incredible force of magic.

  On a hunch, I threw myself forward, completely unable to see. Somewhere ahead, Dorin’s battle cry echoed. I slammed into the monster’s side, just as his cry reached its peak.

  It roared and crashed to the ground. The spots of wild magic began to clear from my senses. Before me, the monster lay heaving, but there was no sign of Dorin. I hopped forward, looking for my friend, only to find him pinned beneath the drake’s flank, blood pooling around him.

  “DORIIIN!”