We were outnumbered.

  “What’s going on?” Aelin looked at the dozens of little slimes, each one the size of a basketball but just as hot as the lava they had just left.

  “Mini-raid.” Ether looked at me. “It’s a mechanic on the fives.” She looked around. “This shouldn’t be happening even if we were overfilled.”

  “Well, it is.” I turned my attention to my mana as I put in a new clip. “I’m down to sixteen mana. I could wipe out two sides, but then I’d be done.”

  “Then use your bullets!” Aelin pointed to her right. “I’ve got this side!”

  “I can help!” Fray surged forward, slicing the slime closest to her open. The gelatin inside spilled out, heating up the rocky floor before it dissolved into dust.

  “Be careful!”

  My warning came too late, as the next one she sliced exploded, raining a hot cloud of red dust over her.

  “OW!” Fray danced back towards the center of the group.

  “I’ve got you.” Justia turned her attention to the other green woman.

  “I can taunt one thing at a time.” Ether slammed the bottom of her shield into the floor. “Shield Wall!”

  The golden light from her barrier slid across the floor, stopping the procession of the slimes behind us.

  “It’s not going to stop them for long.” Ether turned to look at me.

  “I’ll get the ones on your left.” I aimed at the slimes on that side. Unlike regular monsters, these slimes didn’t have cores. A single shot was all it took to destroy them, but there were ten monsters on my side, and each trigger pull cost me a mana.

  “We need to get some fire resistance if we do this one ever again!” Justia yelled as she took out the SnakeBlade we’d earned from our first boss. The Healer charged next to Fray, helping the Hitter slice open the small slimes, then dropping back to heal the burns their deaths caused.

  “Done!” Aelin laughed as she turned her attention to the slimes crawling around the end of Ether’s barrier. “I’ve got these!”

  Ether pulled out a sword and dropped the barrier. “Atlas, take a mana potion!”

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  I holstered my pistol. “I’d rather switch to melee.”

  “We’ve got this now!” Ether looked at me. “But you’re going to need to be at full mana when the boss respawns!”

  I swallowed and pointed at the left side of her. Nine mana would let me cast it and leave one point left so I wasn’t mana depleted. “Wave.”

  The wall of water crashed over the monsters, clearing the cluster that had grouped at the edge of her barrier.

  I touched my CB and navigated the menu over to my inventory and took a mana potion out of it. I’d been hesitant to rely on them considering that they were addictive, had diminishing returns for a while after you used one, and there had been the whole accusation that I’d been doping with illegal potions on my first week at the Cathedral.

  The minty liquid went down my throat in a single gulp, filling my mana back up to full. Most mana potions would only refill twenty mana, but Miel had bought us some of the good ones that fully recovered a Tier Zero.

  “Okay, I’m good.” I put the empty bottle back into my CB.

  “Done!” Aelin sang as she walked over to the middle of the room.

  I looked over at Justia and Fray. The pair had a few holes in the clothes where the slimes had burned them, but Justia had healed any injuries they might have sustained.

  “It’s back…” Ether pointed at the side Fray and Justia had been fighting on.

  The Giant Fire Slime rose out of the lava, but now it was only four feet tall. The bonus round, as well as losing one of its cores, had greatly diminished it.

  “We’re not doing anything else here.” Ether walked in between us and the monster. “Might as well go all out now.”

  I realized the reason why she wanted me to take a potion. This fight was uncomfortable for everyone, and at full mana, I could end it in seconds.

  “WAVES!” I used both hands to channel the spell. Putting the ‘s’ at the end would cast the spell over and over again faster than I could normally cast it if I was just announcing the spell. It drained resources, but eight casts would be more than enough to flatten this thing.

  The first wall of water was met with a wall of lava. The molten rock hardened into a rocky barrier, which my second spell smashed apart.

  The third hit both arms, which flattened out to protect the main body. They vanished into dust before my fourth one finally connected.

  The rocky shell splintered under my fifth spell. Chunks of cooled lava fell off, exposing the body inside to my sixth spell. The seventh shattered the outer shell, leaving very few chunks left on the monster that was now the size of a beach ball.

  I cancelled the castings as soon as the eighth wall rose in front of me. Without anywhere else to go, the glowing beach ball launched itself at me, vaporizing itself inside the wall of water.

  The boss crystal and a necklace bounced off of Ether’s shield.

  The ivory woman blew on the items before she picked them up. “It’s a necklace for you.” She held out the red pendant towards Justia. “It gives a Recovery and burn resistance, but you’ll have to wait until you’re five to wear it.”

  The Healer took the red pendant. She held up the flame-shaped gem. “It doesn’t have a chain though.”

  “I’m sure we’ll get one before you’re level five.” I blinked. I was down to seven mana, which was almost enough to keep me from the headache that casting my spell another time would have caused. Still, having my mana that low was exhausting.

  “Alright…” I waved at the exit. “I’m ready to do something besides slimes.”

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