"Siti, stay on its flank! Harass it, keep it turning. Don't let it focus," Joko barked, his usual cynicism burned away by the heat of battle. "Kael, you wanted to be useful? Light this whole damn junction up. I want to see every pipe, every crack, every shadow. Look for a weakness!"
This was a language Kael understood. While Joko and Siti began their deadly dance, Kael went to work. He didn't just brighten the existing lights; he found dormant, emergency fixtures on the walls and forced them to life, flooding the large, circular chamber with a harsh, sterile glare.
To the others, he was just their Lamplighter. But in reality, he was a battle analyst with a God's-eye view.
Joko was surprisingly agile, using the pillars in the junction for cover, darting out to land heavy, stomping blows on the creature's edge, forcing it to retract and reform. Siti, emboldened, used her spear's reach to poke and prod its other side, her attacks too weak to do real damage but annoying enough to keep the massive slime's attention split. Globs of acid flew through the air, sizzling harmlessly against the concrete where they had stood moments before.
Kael's eyes, however, weren't on the fight. They were scanning the code of the room and the monster itself.
// Entity: Mature Corrosive Slime // HP: 215/250 // Status: Annoyed // Note: Reinforced_Membrane mitigates low-impact damage. // Critical_Hit_Zone: Dense_Nucleus (Internal)
An internal weak spot. They'd never reach it by just chipping away at its hide. His eyes scanned the environment. The walls were brick. The floor was concrete. But the ceiling... the ceiling was a tangled mess of pipes from decades of repairs and upgrades. And on one of the largest pipes, near the center of the room, was a huge, rusted valve wheel, at least two feet in diameter.
// Object: Main Water-Flow Valve (ID: J-7) // Status: Rusted, Stuck // Action: [Release_High_Pressure_Flush]
Bingo.
"Joko!" Kael shouted over the sizzling sound of another acid shot. "The ceiling! That big red wheel!"
Joko glanced up for a split second while dodging. "I see it! What about it?"
"It looks like a main water valve! If we can open it, the pressure might be enough to blast it apart!" Kael yelled, phrasing his discovery as a hopeful guess.
"Good eye, kid!" Joko yelled back, landing another heavy kick that made the slime jiggle violently. "But it's twenty feet up and rusted shut! We can't reach it!"
"Just keep it busy!" Kael shouted, a desperate plan forming in his mind. "I have an idea!"
He didn't wait for a reply. He ran to a spot directly underneath the valve, placing himself out of the main line of fire. He closed his eyes, ignoring the chaos around him, and focused all of his mental power upwards.
He targeted the valve's code. Status: Rusted, Stuck. This was an order of magnitude harder than unlocking a door or breaking a bulb. He wasn't just changing a simple state; he was trying to command a complex physical mechanism to overcome years of rust and pressure.
A sharp, stabbing pain erupted behind his eyes. He felt the warm trickle of a nosebleed start again, but he didn't dare break his concentration. He visualized the rust flaking away, the gears inside grinding free. He wasn't just editing a word; he was injecting a complex series of commands. [Override_Stasis], [Initiate_Rotation_Protocol], [Execute_Action: Release_High_Pressure_Flush].
The valve groaned. A high-pitched screech of protesting metal echoed through the chamber.
"What's that noise?" Siti cried out, startled.
"Kael! Whatever you're doing, hurry up!" Joko roared, as the slime was now focusing all its attention on him.
With one final, agonizing push of will, Kael screamed the command in his mind. EXECUTE!
With a deafening CRACK, the valve wheel spun violently on its own. A moment later, a massive outlet port on the pipe burst open, unleashing a torrent of water. It wasn't a stream; it was a solid, high-pressure battering ram that slammed directly into the center of the Mature Slime.
The creature didn't stand a chance. The sheer High_Impact_Force tore through its Reinforced_Membrane as if it were tissue paper. The gelatinous body was ripped apart, revealing a softball-sized, pulsating, phosphorescent green sphere at its core—the [Dense Nucleus].
The monster, stunned and eviscerated, let out a silent, bubbling scream.
"SITI! NOW!" Joko bellowed, pointing with his chin. "THE GLOWING THING! HIT IT!"
It was the perfect opening. Siti, seeing her chance, acted on pure instinct. She let out a fierce battle cry, charged forward, and thrust her rebar-tipped spear with all her might. The weapon plunged deep into the glowing nucleus.
The sphere flashed violently, and the entire mass of the Mature Slime collapsed, dissolving into a massive, harmless puddle that washed away in the torrent of water.
The water jet sputtered and died as the pressure equalized. Silence fell, broken only by their ragged breaths and the dripping water. They had done it. They were exhausted, soaked, but they were alive.
Kael wiped the blood from his nose, his head throbbing. He had pushed his power to a new limit. As his vision cleared, he saw it. In the center of the room, where the nucleus had been, a single item remained, glowing with a light far brighter than any of the lesser cores.
// Item: [Mature Slime Core]
It was a real prize. A treasure. But Joko and Siti were standing right there, looking at the same spot. His mind, already exhausted, began to race, trying to solve the next, impossible problem.