The tunnel grew tighter as they descended past the 200-meter mark. The air here was heavy with moisture, clinging to the skin like a cold sweat.
"Watch your step, useless," Vane grunted, shoving Lin aside as he marched down the center of the path. "If you trip a trap, don't expect Mira to heal you."
"Understood," Lin said, keeping his head down.
He walked five paces behind the main formation, carrying the oversized supply pack. To the Viper Squad, he was invisible—a beast of burden. To Lin, they were free bodyguards clearing the path to his fortune.
He scanned the cavern walls. His enhanced Wisdom (11) and Agility (29) allowed him to see things the others missed: the slight discoloration in the moss indicating a slide trap, the scuff marks of a Goblin patrol that had passed recently.
But he wasn't interested in Goblins. He wanted jelly.
"Hold up," Rat, the Rogue, raised a fist. "Movement ahead. Big one."
The squad froze. Vane stepped forward, his greatsword raised. Silas, the Mage, lit the tip of his staff with a soft glow.
In the center of a wide cavern chamber, a massive blob of azure gelatin was pulsating rhythmically. It was twice the size of the Green Slimes they had fought earlier. Inside its translucent body, half-digested bones and rusted armor floated suspended in the goo.
[ Monster Identified: Blue Slime (Variant) ]
[ Level: 4 ]
[ Trait: Mitosis (Splitter) ]
Vane spat on the ground. "Blue Slime. Damn it."
"Skip it?" Silas asked, lowering his staff. "The XP to Mana ratio is trash. You hit it, it splits. You hit those, they split again. It takes forever to clear and they drop the same cores as the Green ones."
"Yeah," Vane sheathed his sword. "Hug the left wall. Don't draw aggro. We're here for the boss, not to farm trash mobs."
Lin's eyes narrowed.
Trash mobs?
To him, that blue blob looked like a piñata stuffed with diamonds.
Splitter. That was the magic word.
If a normal slime gave him +1 HP, did the split versions count as separate entities? If this thing broke into four pieces, was that +4 HP?
He couldn't let them walk away.
The squad began to creep along the left wall, giving the monster a wide berth. The Blue Slime remained dormant, bubbling quietly.
Lin lagged behind. He waited until Vane and Rat were looking away, focused on the path ahead.
He loosened the strap on the heavy supply bag just a fraction. Then, he deliberately hooked his foot on a jagged rock.
"Woah!"
Lin stumbled hard. He twisted his body, flinging the heavy bag off his shoulder. It crashed onto the stone floor with a deafening clamor of pots and metal spikes colliding.
CLANG-CRASH.
The sound echoed through the cavern like a gunshot.
The Blue Slime stopped bubbling. It surged upward, sensing the vibration.
"You clumsy idiot!" Vane roared, spinning around.
It was too late. The Blue Slime launched itself. It didn't crawl; it leaped, a heavy projectile of acidic jelly aiming straight for the source of the noise.
"Defensive formation!" Vane shouted, forced to draw his sword again. "Silas, blast it back! Rat, protect Mira!"
Lin scrambled backward, dragging the bag with him, feigning terror. "I'm sorry! I slipped!"
"I'll kill you myself after this!" Vane screamed as the slime crashed into his shield.
The impact was heavy. The Blue Slime wrapped around the shield, trying to digest the metal.
"Get it off!" Vane swung his sword, cleaving the monster in half.
SQUELCH.
The monster didn't die. The two halves shivered, then instantly formed into two slightly smaller, faster slimes.
[ Blue Slime (Medium) - Lv. 3 ]
[ Blue Slime (Medium) - Lv. 3 ]
"It's splitting!" Rat yelled, jumping in to stab one. His daggers pierced the membrane.
Pop.
The medium slime split again. Now there were two Small Blue Slimes (Lv. 2) scuttling around Rat's ankles, biting at his leather boots.
"Silas! AoE! Burn them all!" Vane ordered, kicking a slime away.
"I'm going to run out of mana before we even reach the boss!" Silas complained, but he began chanting. "Fire Wave!"
A fan of flames washed over the cavern floor. The slimes screeched, their bodies bubbling and shrinking.
This was the moment.
The slimes were damaged. They were frantic. The cavern was chaos.
Lin crouched behind a stalagmite. He drew his bow.
Analysis.
The Small Blue Slimes had about 40 HP max.
Silas's fire spell had reduced them to roughly 15-20 HP. They were critically injured, trying to reform.
Lin activated [Eternal Hunt].
He didn't aim for the ones Vane was fighting. He aimed for the stragglers—the ones trying to flank the Priestess, or the ones retreating from the fire.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
The crimson aura coated his arrow.
THWIP.
The arrow flew through the chaos, striking a small slime right in its core.
[ Damage: 7.78 (True) ]
The slime had 6 HP left. The arrow popped it like a water balloon. It dissolved instantly into a puddle of blue water.
[ Target Eliminated: Small Blue Slime ]
[ Trait Triggered: Infinite Growth ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
It counts.
Lin's heart raced. The system treated the split entities as new monsters.
He nocked another arrow. Fast. Efficient.
A medium slime near Rat was splitting into two small ones. The moment they separated, their HP bars were vulnerable.
THWIP. THWIP.
Two arrows in rapid succession.
The first one pierced the left slime. -7.78 True Damage. It wobbled, slowed.
The second arrow hit the same spot. -7.78 True Damage.
[ Target Eliminated. ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
"Help me here!" Mira screamed. A small slime had gotten past the line and was gnawing on her robe.
Lin shifted his aim. He could have shouted a warning. Instead, he loosed an arrow.
The projectile whizzed past Mira's ear—close enough to cut a strand of her hair—and slammed into the slime.
SPLAT.
The slime exploded, splashing harmless blue goo onto Mira's white robes.
[ Target Eliminated. ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
"Are you crazy?!" Mira shrieked, looking at Lin. "You almost hit me!"
"I saved you!" Lin shouted back, his voice trembling with fake adrenaline. "It was going to bite you!"
He didn't stop shooting.
He was a turret. He didn't move his feet. He just drew, aimed, and loosed. He targeted the weak, the dying, the divided.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
[ Max HP +1 ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
By the time the last slime dissolved under Vane's boot, Lin had fired eight arrows.
He had secured 6 kills.
The cavern fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the Viper Squad and the sizzling of acid on the floor.
[ Current HP: 778 -> 784 ]
Six points of Constitution. Just for "tripping" over a rock.
Vane marched over to Lin. He grabbed the front of Lin's hoodie and slammed him against the cave wall.
"You useless, clumsy piece of trash," Vane snarled, his face inches from Lin's. "You wasted Silas's mana. You damaged the supplies. Give me one reason why I shouldn't leave you here."
Lin looked into Vane's eyes. He didn't blink. He calculated the distance to Vane's throat. He calculated that with 784 HP, he could probably headbutt Vane into a coma right now.
But not yet. The Boss was still ahead. He needed them to clear the path.
Lin slumped his shoulders, forcing tears into his eyes. "I'm sorry! I... I panicked. I'll take a pay cut. 200 credits. Just please don't leave me."
Vane sneered, releasing him. Lin slid to the floor.
"200 credits," Vane agreed. "And you clean this mess up. Every arrow. Every core. If you miss one, I break a finger."
"Yes, sir," Lin mumbled.
The squad moved away to recover their stamina and check their gear. They were annoyed, tired, and distracted.
Lin knelt on the ground. He began retrieving his arrows from the puddles of goo.
Most of the arrows were fine. The True Damage aura seemed to protect the shaft from the worst of the acid. He wiped them clean with a rag.
Six arrows recovered.
He picked up the small Slime Cores. They were tiny, worth maybe 10 credits each.
He palmed one core and slipped it into his pocket. Then another. He put the rest in the loot bag for Vane.
He stood up, shouldering the heavy pack again. It felt lighter now. Or maybe he was just getting stronger.
He looked at his health bar. 784.
He looked at the dark tunnel ahead.
Trip again, the voice in his head whispered. Next time, make sure there are more.
"Let's go, trash!" Rat called out.
"Coming," Lin said.
He checked his quiver. 18 arrows ready.
He checked his hunger. It was growing.