The tunnel was cold and tight, scraping my hoodie as I squeezed forward. I was moving quite slowly through it, maybe because the stone was pressing against my shoulders.
But hey, what could I expect? Water under my knees soaked right through my shorts, making my skin prickle.
"This is also fine," I hissed. "I love slimy, stuffy, and claustrophobic tunnels."
My backpack bumped the ceiling briefly, and after a full minute of claustrophobic crawling, the tunnel finally sloped down.
Finally, it was ending. Freedom!
When approaching the end of the tunnel, I noticed slight differences.
For one, the airflow grew stronger, and the second, bigger point was that the ground disappeared.
Yep. I had fallen down a hole.
"Oh."
I didn't even have time to process the drop. My hands eventually touched empty air where supporting ground should have been.
The classic falling-down-a-hole trick.
I hit the floor hard. Not enough to break anything, but enough to knock the breath out of me.
Water splashed as I landed.
I lay there for a second, staring at the ceiling hole that I had dropped from. It oddly felt like the hole was smiling back. Was I finally going delusional?
"…I'm starting to dislike dungeons."
Pushing myself up slowly, I shook my head and looked around.
The room I'd fallen into was larger than the tunnels. It was wide and circular, like a chamber carved out of the earth. The walls were covered in that same glossy Mireglass sheen, reflecting the faint blue light from cracks in the stone.
The floor was wet but flatter, and there were little puddles scattered, like the dungeon had spilled itself.
And in the centre of the room…
Something moved.
At first, I thought it was a boulder. Then the boulder wobbled.
Then it breathed.
"For f*cks sake!"
A slime bigger than anything I'd just seen sat in the middle of the room. It was massive, easily taller than me even in its resting state, with thick folds of translucent blue-green gel layered like muscle.
Its surface bubbled slowly, and inside its body, darker shapes swirled like it had eaten something and hadn't decided if it wanted to digest it yet.
This was not something to be messed with. Something told me this slime would probably do more than just dissolve my clothes. It would probably dissolve my entire existence.
'This is definitely not a beginner slime.'
As if hearing me think, the slime shifted.
A bulge rose on one side of its body, then another, as it lifted itself slightly, wobbling into a more upright form. The movement wasn't fast, but it had weight, like watching a truck slowly roll into motion.
The chamber vibrated faintly with each bounce.
Blop.
Blop.
Blop.
It turned, not with eyes, but with its entire body. For some reason, I had the feeling that it was looking toward me like a predator that had found its dinner for the night.
'Hey, Mr. Slime. I know that I look tasty, but I assure you that I do not taste that nice.'
As if all of this wasn't enough, the system, which had been quiet for all of five seconds, decided to finally contribute.
'Didn't even have to call up the appraisal this time. Guess it also knows that I'm screwed.'
[DUNGEON ENTITY DETECTED]
Name: Slime Prime
Threat Level: Medium-High (D-)
Description: Heavily evolved slime variant. Elemental output far exceeds its basic counterpart—same type, significantly worse problem. Thick gel body absorbs and disperses physical damage. Can redistribute its mass mid-combat to attack from unexpected angles. Not recommended for solo encounters below D-rank.
I stared at the label.
What was a D-rank-level threat doing in an F-rank dungeon? Surely this was a joke. If I made it out alive, this black market place was going to get seriously sued for false advertisements. That's even if you could sue the black market... well, you get the point.
"Slime Prime," I whispered, horrified. "You've got to be kidding me."
The slime bounced again.
Blop.
Its body compressed, then expanded, as if it were testing its own mass. Like it was warming up and getting ready.
This is not good.
I took one slow step backwards.
Slime Prime took one slow bounce forward.
Blop.
The water around it rippled outward in a ring.
I swallowed.
"…Okay," I said, voice tight. "We are going to leave now."
Slime Prime did not agree.
Its body suddenly compressed hard, far more than before, then launched sideways at breakneck speed.
Not toward me directly.
Across the chamber.
It slammed into the wall with a sound like a car crash.
The Mireglass dented as small blobs of its mass fell off.
'Perhaps it was trying to shed off the excess fat.'
Whatever it was doing, it didn't matter. Just from seeing it slam into the wall, I could see a faint premonition of what would happen to me if I got hit by that thing.
My stomach dropped through my feet.
Slime Prime peeled itself off the wall like it was nothing, wobbling back into shape, and then it turned toward me again.
And this time, it compressed faster.
I felt my skin go cold.
"That," I whispered, backing up, "would not be good if it hit me."
Slime Prime bounced once more.
And then it lunged straight at me.
I didn't think.
I just moved.
My body reacted before my brain finished screaming, and electricity prickled under my skin like a warning.
My fingers twitched.
'This is supposed to be beginner-friendly.'
The dungeon, once again, did not care.
Slime Prime filled my vision.
My brain screamed a string of words that would get me banned from every forum on Earth, but my mouth didn't have time to say any of them.
The slime hit.
Or—almost hit.
I threw myself sideways, boots slipping in the shallow water as the monster's gelatinous bulk slammed into where I had been standing a heartbeat ago.
WHAM.
The chamber trembled. Water jumped in little angry splashes. The Mireglass wall behind me dented again like it had just been punched by a truck made of pudding.
My legs wobbled, and my soul briefly left my body to file a complaint.
"…Beginner dungeon," I wheezed, scrambling backward on my hands. "My ass."
Slime Prime didn't pause.
It compressed again, like a spring loading itself, and launched—this time toward me.
I snapped my hand up instinctively, and electricity pulsed under my skin like my nerves were being flicked with a live wire.
Lightning Burst.
A crackling surge exploded from my palm in a short, violent arc.
ZZT—KRAK!
The lightning hit the slime's front edge and spread across its surface like a spiderweb of bright white veins.
For half a second, Slime Prime… stalled.
Its body shuddered. The surface bubbled erratically.
I blinked.
"Oh," I whispered, shocked. "That actually—"
Then the slime kept coming.
Not as fast, not as cleanly, but it still came, mass rippling as it redistributed like it had just shrugged off a mild inconvenience.
And my stomach dropped again.
"—worked," I finished weakly as I rolled out of the way with significantly less confidence than I started the sentence with.
Slime Prime slammed past me, overshot, and hit the wall.
BOOM.
It peeled itself off again.
The system, in its infinite helpfulness, decided now was a great time to be a smug little narrator.
[NOTICE]
Core Output Strain Detected.
Recommendation: Avoid repeated output spikes.
"Oh, thank you," I hissed. "I'll be sure to avoid output spikes while I'm being hunted by a national-level jellybean."
Slime Prime turned.
Blop. Blop.
It could probably smell my fear through the air.
And then it did something worse than charging.
It paused.
Its surface bulged, then split, pushing out two thick pseudopods like arms made of gel. One slapped the water, the other slapped the floor.A ripple ran through the chamber like a pulse.
My skin prickled.
The water around my ankles shimmered.
And for the first time since entering the room, I realised the dungeon water wasn't just water.
It was mana-rich.
Meaning the slime wasn't just in its element.
It was in a buffet.
"…Oh no," I whispered.
Slime Prime compressed again.
I braced for another bull rush. Instead, it launched at an angle. Not straight but diagonal as if it had learned geometry.
My eyes widened.
"You—YOU CAN DO THAT?"
It clipped the floor, bounced, and came back like a pinball with intent to kill. I ducked, barely, the slime's gel brushing past my hoodie sleeve with a cold, sticky kiss that made my whole body recoil.
I stumbled backward, and my heel caught on something in the water.
My backpack strap.
I slipped.
And Slime Prime took that moment as an invitation.
It surged forward in a direct line, body flattened like a battering ram it's speed increasing further. It seemed that every-time the creature shed weight it got faster.
I had maybe half a second.
Zip Dash.
The thought hit like a reflex.
My body snapped into motion—
CRACK.
For the briefest instant, I wasn't running.
I was light.
A thin streak of electric blue cut through the air and reappeared five metres to the right with a sharp crackle.
I landed badly, knees bending, water splashing, but I landed alive.
Slime Prime slammed into where I had been, denting the ground hard enough that the puddles jumped.
My heart pounded against my ribs.My lungs were on fire.
'That was way too close for comfort.'
Zip Dash was insane.
It felt like cheating. It felt like the universe finally apologised.
Then the system reminded me it hated me.
[Zip Dash (Lv.1)]
Uses Remaining Today: 2
Cooldown: 29:59
"Right," I wheezed. "So I can't do that again for a while. Good. Perfect. Love it."
Slime Prime turned again, wobbling, then paused.
Something inside its body swirled, dark shapes shifting like it was stirring soup.
Then its surface bubbled and it… split.
Not fully, but it shed. A chunk of its gel peeled off and hit the floor with a wet slap. Then another. Three smaller slimes formed, each about the size of a medium sized dog, quivering as they separated.
My jaw dropped.
"You can spawn minions?" I whispered. "In my beginner dungeon?"