Actions and Consequences

"How much longer are we going to have to patrol?"

"New contract says 10 hours per week. We have to make people feel like there are heroes around, make 'em all feel safe and cozy."

"Anything is fine with me if we're getting paid more. And stop complaining; all we're doing is walking around."

"Why shouldn't I complain? It's downright dull. It's what ordinary people do for fun; we're not ordinary, so why should we? What does it matter whether they feel safe or not anyways? We're still protecting them!"

"Stop talking like that; you'll jinx us."

"Speaking of."

"Wow, what a coincidence that was."

"Shut up! It's time to earn a living!"

"Given its growth rate and size, it seems to be D-Rank; we should be fine!"

....

'Shit! We can't do this! Nobody can penetrate the slimes to their cores! My lightning magic has no penetration! Kendra's body strengthening is D-rank, but her reach is too short, and their bodies are so acidic! It was embarrassing to rely on Ben's E-rank Spearmanship to kill these mobs, but what else was I supposed to do?

I can't just run away; I'll lose too much reputation. Maybe the boss isn't a slime but a doppelganger! Then we wouldn't have an issue at all!'

"The boss is about to spawn! Kill it quickly so we can get out of here!"

"I thought we should do it slowly and let it eat a few of us first, though?"

"Smartass, just fight!"

The floor started vibrating, creating little waves in the wet mud as a blue liquid emerged from the center of the room, forming into a ball about 4 meters in diameter.

'Shit, it's a slime. We're fucked.'

The boss spawned, rampaging through its lair, slamming into the ground, and creating shockwaves as it did. Within seconds, a hero was already dead.

"Fuck! Ben!"

"Pour it on!"

'Fuck this, shooting lightning at something that size isn't going to help!'

"I need help! If I hit it, I get acid burns!"

'How can I help? It ignores my attacks; if I stay here, it will get eaten!'

"Please! Tyler, help us!"

'I can't! I'll die! I have to run! Please just let me out of here!'

Unwilling to give up tasty-looking food, the slime gave chase.

'Anything to distract it! Please!'

'Oh, perfect! Thank god! There's some guy here filming; maybe if I push him to the ground behind me, I'll have time to escape!'

______________________________

Sirus walked out into the street and started recording live, sending the footage to HNN.

"Good evening, this is Sirus Navarro with HNN; there is what appears to be a D-rank miasma pit at the intersection of Lewis and Gates in north Brooklyn. Around five minutes ago, witnesses testified seeing a group of four heroes entering the pit, no updates on the situation since then!"

Sirus recorded on and off, giving updates every five minutes, to the approval of Lilian Hurst, anxious for the opportunity to join the fray.

"It seems like the heroes have eliminated all the lower-level monsters and spawned the boss! At the current rate, this incident has had no casualties, with no monsters breaking from the pit. Property damage is minimal!"

Soon after this optimistic announcement, a man came out of the pit screaming and pushed Sirus out of his way in his escape.

Sirus could have dodged or moved out of the way as he saw him coming, but instead, leaned into it, falling even harder onto his camera.

'It sucks the camera is broken, but now I have an excuse not to be live, and there are only two other reporters here, and they're not filming me!'

Sirus ignored the running man, practically leaping into the pit.

'Slimes have the most glass cannon type defense of any creature. If you have a long reach, it's the easiest of its rank, but if not, it's the hardest.'

From his own experience, Sirus knew his reach was seven meters, much larger than any slime at this rank, even a boss.

'The farther it is, the harder it is to maintain; I should still be careful. Plus, I don't think I can do enough damage to the core with my wire!'

Sirus ran into the boss's room, seeing two people passed out in the corners and a giant slime in the center.

The slime charged at the intruder in its home, jumping up and slamming into the ground.

'Shit, that thing covers a lot of distance with a jump! I will have to take this slower than I originally intended!'

Sirus used his mana to reinforce the muscles in his legs, vastly increasing his speed. As he ran around the slime, he shot his wire into it, wrapping it around its core and squeezing.

'Shit, it's doing nothing! Mana-heart doesn't do much at a distance, and String manipulation is still E-rank! I'll have to improvise.'

Sirus continued running around the slime, now using his wire to slice off pieces of the boss, trying to cut down its mass.

'What the? The slime fluids I'm slicing off are just becoming slimes? How the hell does that work?'

Sirus slashed away at the main slime, with each cut creating a much smaller slime. The little slimes were much more agile, continuously jumping onto Sirus, covering his body with acid burns.

'I'll have to deal with them before I deal with it! Their cores are much smaller and probably weaker, so I should be able to crush them with the strings.'

Sirus was right, and he smashed the cores of the slimes, and they didn't birth any new slimes.

Soon enough, after using almost all of his mana and sustaining many burns, the boss slime was reduced to a core with 1/2 meter of slime fluid surrounding it. There was a spear in the center of the boss room, and Sirus could stab it to death easily.

[Conditions met: Acquire Boss Slime's Ability?

[Yes / No]

[Yes]

[Ether Extracted: Skill]

[Skill: D-Rank: Clone

Copy: Uses mana to create a clone of the Host. Clone has the same attributes as the Host and can follow basic commands.

Note: Cannot be used as a stand-in at work.]

'This is perfect; I have a great idea of how to use this!'

Sirus walked over to the two other heroes sitting on the edge of the mud cave. One had a D-rank ability, the other an E-rank.

'Their breathing is slow enough that they're not pretending to be unconscious. I'm sorry I was too late to save your friend. He was a brave man who died protecting others.'

Sirus considered leaving the rewards for the family of the man who had died but changed his mind. The Hero Association provided life insurance for all heroes, so it wasn't necessary.

The reward had appeared as Sirus walked around the pit, looking at the injuries of the heroes, which weren't life-threatening.

[Item Appraisal: D-Rank Slime Core fluid.

Consumable: Drink

Heals minor injuries instantly

Heals major injuries slowly

Increases natural regeneration by 200% for two days once drunk.

Cannot heal lost limbs.

Does not restore blood loss.

Note: From Concentrate. No artificial flavors]

Sirus was tempted to drink it but decided against it. Healing-related items and awakeners are rare, so this was valuable. He pocketed the item, grabbed the bodies of the two heroes, and carried them out of the pit before collapsing from tiredness.

'Why can't I have a stamina-type ability? This sucks.'

As Sirus complained, two men in suits appeared and looked down at him lying on the ground.

"Are you Sirus Navarro? We are from the investigative branch of the Hero Association, and we have some questions for you."

Sirus sat up, looked around, and nodded to the two men. He saw the man who had run out sitting inside an ambulance and two pairs of medics pulling the two heroes onto stretchers.

"Don't worry; you're not in trouble."

Sirus' shoulders dropped, and he relaxed. His blood pressure rose significantly when he saw them. The appearance of the Investigative branch almost always means something is wrong and needs to be fixed, usually meaning a hunter had done something wrong. It was a rarity, but Sirus extensively followed heroes, so he knew their reputation.

'At least I'm not in trouble or anything. I was a bit worried there investigating me after Ivarr's family showed people the necklace.'

"We just want to investigate your power level. A D-rank hero team went in there and lost, but one of them managed to escape and request reinforcements. But an E-ranker went in and defeated it alone? I assume you understand why we're curious?"

Sirus' blood pressure rose again, unsure of how to respond.