'Helpy, does the black slime still have the basic characteristics of any other slime?'
[Still has the basic characteristics of any other slime.]
I nodded in my mind. It was a terribly strong monster that maybe could steal abilities and magic from its prey, but after all, it was still a simple slime... That gave me many ideas as to how to fight it.
"Ok, let's do this..."
We probably hadn't damaged it and its mana should already be recovering quickly. If we didn't hurry to act, it would be dangerous again. We had no time to waste. Still, reducing its HP to 0 seemed impossible to me, at least as long as it continued to attack us from a distance with its tentacles and did not let us fight back. Luckily I came up with an idea that could give us a chance to come closer.
—Limy, ignore where my voice is coming from.
—Master?
"Hey, you, bad-blowed black snot."
"Yes, I'm talking to you."
"Chunk of rotten mud."
"Tar in bad shape."
"Deformed jelly."
"Bad-looking diarrhea."
"Melted licorice."
My voice sounded from different sides, letting out insult after insult. The slime seemed to be going crazy at my words. It started attacking everywhere my voice sounded. Why that? Did it bother it to be insulted? Of course not... Slimes can't hear... What it was attacking was the remnants of mana from the wind whisper. For it, it was as if a lot of enemies were appearing from all sides. Why was I spouting insults instead of just making random sounds? Because insulting it was more pleasant to me! Any problem? I wasn't going to flatter a liquid black shit that was trying to kill me!
"Limy, are you able to feel its core?"
"It's hard. Its body is very big and moves a lot."
"I see... Aeldrya, take advantage that it doesn't know what it is attacking, freeze it! Let's make it as small as we can while making it unable to put its body back together! Limy, don't stop looking for the core! When you find it, don't lose it!"
If my intuition did not fail, it would be solidified and could be broken into pieces without being able to recombine until its remains were thawed.
Aeldrya acted instantly. An ice arrow flew straight into the slime. Upon impact, the ice spread across the part of his body that it struck. I did lose time either and fired the mana cannon towards that spot with all the power I could gather. The ice shattered into a thousand pieces upon the impact and solid chunks of black mud flew across the site. We barely reduced 1/10 of the slime size, but it was still a considerable amount of its body. The smaller it became the better for us.
"We need to find the core before it can come together again! Do not stop!"
Three more arrows hit it; three more parts flew off. If we continued like this, we would soon reduce its size to something more or less manageable. However, before she could shot one more arrow, the slime focused on her. Using that running ability, she backed away from the attack just in time. Opposite from when the slime made its appearance, her face showed no concern or doubt, it was just as expressionless as Limy.
'Shit, it finally found her despite misleading it with the wind whisper. Well, taking into account that she does not stop attacking it isn't unexpected.'
Another black tentacle rushed towards her but she simply released an ice arrow and at almost the same time an arrow that seemed to be made of pure mana. The tentacle froze and broke into pieces almost at the same time. The elf even hadn't to move from the spot to stay safe.
'She is more reliable than I expected... Now that she no longer seems to be affected by that terror magic she looks like a completely different person... I guess I misjudged her... At least in the part related to combat… I have no doubt that she is a pervert.'
However, she couldn't relax in the slightest. She could have destroyed a tentacle, but five more were close behind.
"I can't keep attacking with this!" Aeldrya screamed as she saw the tentacles shoot towards her right after that.
We had cut about 4/10 parts of the slime… but it wasn't enough. Also, none of the spells I knew could do anything to that monster.
‘I wish I had learned ice magic.’
The only thing I could do was try to help her by breaking the tentacles with air bullets or mana cannons. And it wasn't just tentacles, the slime had already regained enough mana to start using skills again. It raised another tentacle and pointed it at Aeldrya. Another black sphere, different from the previous one, formed in front of it.
"I will not let you!"
Before it could release its attack, I fired the mana cannon. The mana projectile slammed into the sphere, deflecting its trajectory and thus preventing it from hitting Aeldrya.
"Master, I found the core."
“Perfect!”
Just then, a tentacle flew towards me before I could notice. I tried to jump away as fast as possible, but in the end, I couldn't avoid it and was swallowed by that black mass. A second later, the light disappeared around me.
“Master!”
The tentacle returned to the body of the slime with me inside. I found myself floating in the middle of that practically opaque jelly.
'This is no good...'
I didn't know what part of the slime I was and couldn't see Limy or Aeldrya from there. Also, there was also another problem...
Status:
Name: Peter Gravel
Kind: Magic stone | Race: Dungeon core
Level: 4 | Experience: 195/1012 | Grade: 1
HP: 81/115 | MP: 23/258 | Mana well: 200/400
————————————————
My HP was dropping at full speed. The acid of this slime was strong enough to melt me. Still, I calmed my mind, preparing to fight back.
'Well… so you swallowed me, huh? Ok, let's see who is faster, you eating me... or me eating you!'
I activated the parasite at max power. My declining HP stabilized at 73. Still, it continued to slowly decrease. The slime seemed to have the advantage.
'Seems that I must escape right now... No, this is an opportunity that I will not have again.'
—Limy, can you feel me and the core at the same time?
—I can.
—Lead me to it!
—Understood!