Syl

Chapter 60: Shadowcaster

'What the hell is a Shadow... Caster?'

Would you like to swap classes?>.

Shit. I needed to make a decision. Tabitha had warned me that I should be careful of blindly deciding, especially if it was a different type of class. But the name of this class hinted at casting spells, so I could safely assume it was still magic-related. Also, aside from fighting ghosts, my slime abilities were still vastly superior to my class.

'If it's bad, I can swap back. If it's good, I can get a headstart on skill revelations... Yes, swap class.'

.

'Uh. Yes?'

Helps the user hide their presence, greatly scaling with skill level.

'Oh, now it greatly scales? Well worth the point. I had no idea skills could upgrade like that. Obscuring my Lifeforce reminds me of one of my prior evolution options. Now let's grab the new magic.'

'Acid magic! No doubt it's weaker than my [Acid Slime], but now I could use it while in my disguise.'

I fired the spell, and a luminescent green magical dart shot out at high speed, sizzling into the wall. I copied its size and coloring and fired an acidic slime shot, giving my mimic skill the praise it deserved for replicating it with one glance. I compared the damage between the two, and I'd say the spell was easily less than half as effective as my slime.

I excitedly descended the stairs, eager to see what the next floor held. Eventually, the steps ended, and I stood in front of a massive archway with glowing sigils decorating it. It certainly gave the impression of the final challenge of the dungeon. When I approached it, a notification appeared.

As a beginner dungeon, retreat is allowed.>

'Oh. So, some dungeons lock you in? Good to know...'

Since retreat was an option, I felt obligated to enter and at least see the final challenge. I entered the room, which opened up into a large circular arena fully decorated with the graveyard motif and surrounded by marble pillars with ominously glowing runes carved into them. At the center was a massive four-armed skeleton equipped with a spear, sword, mace, and shield. It had a few bits of fragmented and corroded plate mail scarcely covering it that was unlikely to protect it but certainly added to its threatening presence. It stood there silently, waiting for its challenger to approach and duel it in honorable combat.

'Wait... Is this thing lower level than me?'

I equipped [Apex Hunter] and felt no tug of worthiness from this monster. Some quick and rough head math made me estimate I had around five more combined levels than it, give or take. It felt extremely disappointing, as I would have loved the boosted experience and the free skill point. I hoped it would at least give me enough for my evolution.

Before I engaged with the creature, I needed to prepare myself. I withdrew slime mass and engorged myself to an impressively girthy blob. I felt like I wouldn't be able to dodge it physically, so instead, I wanted to take a page from my [Sub-Cores], which had demonstrated a much more efficient dodging method in the past by purely maneuvering their cores out of the attack's trajectory.

Since it still refused to move, I would exploit its arrogance. Even if I was at a higher combined level than it, I would gladly take this free opportunity. After all, I had proven that levels weren't everything by defeating foes above my own.

I prepared a massive burst of maximum density sticky-flammable-acidic slime and held it ready to launch at a moment's notice. Then, I coordinated with my cores to prepare two fully empowered [Fire Arrows]. This finally caused the creature to stir, but it still would let me make the first attack.

With a burst, the slime combination covered the creature, and then both flaming bolts rocketed into it, one smashing into its skull while the other entered its chest cavity. The entire skeleton ignited in rapidly spreading flames. Its bones rattled in anger, and it charged forward with weapons pulled back, ready to swing.

I ordered Alpha and Beta to continue coordinating more empowered [Fire Arrow] spells and had Gamma spam [Acid Dart]. Meanwhile, I took control of my slime mass, forming all my tendrils and shaping four of them into replicas of the two-handed maul I had devoured and one of them into a shield. I regretted not trading for a tower shield like Roderick to add to my profile collection.

Before it reached me, I gave it another thorough coating of my slime combo, which ignited promptly upon touching the monstrosity. Its spear was the first weapon it lunged forward with, and I tried casting [Bubble] to block, but it instantly popped upon contact with the spear. Luckily I was prepared, and with the help of [Evasion], I maneuvered my core out of the way.

I swung my weapons at the creature while trying to block its sword with my shield. I did manage the block, but even with all my traits working together, it wasn't enough, and it sliced through the fake shield and cut partially into my slime, thanks to the reduced velocity. When the mace came down upon me, I shifted the impact area with [Elastic Slime] in addition to my regular defenses and watched as the blunt weapon bounced off my slimy hide.

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'Ha! Glad to finally have a use for that trait. Also, I'll be eating this spear, thank you.'

The effects of my weapons were decent, although it did parry one of my pseudo-mauls, which splattered against the shield. I looked forward to eating all these weapons. I clung to its spear and started eating it immediately. The sword, unfortunately, wasn't deep enough for me to keep my hold on it, and the monster reclaimed it before I could eat it.

I was having quite a lot of fun battling this monster, using a full combination of all my traits and skills. Sadly, it was not durable enough to keep up against the onslaught, and its form was falling apart as it melted in my acid or burned to cinders. I grabbed its four limbs with my tendrils and started to pull, I could hear its bones creaking up until the point I ripped them from its sockets. Shortly after that, its entire form went limp, and I had won. While I devoured the skeleton, I looked over all the notifications I had been ignoring.

'Now that is some big upgrades, long overdue for the acid.'

'Great! I can fuse that after a bit of bow practice.'

.

'Only one level is a little disappointing, but hopefully, I'm close to the next. What's with this Rogue skill, though? I guess that means my class is somewhere between Rogue and Mage.'

Receive knowledge on Pickpocketing, Lockpicking, Trap Detecting, Trap Disarming, and Sleight of Hand, all scaling with skill level.

All the tools of the trade you'll need for an aspiring Rogue.>

'Uh... I guess I'll need to speak to Whitney about this.'

'I made it. Without nearly dying this time. Looks like there's still another notification.'

Emblem Achieved: [Dungeoneer].>

'Oh? A new emblem! I hope it's an equipable one.'

<>

With extraordinary effort and luck, you have completed a dungeon solo. Or perhaps you over-leveled and stomped a low-level dungeon? Either way, congrats!

Dungeon loot earned has a higher chance of being enchanted.

Equipping this emblem will slightly increase the chance of dungeon loot dropping and allow the user to detect nearby undefeated dungeons.>

'Seems decent? Although, with that poison resistance ring as my only reference - I'm not exactly impressed. Now, let's take a peek at-'

"Monster!You dare violate my dungeon?"

'What?'

Suddenly appearing in a swirl of darkness was a robed skeleton. Its empty sockets flickered with an ethereal violet flame, and it held an ornate staff gilded with multiple small golden skulls along the shaft and topped off with a black orb swirling with magical energy. It floated in midair, still surrounded by the floating mass of dark energy. My emblem immediately proclaimed this being as worthy. But all I saw was...

Death.

"Is this some prank by the humans letting loose a red slime in my dungeon? Be gone!" It shouted and waved its staff.

Vast black magical energy erupted and immediately surrounded me. It penetrated all my defenses, layers of slime, and reinforcements, ignored my other cores, and honed in on the real me as if guided to my life or soul.

I didn't even feel pain. I just felt the life ripped from my being. The skeleton looked curious as to why I was still alive. It raised its staff as if about to finish the job. I wanted to cry out and beg for my life when it shuddered and fell to the floor like a ragdoll. I stared in horror for seconds before rushing to the exit when the archway was sealed shut.

'No!' I slammed my slime against the archway, using every trait I had to try damage it and melt a way through, but it didn't even have so much as a scratch. I fired a barrage of every spell I had, but it was impenetrable. Behind me, I could see the Dreadlich beginning to stand up.

"Great One... Why do you stop me?" It questioned into the void. It seemed to be listening to something before it seemed to examine me with excruciating detail - it felt like my soul was being violated.

"I... I had no idea this was one of yours. I thought it was a simple monster. I humbly beg for forgiveness." It stated and started pleading to the void.

"Of course, I'll offer it compensation for killing it."

"We don't normally reward monsters that stray into our territories. How was I supposed to know?"

"You... Forgot to tell us?" It shook its head, dejected.

"Yes, I'll give it the dungeon loot it was supposed to earn."

"What!? For an entire day?"

"I see... You wish for it to safely evolve. Yes, that would be hard to do outside. Very well."

I didn't dare move as I heard this one-sided conversation, but it appeared I had been saved. The Dreadlich cleared its nonexistent throat and looked towards me.

"Syl, I would like to apologize for disrespecting your dungeon challenge. Please forgive me."

I shifted into my elven form to converse, automatically equipping my outfit. It stared at me with intrigue.

"Interesting... A mimic slime? Such a rare species, you must have some highly trained skills and traits to fool even me and to think you were actually that elf from yesterday."

"I... Yes. So you're going to let me live?"

"Yes. The Great One wants you to evolve and speak with him. I've locked the entrance to the dungeon so nobody will be able to disturb you."

Was he talking about Gramps? That was the only one I could think of who knew about me and wanted me to evolve.

"The adventurers might question why I'm missing for an entire day."

"Just say you were trapped when the dungeon closed. It is partially the truth since I've been told not to let you out until you evolve. I'd suggest doing it soon, as testing his patience is not wise."

"I see. Thank you. I just want to get my traits and skills in order first."

"Ha! I can imagine, although if you've come this far, I don't think any brand new ones would affect your evolutions."

I nodded at its advice. I'd look now and then see if gaining any new traits or skills changed my options. Perhaps I could even ask the Dreadlich for advice?

I opened up my evolution list and gasped at the amount of options.

Species Evolutions Available:

Mimic Slime (Red)

Mimic Slime (White)

Mimic Slime (Yellow)

Mimic Slime (Pink)

Mimic Slime (Silver)

Mutation Evolutions Available:

Gluttonous Mimic Slime (Blue)

Aquatic Mimic Slime (Blue)

Doppelganger Slime (Blue)

Alchemic Mimic Slime (Blue)

Predation Mimic Slime (Blue)

Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue)

Magma Mimic Slime (Blue)

Cloud Mimic Slime (Blue)

Special Evolution Available:

Queen Mimic Slime (Blue)