The Slime Dungeon: Book 1 (The Slime Dungeon Chronicles) (8 page)

Doc regained consciousness as Claire hit his crystal with her little fists. "Wake up Doc! Come on, you can't do this to me so soon!"

"Claire, is that you? What's going on?" He muttered, rousing himself and reconnecting with her mind. Claire sighed in relief and plopped back onto her table. "Thank goodness! I was really scared Doc!"  She cried out and hugged herself.

"Why would you be scared? What happened?"

She sniffed and pulled her legs closer to her body, "You had a severe mental breakdown Doc. You lost your mind and became a force of destruction."

Doc was confused by her words, “What do you mean?”

“You lost your individuality,” Claire explained, “You acted on your instincts instead of reason, as if you had fallen to the level of a newborn dungeon.”

"I don't understand what happened; did someone hurt me?" He asked her with concern.

She shook her head, "No, but something set you off. I don't know why the girl made you like that, but you reacted badly to her situation."

The girl in his dungeon; he remembered her now. She was hurt and in danger. He had wanted to do something, but he couldn't remember. "Claire, what did I do?" He asked slowly.

"You killed them," she said simply, "You used all your power to kill the men and made sure they suffered for every bit of it. It was really scary because you didn't hear me at all. All that mattered was hurting them."

Doc shuddered, "That doesn't sound like me at all."

"I agree, but that's what happened. Did you know her?"

"What?" Asked Doc distractedly.

"The girl, did you know her?" Claire clarified, "She's the reason for your episode." Doc shook his head, "No, I've never seen her before. I just… didn’t want her to die like that." 

“That voice told me to save her. Was it because of it that I lost control?” He wondered to himself privately. He paused, "Did she die? I can't remember."

Claire hesitated, "Well, not exactly; but she isn't okay either." Claire pointed at the center of the room.

There, floating inside his overslime, was the girl. Her eyes were closed and her arms were down by her side as she floated peacefully within the slime.

Doc was floored, "What is this? What did I do?"

Claire floated down to the slime and sat on it, "Well, you saved her from being eaten, but I don't know if she's okay. It's been a few days since you ‘saved’ her, so she could be dead for all I know. I read the letter the men had on them, and she's some important person to the royal family in the human city."

"Royal family, is that the human leaders then?" He inquired.

Claire nodded, "Yes. Humans rule each other by birthright and ability. The king and his mate, the queen, are the leaders and their children are princes and princesses. The letter doesn't describe who she is, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was a princess herself."

Doc mulled this over in his head, "Can I release her?"

"I don't see why not,” said Claire, “I'm curious to see if she's still alive or not. Let me hide first though.” Claire flew over to her door hidden in the herbs and closed it behind her as she entered. "It's not in our interest to reveal our individual existences yet."

Doc shrugged, and moved his will into the overslime. The overslime jiggled, then slowly and carefully laid the girl out on the floor. She didn't move from her resting place. "Claire, is she dead?"

"How should I know?” She retorted, “You have to check her. Move to the floor and see if she's still breathing."

Feeling a bit foolish, Doc listened to the girl's body. She seemed to be breathing, and in fact, seemed to be getting faster breaths. Before Doc could ask what that meant, the girl slowly opened her eyes.

She slowly gazed around the room and locked onto the overslime. A small smile came over her tired face as she relaxed.

“I was saved by a slime. How silly, to be rescued when there is nothing else for me.” She closed her eyes as tears began to flow down her face onto the floor. Feeling sad for some reason, Doc had the overslime form a tentacle to wipe away her tears.

The girl giggled at the touch, “Mr. Slime, are you saying it’s okay for me to live? Will you take me in when no one else wants me?”

Slightly annoyed now, Doc had the slime slap the girl's face a few times with the tentacle, startling both the girl and Claire who was watching the scene.

"Doc, what are you doing? This is an emotional moment!"

"Her words annoyed me." He said defensively, "So I'm trying to wake her up."

"Don't slap her, you idiot!"

To their surprise, the girl began laughing in earnest. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving, but the girl’s laughter filled the room. It mixed with her tears until she was a sobbing-coughing-laughing mess on the floor.

“Okay, Mr. Slime, I won't cry anymore. Is that what you want?”

Doc patted her with the tentacle.

The girl relaxed and her breathing started to slow down. “Okay, Mr. Slime. I won't cry anymore. I'll… be good. I… show my… thanks.” She drifted off to sleep as a tiny light flowed from her body into the floor.

“She is your responsibility now…”  Doc heard the voice more clearly this time, but he sensed it would no longer speak to him. He looked over toward Claire, "Claire, what did she give me?"

Claire was watching the girl, stunned. "Claire?"

She shook her head, "Something special for another day Doc. For now, let’s get her out of the dungeon. I don't want the human adventurers blaming us for anything happening to her."

She flew out of her home holding a large thing to her chest. Doc recognized it as the thing the mean mad had had before.

"What are you doing Claire?"  He asked.

She landed on the girl and stuffed the thing into her armor, "I'm making sure the humans focus on the letter instead of us. Let's carry her up to the entrance and leave her where they can find her."

Doc picked her up with his overslime and slowly carried her body through his dungeon up to the main entrance. His body couldn't go past his influence, but he could use his rapidly dissolving tentacles to deposit her gently by the entrance before returning to his room.

"Good job Doc. Now, with any luck they will begin searching for the traitor and the hero who saved the princess."

"What hero? Was there another human in the dungeon I didn't know about?"

Claire giggled, "Nope, I signed the letter on the back saying the dungeon explorer ‘Doc’ rescued her from her fate. They will search for a man while we get away without any trouble, and with a lot of gained power!" Doc watched her celebrating by bouncing on the overslime.

"You really are looking out for us aren't you?"

She smiled at him and rolled onto her belly, chin in her hands. "Of course, silly! You are my home, partner, and best friend, even if you are a silly fool interested in other women when you have me."

"What?" Said Doc.

She laughed, "I'm teasing you, silly. You wouldn't know the first thing about wanting a girl in the first place."

"I have a girl, you. Why would I want another?"

"You're sweet," she said, beaming at him, "Now, on a more important notice, we have more work to do! All those men were really strong and adding the sword you ate makes you a lot stronger. We need to upgrade your abilities now."

"How do we do that?"

"With the upgrade chart of course!"  Claire waved her finger and the mana condensed into a familiar blue writing.

"So, can I get all of them?"  Doc asked excitedly.

"Eventually Doc, but not now. Even if you gained power from those men, you still are young and limited in the power you can harness. We can pick maybe two from this list for now, and that's already putting us in the lead of dungeon records for growth speed. After settling with your new abilities, it'll be farming for a long time for us. Adventurers will come in, we fight them, they either die or conquer, and then the whole process will repeat for a long time."

"Okay, I want monster upgrade and instances," Doc said proudly.

Claire clapped her hands, "I'm so proud I didn't have to correct you this time. Yes, those are the best choices for us. Monster upgrade doesn't cost much, and all we have to do is wait for the slimes to evolve on their own. Instance is the big one for us; it'll allow more adventuring and thus more fun!"

"Great, so how do I pay for these things?"  Doc deadpanned, "I'm pretty sure I can't pay with gold and silver."

"Nope, you pay with mana capacity."

Doc stared at Claire for a moment. "WHAT!"

Claire winced and rubbed her ears, "What did you expect? Upgrades are improvements to your main body, which means you have to grow in size in order to obtain them. When you add abilities to your repertoire, you take the mana you’ve earned and actually condense it into new layers for your crystal. Your capacity won't shrink to the point that it affects your current dungeon, but you won't be able to grow it much until more people perish within the dungeon."

Doc sulked.

"Oh! Come off it you silly crystal. Sacrifices need to be made in order to grow. Even the humans have to sacrifice the precious little time they have to live in order to become stronger. In that regard, you aren't that bad off because you can recover your capacity; humans never regain time spent."

Doc still sulked.

"You get to watch new slimes being created," added Claire.

Doc perked up, "You mean without my help?"

Claire nodded, smug, "The upgrade also has a unique effect on each race you acquire it for. For slimes, it has the added bonus of allowing them to split into two slimes when they live long enough. Since we can't afford to actively make them evolve, having evolved slimes split on us is a big help. Do you feel better now?"

"Since I don't have to spend hours making slimes, the answer is yes."

"Don't get your hopes up too high; slimes can only be in one instance at a time. That means you need to make enough slimes for every adventurer group that comes in. Also, the instance upgrade lasts until you reach a certain size sustainable for many groups of adventurers at once."

Doc sighed, and began working on his upgrades and the vast amount of slimes he needed.

Chapter 11

The discovery of Princess Diana, safe outside the dungeon raised a clamor. The letter that was found on her started an uproar that shook the city. Due to her involvement with most sections in the army, the princess was immensely popular with the men in the various factions. Mary was barely able to keep a lid on tensions at the base camp and was forced to send a request for help alongside the report on the princess.

Naturally, the news spread quickly in the city and caused quite the scandal within the nobility. The letter had been signed by the royal seal, a magical artifact that only worked in the hands of an individual with royal blood. There were ways to overcome the magic, but they were rare and expensive to find. Rumors began circulating that at least one member of the royal family was making a power play for the throne. Of a more minor note, the rumors of the mysterious rescuer ‘Doc’ became a hot topic among the ladies of both common and noble birth. As nothing was known about him, various tales of his dashing nature became popular in the taverns and social gatherings.

In response to the growing tension, King Duran ordered a full investigation into the letter and assigned his best men to track down the culprits responsible. The princess had been conscious long enough to name her attackers before settling back down to rest. The royal physician assured the king that she was merely resting and would awaken eventually.

At the current moment, King Duran and his family were all present in the throne room as the investigators gave their report. Besides King Duran and his wife Queen Nia, also present were First Prince James, Second Prince Marcus, Third Prince Kenneth, First Princess Hilda, and Third Princess Shiva. King Duran had recalled Prince James and Prince Marcus from the royal institute in response to the allegations. The two princes were learning the various skills necessary to run a kingdom, with the understanding that one of them would marry into a different family. The youngest, Princess Shiva, was a young child of 15 years and more interested in boys than anything else. She was a well-known beauty with a flock of admirers that obeyed her every command.

The last investigator finished his report on the letter's destination, explaining how Sir Koran had seen the letter being delivered to his man Hank at night, but had been ignorant of its contents. As the princess hadn't named him as part of the attack, suspicion was lowered around the adventurer, though the king privately made a note to investigate the man further.

"You are dismissed," he said, waving the man away. The knight bowed and left the room. King Duran turned to his family and sighed.

"If any of you have anything to add to this, I will forgive your actions as long as you admit it in the next few minutes."

Hilda, who had been bawling through the entire ordeal, managed to croak out, "She, she asked me for help getting her to the camp. I handed a letter to a guard to deliver to the ranger captain, but the captain told me he never got it."

The queen hugged her daughter closely, cooing sweet words to calm her down. The king sighed wearily as he leaned his face into his hand. Indeed, when asked, the ranger captain revealed he had never heard of the letter in question. His story was verified when the letter was discovered in the garden buried under some freshly moved dirt. Tracking mages had easily found it, but could not locate the guard who should have delivered the letter.

That meant a skilled mage was involved; one with at least the same level of skill as the royal trackers. King Duran groaned as he considered the game being played. "At least it's obvious this wasn't a power play by our family."

Little Shiva turned curiously toward her father. "Why do you say that with such certainty father?"

The king smiled softly at his youngest daughter, "Well, because Diana is very far from inheriting any political power from the throne. James and Marcus are competing against each other for the throne after I retire, and I know she wasn’t an important part of eithers’ plans."

The brothers nodded, eyeing each other. They shared the most interesting relationship within the family, actively competing against each other in silent battles of influence, wealth, and competitions of strength. Ironically enough, the two liked each other well enough that when the principal heir was announced, the loser would still be happy. He would also still hold sizable influence in the city.

"Kenneth has never wanted power in the city, preferring his ranger duties." King Duran continued. Ken nodded, his desires well known everywhere and by everyone. He had no interest in any matters beyond his military duties, much to the regret of his mother who desired grandchildren.

"Since Diana has never held an interest of courting men or holding political power, I doubt that you, Shiva or Hilda, have any interest in seeing her gone. I expect that with her popularity in the army, she would be an important ally to both of you." King Duran sighed again. Leaning back he added, "Which makes it a mystery of why anyone would want her gone. If other members of the family were also attacked, that would be seen as an effort to destroy the bloodline, but as it stands, besides our reputation, no one else has suffered. To make things worse for the culprit, the men within our forces are surging with bloodlust after hearing about Diana’s plight."

"Father." Prince James spoke up, "Would it not be wise to investigate what happened in the dungeon itself?"

The king turned to regard his son, "How so Prince?"

The prince cleared his throat, "The reports state she was found at the entrance days after she entered it. The men who attacked were never found, but according to her, they died the same day they entered. The newest dungeon report states that it has gained the power to create multiple realities within itself, which corroborates her story. I doubt the existence of the so called ‘rescuer,’ yet someone or something was responsible for her safety. The midwives have confirmed her chastity intact, yet our sister is severely weakened. There is no doubt the letter was used to have an effect on her."

"If the dungeon can hold copies of itself, it is unlikely we would ever find the original tunnel she entered.” Prince Marcus spoke up, "That being said, I find myself at the rare opportunity to agree with my fellow prince. The dungeon holds some clues, even if we have to dig it up from the bowels of the earth to find it."

King Duran considered for a moment, "Send trusted men as part of the adventurers’ group that will be raiding the dungeon. Have them check for anything unusual while they are down there. Also, keep an eye on Sir Koran. He may seem innocent, but those were his friends who attacked Diana. If anything, a man's company reflects the man himself. I am going to check on my daughter."

Dismissed, the siblings bowed and left the room, Hilda being led by Ken and Shiva. Queen Nia walked over to her husband and took his arm. He smiled up at her, "My dear, the gods know how you are a light upon my life."

She twinkled at him, pulling him up. An accident many years ago had robbed the queen of her voice, but she managed to find ways to talk to her family by using magic to change her eye and hair color. The twinkle in her eyes expressed amusement. It was followed by a sad deep blue as she hugged her husband.

"I know my dear; I'm worried for her too." With that, the two left the throne room and headed to the royal infirmary. As it was, the princess was currently the only patient within its walls.

The couple took her hand and bowed their heads, praying to the gods of light for healing and guidance. One of the healers came over to them and bowed to them. "Greetings your royal majesties, I am the healer in charge of the princess.” As they were noticeably nervous, the healer quickly continued, "As you can see, she is sleeping soundly and in the process of healing. We have treated her as best we could and limited magical healing to a minimum in order to allow her to recover naturally.”

“Naturally, but isn’t that terribly slow? Why can you not heal my daughter now?” The King asked frantically.”

The healer shook his head, “We dare not heal her body too fast, as her mind is what we worry most about. The letter she was found with most certainly caused her a great deal of grief, so it is important for both her mind and body to heal together so she does not suffer further injury.”

"We understand,” The King said gravely, taking his sobbing wife into his embrace, "How severe were her injuries?"

The healer turned to the princess and began pointing out the various bandages and wraps, "There were injuries consistent with running and falling from a height, resulting in multiple bruises and a broken arm. From what my assistant has found, the assailants were unable to lay their hands on her directly and we have verified through magic that she remains pure. When she revived, she was barely coherent enough to name her attackers and their claims so her mind seems to be working. Our biggest concern remains that she may have come in to contact with a rare poison or her minds retreats indefinitely into her body. Thankfully from what I have found, she has not been poisoned so her body should recover in time. Her mind on the other hand, that is something we will have to wait and see."

As the Queen sobbed and hugged her child, her body began to glow red as her battle aura came into being. Knowing his wife’s temperament when angered, the King quickly hugged her. "Have no fear my love, those responsible will be punished, I assure you.” He thanked the healer and promptly led his wife out of the room.

“King husband,” The queen growled in anger, “I will personally burn all who dared to lay their hands on my daughter.”

He nodded as he walked her swiftly to the training hall where she could take her anger out on the magical dummies. After all, his wife was one of the strongest mages in the kingdom and rarely ever lost her temper. When she did, however, it assuredly spelt disaster for the castle and his coffers.

As the two walked away, a dark-hooded figure stepped out of the shadows and observed them. As the two disappeared around the corner, the figure spoke into a softly glowing stone. “The King remains ignorant of the plan. Shall I execute the princess as a precaution?”

The figure paused for a moment, listening to the response and bowed its head, “As you wish, she shall remain as she is. I will take me leave.” It pocketed the stone and led out a quiet growl while eyeing the door to the infirmary where the princess rested. "Curse you child for throwing my plans off. Curse to those fools who failed to carry out their instructions properly, and curse to this mysterious ‘Doc’,” it growled one more time, “You will regret interfering in this affair, this I assure you.”

The figure moved back into the shadow and then it was gone.