Aria's pulse spiked sharply. A cold jolt ran through her chest as panic unfurled inside her like a sudden snap of tension.
The shaking of this magnitude meant something enormous was approaching!
And she was alone. Alone in this collapsing cavern, with only a slime—an unpredictable monster she barely understood.
"What do I do…?" she whispered, voice unsteady.
Her eyes darted desperately around the chamber, then stopped on the slime.
Her throat tightened.
"Can I… ask this slime for help?"
The cavern trembled again, dust cascading like dry rain.
The slime sensed the danger instantly.
Its instinct urged it to flee, slip into the tunnels before everything caved in.
It glided forward quickly, leaving a faint trail of shimmering green on the stone.
Aria's stomach dropped when she saw it moving away.
"It's leaving me…" she murmured, her chest hollowing for a moment.
But then… the slime froze in the middle of its way.
Its core flickered, sensing the strange tension in her expression. It saw her trembling grip on the staff, her wide, uncertain eyes.
I didn't fully understand what any of it meant. But something starts to form in the slime's mind. It was… fear? Was she feeling fear right now?
The slime's core starts pulsing again.
And it remembered the words Aria from before again.
"Friends…"
It felt like a warm but also confusing echo in its core.
The slime turned back. Then hopped toward her and then jumped up and down in small, insistent motions.
Aria blinked rapidly in confusion.
"You want me to follow you?"
"You want me to follow you?" the slime repeated back her voice. Its mimicry was tighter and sharper. Almost identical to her voice now.
Another violent tremor tore through the cavern.
BA-DOOOOOOM!
The wall behind her split open with a thunderous crack.
Stones burst from the surface, crashing down like a waterfall of boulders.
Aria flinched so hard her shoulders jerked.
She stumbled forward just in time to avoid the collapsing wall.
Dust choked the air. Then she saw the slime was already sliding into the tunnel.
Aria ran after it without thinking.
Her boots scraped against loose pebbles as she rushed forward, her staff clutched against her chest. She stumbled a few times in panic.
Pebbles rained from above. Cracks spread across the ceiling like branching lightning.
A moment later, the entire chamber she had stood in a few seconds collapsed completely, sealed behind a towering heap of stone.
Aria's breath quickened. Her legs shook as she ran.
"I have to get out. I have to survive!"
But an icy realization crept into her mind.
"Where was the entrance again…?"
She hadn't looked. When she followed the three men earlier, she had kept her gaze glued to the ground—shame, fear, and resentment pressing her head down.
She never studied the path so she didn't know the layout. She thought that she would just be led.
Now she was sprinting through unfamiliar tunnels, the Dungeon quaking around her.
The slime moved ahead in a steady slide as if it knew exactly where to go.
Aria clenched her teeth and followed, praying silently that it was alright for her to come with it and it wouldn't leave her behind to die.
The slime surged ahead, gliding with fluid speed, far faster than Aria could hope to match.
She lagged behind, her steps uneven, her balance faltering. Every few strides her knees buckled slightly.
She had just used what little mana she had left to perform rapid repeated healing on the slime. The exhaustion hit her all at once now. Her limbs heavy, her breath thin, and her vision blurring at the edges.
Her body sagged at the worst possible moment, right as the tunnel behind her shuddered violently.
A deep crack roared through the stone.
Pebbles and chunks of rock began pelting the floor in a relentless cascade.
"Oh gods… am I going to die?"
Aria staggered again, this time dropping to one knee.
Her lungs strained. Her thoughts were blank. Everything inside her head felt washed-out, slipping into a numb haze.
Then, she heard a sudden wet slap echoed ahead of her.
She lifted her head weakly.
The slime had turned back. It was right in front of her now, its core pulsing with a quick rhythm.
"What…?"
The slime bounced twice in sharp little motions that almost felt urgent. Like it was telling her to get up and keep moving.
A strange feeling formed in her chest.
"It… came back for me? Does it care for me?"
Her chest was constricted. People had thrown her aside her whole life, treated her like a tool, even her parents. And she was constantly harassed by the man who only saw her as… things to play with.
But this slime… this impossible creature… it turned around amidst this chaos and danger. For her.
The fog in her mind cracked open. A thread of strength slipped back in the moment she realized she wasn't completely alone. Something was actually waiting for her.
"Alright. I'll follow you. Go… go on." Aria whispered, gripping her staff and forcing herself upright.
The slime echoed her instantly, voice crisp and uncanny: "Alright. I'll follow you."
Then it swiveled, sliding ahead once more with focused determination.
Aria pushed forward after it, her legs trembling.
Behind her, the stone walls splintered further, a thunderous collapse chasing at her heels as she fled into the depths with only a slime to guide her.
After pushing her body far past its limit, Aria finally stumbled into another chamber.
Her lungs burned. Her legs shook. Sweat clung to her skin.
The chamber itself glimmered because it was filled with mana ores of different colors jutting from the walls like clusters of gemstones.
Under any other circumstance, Aria might have gasped at the sight.
The slime hesitated.
It wanted to Consume. But it also understood that there was no time for that.
So it forced itself onward, sliding across the chamber until it stopped before a small, narrow hole in the floor.
"Wait!" Aria said, her voice cracking. "Do you… want me to go down this hole?"
Through its mana sense, the slime felt the spike of fear and anxious hesitation inside her.
It bounced up and down again, as if confirming: Yes. That way!
Aria swallowed hard.
The hole was barely wide enough for her shoulders, which was already small. The tight, dark space made her skin crawl.
And what if it collapsed while she was inside?
The slime began bouncing more urgently now, its motions sharp and insistent.
With no other choices left and the tunnel behind her threatening to cave in at any moment, Aria forced herself to decide.
"Alright… I'll go," she whispered.
She shuffled forward on trembling limbs, lowering herself onto her hands and knees before beginning to crawl into the narrow passage.
Suddenly, the slime pressed against her legs and shoved.
"W-wait—!"
Her body slid forward. Then downward.
Fast.
"AAAAAA!!!" she screamed as the darkness swallowed her whole.
—