"!"
Fei found herself gasping for air. Much like the one before, the slime was made of a gelatinous blob. Its form makes it somewhat in between solid and liquid. Fei tries to hold on to the slime, but her hands slip every time she tries to grab it.
(I messed up big time!)
She tries to claw her way out of the same but to no avail. The slime's weak point, its magic core, is seen floating around in its body. But when Fei tries to grab it, it shifts its location to somewhere else. Fei cannot exploit its other weak point, magic, as she cannot risk hurting herself in the process.
(Now I know how that fish felt inside this thing)
She lamented her situation. Is there anything else she can try to do? She grabbed her quill and stabbed the slime repeatedly. No effect. She then tried banging her head on a nearby rock. The slime dispersed a bit, but like what you would expect from a gelatinous being, it quickly reverted to its original form.
Soon after, the other slime that had just finished digesting its fish meal, went toward Fei and joined the other slime. It attached itself to Fei's legs, before making its way up her body. IN just a few seconds, Fei's entire body is trapped inside the slimes.
A man holds the record for the longest breath hold at about 11 minutes, but that requires extreme training and conditioning. On average, a man can only hold his breath for 1 to 2 minutes, at most. Fei is no exception. She is way past the one-minute mark and is now desperately grasping for air.
(I ... have to do something ... quick! *ouch!*)
She rummaged through her stuff, but the only thing she had with her are writing materials. The acidic property of the slime is taking its toll on her skin. She felt a sharp pain in her body. To add, her clothes began disintegrating as well, a testament to the slime's dissolving ability. As she staggers fighting off the slimes, she eventually waded into the river. She felt the cold water on her feet.
(Wait ... why am I feeling the water?)
She looked down, towards the part submerged in the water. It wasn't covered in slimes. In fact, the slime is actively evading the water, placing its body mass in a higher location. Seeing the monster in a state of panic, Fei quickly connected the dots.
She started going deeper into the water. The deeper she went, the higher the slimes moved. Finally, when she got neck-deep into the water, only her head remains covered by the slimes. She fully submerged her head in the water. As soon as she does, the slimes slowly disintegrated and dissolved into nothingness.
She watched it happen while submerged, the slime's magic core slowly dissolving together with its body. Finally reaching her limit, Fei hurriedly swam to the surface, letting out an "ahh!" sound as she gulped for air.
"That was close!" she said as she started swimming towards the shore. Unbeknownst to her, the slime's magic core started to react strongly against the water. The magic core halted from dissolving, instead, started compressing and expanding at an unbelievable rate. The core started glowing yellow, then orange, before finally turning hot red, with streams of light escaping from within.
"Huh?"
Fei noticed the glowing magic core, but it was too late. The magic core compressed once more, before bursting. A cloud of water about 50 feet high was formed from the explosion, the sound traveling a large distance from the site. The impact was enough to create a large wave that swept Fei away. Fei was helpless as the torrent took her for a ride, rocking her back and forth.
Reaching the bank, she look at her tattered state. Her skin is partly burned in several areas, while the clothing she is wearing had seen better days. It is more like an old rug than a clothe now. Fei checked herself. She healed her burns using her "Ciura" spell, but her clothes remained to be mended.
"Oh man, I didn't bring an extra set of clothes!" she said as she looked at the extent of the damage her dress is in. "How can I get back to the city with this?" she said.
At the same moment, something rustled within the thick bushes. Fei immediately raised her guard, not letting another chance for a slime to creep on her again. She readied herself to cast a spell if ever needed. The 'thing' that was causing the disturbance within the leaves suddenly emerged from the thicket. Fei was about to send it flying with her Terra spell but stopped midway after seeing what, or who, it was. Unexpectedly, it wasn't another slime like she thought.
"Eisen!?" she said.
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A few moments back.
The group of assessors was on their way deeper into the North, each group basically huddled together, keeping themselves organized, and at the same time, secure from external threats. Eisen and his group was the one bringing up the rear.
"Man, I wish that we have someone who can like, teleport us to our destination. Walking is too boring and plain!" Vince complained as he kicked a small pebble into the side of the road. Behind him, Eisen was neither listening nor ignoring his words. He just simply didn't care that much. For him, a mission is a mission, and if walking great distances is part of it, then he would gladly walk. If it would involve swimming, then he will cross any large body of water. If it would include hiking high mountains, then he would hike them.
"If this bores you too much, then why not try to catch us something for lunch then," Rose said further from the back. She can't help but listen to his endless complaints since their journey started. Obviously, she is starting to get irritated by the way Vince is always complaining.
"Oh yeah? And why should I do that? You're not my boss," Vince replied.
"And we're not your nannies, so stop complaining like a child," she said.
"You starting something?"
"Is that what it looks like to you?"
But before the two began their usual banter, they heard a thunderous sound originating somewhere within the forest.
Everyone heard the sound, but before anyone can speak a word, Eisen had already left to check on it. Perhaps he was also bored of walking, so he chose to go check on the source of the sound himself.
Leaving his group behind, Eisen took only a few moments before disappearing into the thick forest.
"He sure is quick on his feet," Vince commented. "Shouldn't we follow him, at least?".
"No. We'll lose valuable time if we make any detours. He'll catch up to us for sure," said a man, Kreig, as he resumed their walk. Vince simply shrugged his shoulders, before walking himself. The rest of the assessors followed suit.
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Back to the present.
"Eisen!?" Fei was surprised of seeing a familiar place instead of a slimy figure again. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I came to investigate the explosion we've just heard," he explained. Despite his expression, he did not also expect to see an acquaintance in this part of the North.
"Oh, that. Yeah, you see, I was following this slime when I had a little, trouble," Fei explained as she twists the end of her clothes to wrung them dry. "I managed to deal with it, but, the slime magic core reacted strongly with the water, then, boom! And here we are," she said as she explained the chronology of events as best as she could.
Eisen was listening to her story until he noticed Fei's appearance. Based on her story, she had some trouble with a slime earlier. As a testament to that, her clothes are tattered, and the amount of fabric left is barely able to hide Fei's slender body. Seeing that, Esein hurriedly turned his face sideways, avoiding looking at her.
"Hmmm?" Fei noticed Eisen's strange behavior. "What's wrong?" she asked, moving closer to look at his expression. As she does that, Eisen equally moved his gaze to the other side. Seeing his reaction, Fei started to get a clue about what is happening. Looking at her appearance and Eisen's reaction, Fei immediately crouched down, desperately covering her body with her arms.
"Don't look!" she shouted.
"I'm not!" Eisen shouted back despite being out of character.
A few moments of silence passed as the two remained silent. The forest was usually full of sounds of bugs and birds, but this time, it was as if something has laid a blanket over the entire area, silencing everything within. Eisen was the first to break the status quo. He walked to Fei, his face still facing the other way, and placed his coat atop her head.
"Use that," he said. Fei was surprised at the sudden gesture, but with no other choice, accepted his offer.
"Uhn, thanks," she said as she hurriedly put the coat on.
Unexpectedly, it was comfortable to wear despite being a tad oversized for her. She can still faintly make out Eisen's scent from the coat. After realizing what she was just thinking, Fei shake her head to rid it of these unnecessary thoughts.
(Get a hold of yourself, me!), she internally struggled with her mind.