Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 336 (Patreon)

Finally back from Rising Phoenix Game Con. Had a blast, but ready to get back to writing. Here's one from the buffer, though, because it is too late to start today.

Chapter 336 – First

They waited until nightfall, locally, before moving out. The darkness didn’t bother any of them, since even those who didn’t have enhanced vision through their higher-tier races had enchantments and gear that allowed them to see quite well, certainly well enough to climb the cliff in front of them, and to hunt the creatures of the desert that would be hunting them in turn.

Fortunately, his guess had been correct. With night falling, the temperature was dropping rapidly. Already, it was at 0 C, a dramatic change from where it had been before. Of course, his guess had been more than just blind faith in his Lord’s sense of fairness. This floor seemed to take the challenges of a natural desert, and amplify them, along with adding in monsters to take advantage of the unwary. Deserts in nature may heat up fast, with there being no shade from the sun, and the sand soaking in the heat, but it did not store heat well, meaning that, when the sun set, the temperatures would fall. From that perspective, not having the blistering heat turn to frigid cold would be an incredibly unfair trick.

Reaching the top was no problem. As he took up a guard position, he reached for his cannon, rather than his sword. The boss of this floor was supposed to be one of the giant sand slimes that they’d seen before. The Lord might change the boss, but he doubted that he’d make it a new creature type. That would be unfair. Which meant that it was probably a slime for the boss.

Slimes were one of those monsters that you wanted to fight at range, if at all possible. Not that they were impervious to melee attacks, or anything. In fact, some slimes were specifically weak against melee, while resisting other attacks. However, the sheer variety of what slimes could do, or could be made of, encouraged caution, even from veteran adventurers.

Some slimes ate armor and weapons that came in contact with them. Some could turn invisible, or even possess you. Some were large enough to engulf adventurers whole, digesting them even as they still lived. Not every slime could do everything, obviously, but still, it was something to worry about when going into the unknown.

Normally, Bargulg wouldn’t care about such things. His team was good enough that they could take down most slime enemies without much trouble. But there was one type of slime rumored about in Swamptown that made him pause. A type of slime that the Lord had talked about on the forums, and apparently used in conflicts both here on Earth, and on far-off Bluemountain. A slime that could kill by its mere presence alone.

The Lewd Uranium Slime Lord was like the normal breeding slimes that were present earlier in the dungeon. Those were annoying, and dangerous to those who didn’t have sealed armor, but not something that would immediately kill you. But they were just normal slimes. Once he’d understood that ‘uranium’ was the local term for the ninety-second element, he knew why the Lewd Uranium Slime Lord was talked about in fear, even though no adventurers had ever seen one in the dungeon. Enough Uranium in one place could easily kill you if it was unshielded, even if it hadn’t reached critical mass, causing a fission reaction.

His pets joined him atop the cliff, and, without a word, they began moving through the desert like phantoms. Of course, the boss wasn’t the only threat they had to face. There was also the danger in coming across one of the pit traps on this side of the canyon, which would force them to start over from the riverbed once more. Which was why they switched to active scans. Yes, it would potentially reveal their location to the boss, if it was sensitive to such things, but it would allow them to avoid cavities in the ground, like the pit trap, and may even allow them to spot the boss before it—

His thoughts cut off as he noticed a green glow coming from the sands ahead. There was nothing in the natural world that put off such a glow, according to his knowledge. Which meant that did not mean there was some magic or monster causing it. Most likely, the one that he had been so cautious of. And it was coming closer.

“Everyone, weapons ready. Our prey is coming.”

Sure enough, the green glow crested a dune almost three kilometers away, and revealed itself to be a glowing green slime. They were far too far away to use skills like [Analyze] or [Appraise], but there could only be one thing that this was. The Lord really had added one of the Lewd Uranium Slime Lords into this level!

“Tanila, Ena, fire, with everything you have. Hold nothing back.”

As Bargulg spoke, his cannon roared, sending a one of the armor-piercing plasma bolts hurtling towards the slime. Tanila’s rifle barked at the same time, and, a moment later, a pillar of Abyssal Flame descended upon the boss monster. And then, they continued the assault.

Again, and again, they attacked. As the slime grew closer, and passed into their ranges, the other girls began adding to the fire. Unfortunately, the boss looked to be shrugging off most of the damage. Slimes, in general, were resistant to ranged weapons, and this creature was said to be very resistant to magic, as well. If they’d been allowed to fly freely, and drop explosives down upon it from above, that would have worked, but that was out of the question due to the Dungeon Law. In the end, without being able to see well enough to directly target the slime’s core, and being unwilling to get close enough to risk a melee with it, they had no better options.

Thankfully, ‘resistant’ did not mean the same as ‘immune’. Sure, they went through more ammunition than he cared to think about at the moment, and Ena was on her fifth mana potion, but, eventually, the slime shuddered, and died, just over two hundred meters away. The thing had never gotten close enough to attack them, thanks in part to their slowly backing away as it passed the one-kilometer mark.

“Whew,” Ena said, leaning upon her staff as she did so. “That was worse than taking on golems!”

Ashera sighed. “Feels almost unfair, to be honest. And I didn’t even get to do anything, since my weapons are all close-range!”

Lyrei just looked at her, and said, “So, you wanted to get close to the radioactive monster that wanted to violate you and pump you full of spawn that were also radioactive, meaning you’d probably be dead before they started eating their way out of you?”

Ashera groaned, and shook her head. “No, but it is annoying watching you all handle things, and not being able to help. Plus, it feels kind of anticlimactic as a boss fight, you know? They’re supposed to be difficult, not ‘keep shooting until it goes down before even being able to attack’.”

Bargulg sighed. “Not that I don’t see where you’re coming from, Ashera, but this was one foe that I will happily be as unfair as I can against. Yes, our armor has some radiation protections, but I don’t want to test what the upper limits of those are, or find out what possible new abilities the slime got, if it moved to Tier 3, like the other bosses have. What matters, in the end, is our winning the battle, and moving forward with the dungeon.”

“Speaking of moving forward, Master,” Ratha said, “it looks like the same portals we’ve seen on every other floor just opened where the slime was when it died. I believe there’s a chest there, too.”

“Lyrei, do you think the radiation is low enough to be safe?”

The healer stood for a moment, using her armor’s instruments to check the readings. “Huh. Master, it looks like the radiation is reducing at a distinctly unnatural rate. In a few minutes, we should be able to walk up to the chest without any trouble. In an hour, we could do so without armor on, if things continue at the present rate.”

“Probably intentional,” Bargulg nodded. “The Lord wouldn’t want to keep those who survived an encounter with this creature to spend months or years trapped on the floor, until they could safely get to their reward, or the portals. Even on this harder difficulty, that would be against his ‘tough, but fair’ rule. Though someone who came in without signing the contract would likely not receive the same consideration.”

When Lyrei said it was safe to approach, they moved towards the chest. Bargulg was not expecting anything too exciting. After all, the Lord had made it pretty clear in his earlier dealings with adventurers that he did not reward those who took an easier path to victory and essentially exploited things to come out on top. However, he was pleasantly surprised by a message that greeted him as he opened the chest.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are the first party to successfully bring down a Lewd Uranium Slime Lord on Earth. In recognition of this feat, rewards have been left at their normal level, rather than being reduced due to lack of risk on your part.

Battle-Harem Summoning Band

Type

Tool

Rank

Rare

This bracelet is made of god-touched Mithril. Designed to be worn on the wrist, it resizes to perfectly fit the wearer, even over armor. The bracelet itself is immune to all damage short of the attacks of a divine creature.

The wearer may use this band as a place to store servants who are charged with fighting for him, when they are not in battle. While stored, the servants are placed in a pocket dimension, where they are able to have limited knowledge of the world around the wearer, and can communicate with both the wearer and other stored servants, but do not need to breathe, eat, sleep, or drink. This band can store up to eight servants at a time.

Once a servant has been stored for at least twenty-four straight hours, their essence is bound to the bracelet. From then on, whenever they take damage or suffer an effect that would normally kill them, they are instead banished to the bracelet’s storage space, and are unable to leave for twenty-four hours. When they are resummoned after this forced storage, they return fully healed, and with all their gear fully repaired. A servant cannot be saved like this more than once every month. If they are killed a second time during that span, they suffer the effects as normal for a creature of their type.

Once bound to the bracelet, the servant remains bound until the wearer releases them from the binding (this has no effect on other bindings, such as slave collars). Up to twelve creatures can be bound to the bracelet at any given time. If binding a creature who has spent more than 24 hours in the bracelet would put the wearer over this limit, they can either choose not to bind the servant at this time, or release a previous servant from the bracelet’s binding.

Bargulg blinked as he looked at the band. Even he was stunned by the generosity of his Lord. In fact, he had no words for what this trinket would mean for him, going forward. His pets, however, were more vocal in their appreciation.

Lyrei was the first to speak. “Oh, wow, Master! This means that you can possibly save us from death each, at least once a month! And it looks to be automatic, so no needing to cast spells or use expensive components for resurrection magic! Of course, the storage time before it becomes active, and the time before one of us could be resummoned if we’re saved does limit its usefulness.”

Tanila chuckled. “But it is not immediately useful to us, right now. Unless Master wishes to spend a day camping in the desert, so that we might be bound? And we couldn’t just go in and pop out if there is danger, since it needs to be twenty-four hours, with no breaks. And it does nothing to protect him, either, so Master would be vulnerable while we were in the band.”

Bargulg shook his head. “Something to think on, when we find another safe zone, or finish the dungeon. For now, let us continue. There’s a boss ahead that no one has defeated, on any difficulty, after all.”