Realm Wars

"Trap." Cathy was stunned before she shouted, "That idiot!"

Everyone panicked when the water didn't have any signs of stopping, and within a minute, it had already reached their ankles.

"That idiot!" Cathy gnashed her teeth while the others screamed at the skinny man.

The skinny man just frowned, and Ryu didn't know if the man was feeling trigger happy when he suddenly twisted another knob. It was a knob made of jelly, and not before long, the water gushing out from the ceiling contained slimes in deferent sizes and colors.

"What are you doing?! You idiot!" the others shouted. It looked like they weren't happy anymore that someone took the first shot at the trap since they were now implicated with the consequences.

This time, the trap didn't happen on the who triggered it. It implicated everyone in the dungeon!

"Shut up!" the skinny man snarled back as he killed the approaching slimes. "You all bunch of cowards! Don't pretend that you didn't wish that someone would go first and twist the damn knobs!"

The others didn't have time to argue with the skinny man as the slimes occupied everyone's attention. The creatures were weak, but some were medium in size, requiring a bit of spell and skills to defeat.

"Damn! Now what?" Cathy brandished her staff and cast basic spells to repel the slimes. It was a good thing that the monsters were weak. But their none ending numbers were a pain in their asses. The water wasn't stopping either.

Ryu swiped the slimes that were getting closer to them with his claws. If this kept up, they'd either drown or be slime food. 

"Any plans?" Ryu asked Rosa since she was mostly the brain in the group.

"Shut up and keep those slimes at bay while I'm trying to think," Rosa spat and pinched her chin. She focused her attention on the knobs, and his brain worked in full drive. The water was on their knees now, and the slimes numbers were growing. 

The knobs were the clue. Its design gave away what traps would be triggered.

"Not good." Cathy's face darkened when the smaller slimes mixed to form one giant blob of flesh-eating Jellies.

But all Ryu thought was, could I eat it?

"Agh!" 

Sooner than later, screams filled the dungeon. It came from the skinny man who triggered the traps. He was now inside the giant slimes, and his flesh quickly dissolved like he was melting inside a corrosive acid.

ArRghH!

I guess not, Ryu mused to himself.

One after another, screams of terror pierced the hall when the weaker ones couldn't repel the giant slimes anymore. Their spell and strength were lacking when the smaller slimes continued to infuse with the bigger slimes whenever a chunk of its body disappeared.

"Don't get any closer!" Cathy used a bit of mana and performed a mid-level spell just to combat an approaching giant slime. 

Lighting burst from her staff, and the giant slime was electrocuted on the spot. It disintegrated from Cathy's spell and crumbled into dust.

While the others felt a tingle from Cathy's electricity crawling to their skin due to the water on their feet.

"Idiot, don't use lightning!" the others bellowed. If they weren't experts with a strong physique, they could have been electrocuted too.

Cathy stuck out her tongue. "Deal with it!" it was her affinity, and she wouldn't hold back just because the others said so.

Ryu was busy fighting another giant blob of jelly. His overwhelming speed and strength were enough to pulverize the jelly faster than the smaller slimes could regenerate its body.

Making sure that no slimes would go near Rosa, Ryu briefly shot her a glance. Anytime now, he thought. The water was on their waist. Though he had a mermaid water breathing potion with him, he didn't know how long they'd be stuck in the dungeon. And without Seraphina by his side, he didn't want to gamble nor waste his resources.

The soonest they were out and safe into the fifth dungeon, the better.

"Fifi, keep those slimes at bay!" Rosa summoned, and Fifi materialized in the air.

Ryu almost forgot about her, and he had to admit that he missed her golden klutzy form.

"Ryu!" Fifi was also happy that she got to be reunited with him again. "How have you been? Where's Kai?"

"Fifi!" Rosa growled and glared at Fifi.

"R-right! We'll talk another time Ryu!" Fifi bolted in the air and eliminated the tiny slimes with multiple claps of thunder that shot from her luminescent body.

Ryu shook his head. It was nostalgic to know that Fifi was still the same. But this was not the time nor place to catch up. The water was already nearing his chest.

Ryu was tall while most were shorter than him, and each of them had already taken an item or cast a spell that let them breathe underwater. But fighting the giant slimes on the sea of water proved to be a challenge.

Rosa smacked her fist against her palm, not minding the water on the level of her neck. Out of the hundreds of knobs, she managed to narrow it to fifteen.

She then took a water-breathing potion and commanded Ryu to follow her.

Cathy saw that Ryu, Rosa, and a translucent girl in gold were swimming towards the door. She followed them and kept an eye on the slimes.

"Did you figure it out?" Ryu asked, voice and face hopeful.

"Keep them away," Rosa only said, and her hand stopped midway when she was about to twist a wooden knob. 

"You want me to do it for you?" Ryu volunteered when he was surprised that Rosa was hesitating. So the woman could also show some hesitation?

"Shut up, halfbreed," Rosa barked, and she twisted the knob.

RuUmMbBle!

The ground shook and with it came sharp vines that pierced the surprised experts who couldn't get away in time. They died on the spot without knowing what had happened. At the same time, the vines continued to ripple underwater in search of their next victim.

"Damn it! Stop twisting random knobs!"

Rosa didn't mind the angry shouts and proceeded to twist another knob.

WwhoOoSh!

A cold torrent of wind swept across the place, turning the water to ice within minutes.

"S-shit!" Cathy's teeth rattled from the cold, and she shot Rosa a sharp glare. "S-stop twisting the god damn knobs already!" she shouted, and sparks of electricity broke a small area of ice around her.

The others directed their hate and curses towards Rosa, but they couldn't do anything as they were stuck in the layer of ice. The only good thing that came out of it was, the giant slimes were stuck too while the vines ceased their movement.

Some experts managed to break the ice shrouding them, and they breathed easy when they were given time to rest. But the halfbreed with basilisk hair and the woman she was with weren't lucky enough, and they were frozen inside the ice. 

Ryu broke the layer of ice with his strength and shook the shards of ice off his hair and body before he proceeded to punch the layers of ice to create a breathing space around them.

However, Rosa wasn't interested in the other's predicament. She thawed the ice with her flames and twisted another knob.

CrReeAakK. . .

There was an ominous sound rattling in their ears and what came was a strange dark light that floated in space, unhindered by anything. And when it passed a giant slime, the slime dissolved to nothingness.

"W-what is that?" Fifi hid behind Ryu.

Cathy caught her tongue when the dark light floated in a slow-motion like it was taking its time as it went to the experts. The experts caught within the ice and didn't have any spell or skill to break from it could only watch as the floating thing sipped into their bodies.

Not even a gasp or squeal, and their bodies disintegrated to dust. It was sucking the life out of them. The halfbreed who couldn't even lift the clothe on her hair to turn the floating creature to stone was helpless, and she died together with her master.

Everyone gaps, and some shouted as they hammered and clawed the ice to escape the approaching death.

The floating dark ball of light gathered speed, and it went past another adventurer's body within a blink.

ArRghh!

"T-that thing is scary!" Fifi shrieked, and she looked at Rosa, "M-master, hurry!"

Argh!

The shouts were getting closer while some of the adventures blasted the ice to get to the door. Their only chance of escape was through that door, but the thick layer of ice prevented them from moving faster.

"Oh, for the love of–!" Cathy couldn't wait and watch anymore as death was fast approaching. Her body shuddered and not because of the cold as she looked at the knobs before her.

"Rosa, tell us which knobs are left? We'll twist it together!" Ryu said, and Rosa wanted to face palmed herself when she didn't think of that.

"Fifi, halfbreed, and you little squirt, come closer and put your hands here," Rosa instructed the others while Cathy didn't have time to pout when she was called names again.

With eight hands holding different knobs, Rosa could only hope that one would open the door.

The cries of death were fast approaching, and Cathy almost wet her dress when she saw it was just meters away from them.

"H-hurry!"

"Now!"

With a clink and clank, numerous traps sprung open, and just as death was but a meter, the door budged, and Ryu pushed it forward with all his strength.

The four of them stumbled into a portal to the next dungeon, and the last thing they saw was the room turning into chaos with explosions ravaging from all sides and all sorts of monsters wreaking havoc from within its walls.

And everything went black.

----

A/N

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