CHAPTER 117: SLIMY SITUATION

Commander Korvo stood at the front of the training grounds, arms crossed, looking particularly disappointed in everyone this morning.

"Listen up!" His voice cut through the chatter. "Today’s lesson is simple. Teamwork."

Aegis leaned against the wall beside Scarlett, already dreading whatever came next.

[Teamwork. Great. My favorite.] She sighed. [Well, as long as we can pick our teammates, things should be fine.]

"You’ll be heading into the academy dungeons," Korvo continued. "Groups of three. Your objective is to clear the first level and retrieve a marker from the end chamber."

Students groaned.

Scarlett grinned.

"Finally, some more real action."

"You telling me you don’t enjoy abusing wooden dummies for hours on end?"

"Nah. Charming, to be sure, but nah." She smiled back.

Aegis crossed her arms.

Another boring day, it would seem. The dungeons weren’t exactly dangerous for first-years anymore, not like they’d been at the start of the semester. She’d farmed enough monsters down there with Scarlett to know the layouts by heart. Which was quite something given that she had already known the layouts by heart.

"I’ll be assigning groups," Korvo said, pulling out a list. "No switching. No complaining."

[Damn!] Aegis clicked her tongue. [Well, still a decent chance I’ll be paired up with someone I could work with.]

He started reading names.

Aegis tuned his voice out until she heard her own.

"Starcaller, Kai’Lin Summerfang, Mei’Lin Summerfang."

Her stomach dropped.

[You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.]

Across the grounds, the catgirl twins stood together. Kai’Lin’s ears flattened against her head. Mei’Lin’s tail lashed.

Both glared at Aegis like she’d personally murdered their entire family.

Aegis grimaced.

[You’ve gotta be kidding me.]

Scarlett patted her shoulder.

"Well, good luck. Try not to get murdered."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Hey, I’m being realistic here. Those two look ready to claw your eyes out."

"They’ve been like that for weeks."

"And you’re still alive, so clearly you’re doing something right."

[I guess so. Still feel like I’ve made almost no progress on befriending them though.]

Korvo finished reading the list and waved them off.

"Gear up. Meet at the dungeon entrance in ten minutes."

Aegis grabbed her daggers from the equipment rack. Ruby and Sapphire gleamed in the light, their charisma-scaling enchantments humming faintly.

[Alright. Think of this as an opportunity. This will help somehow. I’m sure of it.]

She strapped the daggers to her belt and headed toward the dungeon entrance, a heavy iron door set into the ground near the western training fields.

The twins were already there, whispering to each other in what they probably thought were quiet voices.

Aegis caught snippets as she approached.

"—can’t believe we have to work with her, nya—"

"—just ’accidentally’ let a monster eat her—"

"—would anyone even care if she disappeared, nya?"

"I mean, probably a few people," Aegis said cheerfully.

They jumped.

Kai’Lin’s brown hair with its white streak bristled.

"W-Were you eavesdropping, nya?"

"You’re literally standing five feet away from me. I’d have to be deaf not to hear you."

Mei’Lin’s white hair swayed as she tilted her head, her huge tits shifting under her uniform.

"We weren’t talking about you, nya."

"Sure you weren’t."

Kai’Lin crossed her arms over her smaller chest, face flushing.

"We don’t need your help, nya."

"Cool. Unfortunately, Korvo’s making us work together, so."

"We could just leave you behind, nya," Mei’Lin said, tail swishing behind her.

"You could. But then you’d fail the assignment. Teamwork, remember?"

The twins exchanged looks.

Aegis went first, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. Torches lined the walls, flickering. The air smelled damp and moldy, with an undertone of something vaguely rotten.

Behind her, the twins’ footsteps echoed. Their claws clicked against the stone.

[This is going to be a long day.]

They reached the bottom of the stairs. A long corridor stretched ahead, branching off in multiple directions. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.

Aegis pulled out her daggers.

"Left or right?"

"Left, nya," Kai’Lin said immediately.

"Right, nya," Mei’Lin said at the same time.

They glared at each other.

Aegis sighed.

"How about straight?"

Neither twin argued, which she took as agreement.

They moved forward, boots scraping against stone. The dungeon was quiet except for distant dripping water and the occasional skitter of something small and unseen.

Aegis tried to focus on the environment, checking for traps or ambush points. But the silence was unbearable.

"So," Aegis tried, "you two been doing this dungeon stuff long?"

Silence.

"Right. Cool. Love a good conversation."

Kai’Lin hissed under her breath.

"Why is she even talking to us, nya?"

"Ignore her, nya," Mei’Lin muttered back. "Maybe she’ll shut up, nya."

[Fantastic. This is going fantastically.]

They reached a fork in the path.

"Left looks clearer," she said, pointing.

"Then we go right, nya," Kai’Lin said, already heading that direction.

Aegis bit back a groan and followed.

The right path sloped downward, the air growing cooler. The torch light flickered more intensely here, casting dancing shadows on the walls.

Aegis kept her daggers ready. The twins walked ahead of her, their ears swiveling at every sound.

At least they were taking this seriously.

The right path opened into a larger chamber. Water pooled on the floor, reflecting the torchlight. Moss grew on the walls in thick patches. The ceiling dripped steadily.

And in the center, something moved.

A slime.

Level 8

Dungeon Slime

HP: 150/150

[Ah, a slime. Well, this should be pretty easy. We’re basically all strong enough to take this down 1-on-1, so imagine how one-sided this is gonna be as a group.]

The slime pulsed, its translucent blue body rippling. It sensed them and began sliding forward, leaving a trail of goop behind it, sliding forward with murderous intent!

"I’ll take point," Aegis said, stepping forward.

"We don’t need you, nya!" Kai’Lin darted past her, claws extending from her fingertips.

Mei’Lin followed, moving to flank, her larger frame surprisingly nimble.

[Oh for fuck’s sake.]

The twins attacked in tandem, slashing at the slime. Their claws cut through its gelatinous body, leaving deep gouges that immediately started to close.

The slime pulsed again, its body reforming almost instantly.

[Yeah, slimes don’t work like that, you country bumpkins! You need to hit the core.]

"Aim for the center!" Aegis called.

"We know what we’re doing, nya!" Kai’Lin shouted back.

The slime lashed out with a pseudopod, catching Kai’Lin in the chest. She flew backward, hitting the wall with a thud.

"Kai’Lin, nya!" Mei’Lin lunged, but the slime caught her too, wrapping around her leg.

Aegis moved. She activated Aether Step, blinking forward in a shimmer of light. Her daggers sliced through the pseudopod holding Mei’Lin.

The white-haired catgirl stumbled free, panting.

The slime retaliated, shooting tendrils at all three of them.

Aegis dodged, rolling to the side. The twins weren’t as lucky.

The tendrils wrapped around their wrists, ankles, waists. The slime lifted them off the ground like they weighed nothing.

"Let us go, nya!" Kai’Lin struggled, claws slashing uselessly at the tendrils holding her.

The slime’s body pulsed, tendrils sliding over their uniforms with slow, deliberate movements.

Aegis raised her dagger, ready to cut them free.

Then she froze.

The slime’s watery tendrils rubbed against the twins’ bodies, sliding over their thighs, between their legs, across their chests. The movements were rhythmic, almost sensual.

[Oh.] Aegis raised a brow. [Oh wow.]

Kai’Lin gasped, eyes going wide. Her face flushed bright red.

Mei’Lin bit her lip, tail going stiff as a board.

And then Aegis saw it.

Both of them were hard.

Very hard.

Their cocks strained against their uniform pants, tents clearly visible even with the slime’s body partially obscuring them. Kai’Lin’s smaller package pressed against the fabric. Mei’Lin’s was more prominent, straining against her thigh.

[Oh.]

[Oh no.]

Aegis’s own dick twitched in her pants.

[Nope. Not the time. Focus.]

But her eyes stayed glued to the sight. The slime’s tendrils moved rhythmically, rubbing, squeezing, exploring. The twins squirmed, faces getting redder by the second. Their ears flattened against their heads.

Kai’Lin’s hips jerked forward involuntarily as a tendril squeezed around her cock through her pants.

Mei’Lin whimpered, her larger body trembling as the slime’s touch grew more insistent.

"S-Stop staring and help us, nya!" Kai’Lin’s voice cracked.

Mei’Lin’s tail lashed weakly.

"P-Please, nya..."

[Right. Helping. I’m helping now.]

Aegis shook herself and lunged forward. She slashed with Ruby and Sapphire, cutting through the tendrils. The slime shrieked, its body destabilizing.

She activated Aether Whip, the purple energy coalescing in her hand. With a flick of her wrist, she wrapped it around the slime’s core. With a hard yank, she ripped it apart.

The slime exploded into water and goop, splashing everywhere.

The twins dropped to the ground, soaked and gasping.

Aegis stood there, daggers dripping, trying very hard not to look at their crotches.

[Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t—]

She looked.

Still hard.

[Fuck.]

Kai’Lin scrambled to her feet first, face bright red. She grabbed Mei’Lin’s arm and hauled her up, nearly dragging her sister.

"This never happened, nya!" Kai’Lin hissed, ears flat against her head.

"We’re leaving, nya!" Mei’Lin added, tail tucked firmly between her legs. Her voice was shaky.

"Wait, we still need to get the marker—"

But the twins were already running back the way they came, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls. Kai’Lin nearly tripped over her own feet twice.

Aegis stood alone in a puddle of slime goop, watching them disappear around the corner.

She sighed, wiping her daggers clean on a relatively dry patch of her uniform.

[Well. That went about as well as expected.]

She looked down the corridor where they’d vanished, their retreat still audible.

[Ironically, I think I’m closer to befriending Darius than them.]

Aegis turned and headed deeper into the dungeon alone.

She had a marker to retrieve, and apparently, no help doing it.