Master Of None

Su was laying sight on a smaller steel skinned worm that had at some poi t crawled its' way to the surface. However, it had not survived its' injuries long. "It has some of the yellow slime bodies on it and it appears that it did not counter that well." 

The party moved towards one of the holes made by the worms and found one that had mostly come out of the ground. It was significantly small than the long skin they had purchased in the auction. Yet, it was still many times larger than any normal earth worm. 

"Walker, you should store it away. It might be damaged but I am sure there's is still a use for it." Gil was thinking that the pieces of damaged steel worm skin can be used for repairs or just sold in general. 

"Good idea. We can make use of it. It does worry me that the slime sare obviously the reason for the steel skinned worms coming up to the surface where they would never normally be." Walker tapped the worm body to store it away but found that it was still there. "It didn't store away…" 

His quizzical look started to let way for understanding as he could see some parts of the worm moving as if something inside was moving. "This might be gross, but what would happen if a steel skinned worm which is blind accidentally ate an acidic slime along with the rocks and ores?" 

His question put everyone on guard. They could hear the slight sizzling sound of something within the steel skinned worms body and also saw the strange motion of the body. None of them needed to answer Walkers' question. They already knew the answer. 

Before any of them could move to attack The skin of the worm started to become thinner and thinner until a smaller yellow slime melted its way through. It was followed by two more that were trying to encompass the entire steel skinned worm. 

"Everyone back! We need to stick to ranged attacks." Walker shouted this but Remey and Su were already retreating since they had spoken about this possible danger. 

"What do you think will work on them? Fire? Or should we try water elemental attacks to freeze them?" Gil wasn't sure what elemental arrow would be the best to attack. He knew that Wind could cause acid to fly in the air and harm the others while earth would just temporarily stop them. These slimes were enemies of the earth in the sense that they ate away at the ores within so he knew that trapping them or stabbing them with an earth spike wouldn't be as effective. 

"You try one of those fire wither spike arrows. We will retreat far enough to stay away from the attack." Walker knew this was risky, but since there was no dry grass or trees they were able to take a shot at burning the slimes. 

"Sorry Remey, but these things should burn away." Gil said a quick apology to Remey since he was not sure he would avoid defeating all the slimes with this arrow. The wither spike fire elemental arrow was a larger area attack after all. 

The retreat was smooth since the slime had not noticed the party due to their fixation on the steel skinned worm they were eating. Walker knew that the body most likely had a lot of ore within it and that was what they were after. Not to mention it had absorbed the ore for its entire lifetime. 

"Ready," Gil gave the warning before releasing the fire elemental wither spike arrow. It threw off heat as he used his mana to activate it and let it fly through the air. 

Gil had aimed for the center of the steel skinned worm so that he could burn the entire thing. This proved to be the right move because as soon as the arrow made contact it burst in to a ball of flames. 

Walker watched this and saw that the yellow slimes were contorting in to strange shapes as they realized the danger they were in along with the slow disappearance of their food. He took the chance to send off three fire bolt spells to make them burn more. 

The fire bolts were right on target and hit the slimes and steel worm with three loud bangs. "They are still moving in the flames. They seem agitated." Su was making sure she had the shields ready for the worst case scenario of an acid spray attack. 

However, instead of an acid spray attack, the three slimes burst out of the flames and were moving as fast as their bodies could roll at the party. They had lost the ores they wanted to eat inside the worm due to the burning fire and could feel the metal of the partys' armors and weapons. 

"Gil, use the water elemental arrow now!" Walker yelled and Gil fired the arrow he had prepared. The two were a perfect team since they were already prepared without needing to say anything before hand. 

The water elemental wither spike arrow made contact with the leading slime which seemed to be fusing with the other two while they moved toward the party. The arrow immediately started to break down in the acid of the yellow slime's body but this only hastened the release of the water elemental mana. 

The mana that gathered brought with it the moisture in the air and in a few seconds a series of ice crystals had sprouted from where the arrow pierced. Without the arrow being intact properly it was more of a large ice crystal that spiked out and pierced the slimes acidic body in multiple places at the same time. The loud sounds of sizzling acid were the only thing the party heard while holding their breath for the result. 

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