The Mad Rat's Lab

The slime downpour continues to hit us from several directions. Green and red spurts come off the surrounding walls at unpredictable timings, making it extremely difficult to evade, both because the attackers can't be seen and because the timing isn't constant.

"Fuck… Why did they have to come out now of all times?"

I've just spent all my MP killing the two giant blue slimes! Why can't they give me a break!?

At first glance, it seems like the attackers are the walls themselves, but when you pay closer attention, there are HP bars embedded inside them, revealing the real attackers. This should make it easy to find and kill the attackers, but there's a tiny, insignificant problem…

…a problem called 'Average Central Position'. Don't search it, I just made the term up.

You see, to help players find their targets and always know how close the enemies are to death, the HP bars automatically place themselves slightly above the monster's head, in what you could call the average central position of that unit's 3D model. They also resize themselves according to the monster's size, to avoid situations where a giant monster obstructs it with its arms and wings, for example, or a swarm of small monsters with HP bars that cover the monsters themselves.

In general, this is a great approach. But as always, there are caveats…

Especially in situations like now, where you can 'see' the monster, as in its body is right in front of you, but said monster is, in fact, 'invisible' to you. And it's even worse when the monster can freely change its body shape like the slimes do.

How can I know where to attack if the slime's HP bars are floating and moving erratically at a faster speed than the slimes should be able to move? This is a sign that the slimes are quickly changing shapes, and the HP bar is constantly trying to keep up with those changes.

What's worse: what if the slime takes a donut shape and I aim at the hole? Won't I look like a fool?

I've also seen this happen when fighting water elementals underwater.

A groan escapes my lips. "Aargh… We can't fight like this…" Luckily, how to approach this fight quickly comes to me. "Alright! Everyone, ruuuun! We're retreating!"

I'll make it clear so you don't misunderstand. We aren't running away. We're strategically retreating so we can more easily kill them later. Until I recover enough MP to cast spells, fighting the impossible-to-see slimes would be a waste of time and effort.

There's absolutely no way those puny slimes could ever defeat me and my support monsters and force us to run away, after all. Definitely not!

Taking the lead, I use the minimap to choose the path, and the three Good Followers follow after me instead of engaging the slimes in a fight. Hahaha, having units with high Intelligence, higher than the Stitched at least, always pays off in situations like this.

Although we run at maximum speed, the slime's slowing effect makes us move slower than usual, and by the time we get out of their reach, all of us are covered in slime goo of the three colors.

We look as if we came out of a paintball game, one with three teams, where everyone ignored all the rules and just shot at anything that moved. The Good Followers' 'base canvas' is blue with green and red splotches, and I'm green with red.

Well, I've looked worse than this... Both in the game and in real life.

"Oh, no! Not this again…!"

As soon as I turn around the corner, I realize trouble awaits us. Not far along this passage, there are the same green and red patches of cave that contained the spitting slimes that covered us in goo. Only that this time, we're on the other side of the wall.

I turn the minimap around and open the bigger, 3D map to check the path. "Yeah… I didn't make a mistake. This is the only revealed path to Cyam's position."

Could there be another safer path than this one? Yes, but I haven't revealed it yet.

Could we cross the walls to avoid this path? Sure, but nobody can guarantee it'll be safer than this one.

I suddenly look at my support minions and adopt a serious pose.

"Everyone, listen well because I will explain the complicated tactics we'll use to cross this passage safely." I follow the introduction with a fake cough, turning around and lowering my upper body. "Chaaarge! Iyaaaaaaa∼h!"

With the weirdest shout I can come up with, I spring ahead, covering my head with both arms and hands, and ignoring the flying slime splashing all over my body. My HP bar starts to fall again, and the slowing effect kicks in, but I mindlessly run forward.

I just hope that my minions, RGB, RGB Two, and RGB Three, can keep up with me and don't die.

"Iyaaaaa– Huh?" I suddenly stop and interrupt my shout when, not long after crossing the treacherous 'sniping wall', I find a blue wall in front of me, fully blocking the way forward. "Another giant sl– Gufu!?"

The Good Followers chasing after me don't stop in time, bumping into my back and sending me flying straight into the blue slime. The slime, as if I were a tasty treat, gladly swallows me whole and starts sliding sideways, slowly diving into the blue wall next to us.

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But instead of helping, the three Good Followers just stare at me being dissolved in the slime's acid.

"Don't just look at me and attack the fucking slime, bastards!"

To prevent them from attacking random slimes and diving into the walls, I had to disable their engagement range, but now they do nothing unless I give the order or they themselves are attacked first.

Sigh… this AI, although smarter than the Stitched's AI, still needs lots of improvement.

"I told you to attack the slime! Attack, I said! ATTACK!"

Finally, after frantically pointing at the slime swallowing me, they start moving. Sigh… Damn AI.

"...What the hell is this? Is this what you feel when you go inside Medusa's lair?" I say as soon as I reach the place where I left Cyam. "No, did Christmas come earlier this year?" If so, it's about half a year earlier.

Cyam, unexpectedly, is fine. He's staring ahead, his sight lost, gazing at who knows what. But him being alive isn't what surprises me – well, of course it does, but you know what I mean.

In a cone in front of him, there's a sea of statues. Slimes. Gray slime statues of all sizes and shapes. They're mostly buried inside the walls, but there are a few of them found in the passages too.

When I say 'a sea', I truly mean it. Since the walls and even the ceilings are made out of that translucent mucus that allows sight to pass through, Cyam's Petrifying Eyes have been turning every enemy within a cone in front of him into a stone statue.

I can't even see the end of it from here!

"Fufufu! Hahaha! It's Christmas! The Christmas presents are here, half a year earlier than they should be!"

Oh, my god. How many slime statues are there? Ten, twenty, thirty…? No, at least sixty or seventy from what I can see…

"Hahaha…!"

Drool starts falling from my open mouth, just imagining the sheer amount of slimes I can freely capture. There are even giant slimes like the blue ones that ate me and the Good Followers whole!

It's even better because, after being turned into stone, they become visible, even through the walls, making it very easy for me to go and capture them!

Before leaving, I gave Cyam two orders: capture the stunned slimes I left near him, and stand still. This is why he didn't capture any of the petrified slimes, but at the same time, it's the reason the sea of statues came to be. If Cyam had turned his head even a single time, all the slimes would have immediately been freed from the petrification.

"Hahaha! I guess having see-through walls isn't as good as you thought, dungeon owner!"

There are always skills to exploit everything. I just didn't think Cyam would be so amazing in this dungeon in particular. Not until now.

"Alright, guys…" I excitedly approach the three Good Followers while licking my lips. "It's harvest season! Go! Go and pick anything ripe for the harvest! Hahaha!"

Even now and then, you can see a slime statue suddenly becoming visible. Probably those slimes who got unlucky, ¡wandered into the 'petrifying cone of instant death', and triggered the small chance to turn into stone.

Although the chance to turn to stone is small, and even lower the higher the unit's stats, having nowhere to hide and being exposed to it continuously will eventually trigger it.

"Cyam, don't even dare to blink!" I remind him before leaving the area, rushing towards the sea of statues. "From now on, I'll promote you. You're no longer my kidnapper. You're my capture-seeking radar!"

I rush inside the wall in front of Cyam and start 'harvesting' every statue I find.

So what if it's disgusting and I can feel the slime coming inside my mouth when I laugh? There's no danger because most slimes have turned into stone, and I don't care anymore since I'm already covered in slime.

"I'll have to save this dungeon to the favorites list for the future… Fufufu! Hahaha!"

Oh, slimes, slimes. Oh, poor slimes… You're mine now. You're mine, and I'll do whatever I please with you!

"Tremble and shake your squishy bodies, because here I co– Oh, right, they can't. They're turned to stone! Hahaha!"

Finally, everything goes as it should. Everything goes the way Mad Rat wishes.

"Aaand another one! Hahaha, free captures, yummy!"

When I calm down, an unknown amount of time has passed.

The sea of statues has almost disappeared, reduced to a few stragglers at the furthest points from Cyam. I calmly walk back, ordering the Good Followers, whom I find on the way back, to follow after me.

I don't know how many slimes I captured today, but it certainly is way over the limit I can bring back with me after a single Dungeon Invasion. There's no reason to keep wasting time capturing the few that remain, nor is there any reason to stay here anymore.

"It's time to go back. Good job, everyone. Especially you, Cyam!" I lift Cyam's weird body, part chicken, part reptile, part spider, up in the air and spin while holding him. "Today's MPV is you! The ugliest of all my monsters in this place! Who's an ugly cutie∼? You're an ugly cutie!"

I then open the dungeon menu and choose the surrender option. I could go back to the entrance to get more cp, but there's no need. The bodies I'll get either way will be the same.

Revenge? Boss and dungeon core? None of that matters. I came here to capture slimes, and capture slimes I did.

Now, I'll just have to wait for another time when I can use the slimes I got today and finish the Waste Disposal Unit… Which won't be tomorrow or any time soon, because Marta's training is waiting for me.

"Today was extremely profitable, hahaha! See you another day, slimes!"

I wave my hand around until the teleport light whisks me away, and the screen to choose which 'bodies' I want to bring with me, up to the current limit of thirty, appears in front of me.

It's a shame I can't bring them all with me. A shame indeed.