Nickel crouched before the tent flap, ready for battle, his body began to transform.
From the elbow down, black scales grew along both his arms, sliding into place, forming durable armor. His nails, already stronger and sharper than mana-steel, extended, growing to inch long sharpened claws.
Beneath his dress shirt, the same black scales slide into place, growing up his neck and along his jaw and cheeks. His irises shifted, from their usual shining gold, to a pale, piercing silver.
Nickel hoped this level of Dragonification would be enough. While dragons could shift from a mostly humanoid to a fully draconic form, they typically used only partial transformations for most battles, if they deigned to use them at all.
Now prepared in both mind and body, Nickel crept stealthily from the tent.
Fortunately, the slimes had moved away to another corner of the room. They seemed to be resting after taking down the goblin, the newly evolved slime motionless while the other four milled about around it.
As Nickel snuck over to them, keeping low to the ground, he attempted to come up with a strategy to defeat them.
He didn't have a weapon, and the little offensive magic he knew wouldn't pierce through to the slimes' cores, let alone destroy them. The only natural weapon he had, beside his claws, was his dragonfire.
That was a somewhat limited resource, however. Dragonfire didn't require mana, it had it's own energy. But that energy had to accumulate over time, and as young as Nickel was, he couldn't stockpile much of it, nor was his renewal rate for it particularly fast. He'd rather save it if he could, in case he met something much stronger deeper into the dungeon.
Claws it was then.
Nickel's luck seemed to manifest in other ways, though. The area the slimes had chosen to rest in was a rather expansive maze of large pillar-like stones. He stealthily made his way over to them, taking cover behind one that a more adventurous slime would soon be passing by.
In position, the rock to his left, he waited, his arms poised to strike. As the slime passed in front of the pillar, it sensed him. But it was too late.
Nickel's right arm shot out, his claws piercing the slime with a disgusting squelch. His scales burned, though not quickly enough to cause damage. He grasped for the slime's core, his left hand keeping the monster pinned in place. After a few seconds of struggling, due to the slime moving it's core around, his hand closed around it and swiftly pulled back, ripping the core from it's body.
Nickel took several rapid steps back, avoiding its body as it dropped into a puddle, surface tension lost without the core.
In between deep breaths, trying to regain his calm, Nickel cast [Low Heal] on his right arm. His scales weren't in danger of breaking, but his father had always said to maintain peak condition for as long as possible.
He wasn't sure if he would be able to keep the slime's core, since the Trial was supposed to be immaterial. Deciding he could consider this later, he pocketed the slime core, and moved to further reduce the smaller slimes' numbers.
—
Well, he almost got them all.
As he was killing the third slime, using the same method as he did on the first and second, the final lesser slime detected him. He had momentarily panicked, and had almost lost his grip on the one he'd pinned down.
He thought he'd be immediately attacked, but the slime just turned and slid away. Nickel finished ripping out the core, trying to deduce the strange behavior of the fleeing slime.
Why would it run away?
Wait…
That direction was the evolved slime!
Nickel broke into a run, trailing after the escapee, trying to catch it before it could alert the big guy. Rounding a particularly wide stone, he came into a wide, clear area, face to face with the slime. Or slimes, as it were.
The lesser slime had reached the evolved one. The little bastard seemed to hide behind it's boss, peeking around at Nickel.
Slimes didn't have faces, but he could tell by it's smug aura. It was laughing at him.
"Alright, then." Nickel sneered, a light of fury in his slit eyes. "If that's how you wanna play it."
He began to move slowly toward the slime duo, his knees bent, arms up, protecting his torso and face. As he drew closer to them, the large slime started to slide towards him, the smaller one moving around to his left.
Once Nickel was around a meter away from the greater slime, it leapt toward him. Just before it met Nickel's raised arms, he jumped up as well, and shoved against one of the greater slimes plates, pushing himself back and to the left. Just as he planned, he landed near the lesser slime, which had almost managed to make it behind him.
Seizing the opportunity while the greater slime recovered, Nickel sprinted toward the lesser slime. He reached it quickly, and performed the now practiced maneuver of pinning it down and tearing out it's core.
As he tore the core from the body of the slime, a large, solid weight struck him in the back, knocking him into the puddly remains of the lesser slime.
His shirt started to dissolve. Nickel scrambled away, quickly turning into a kneeling position and bringing his arms up once he felt far enough away.
He stared back at the remaining slime. As he watched it, he noticed it seemed to be trembling in fury.
"You're Mad?!" He scoffed. How dare this slime? It didn't even have a brain!
"Do you have any idea what Kalvin's gonna do to me when I come back without this shirt?"
Nickel rose to his feet as the slime continued to tremble at him. Oh well. At least he'd come back much stronger. He'd just buy more shirts. And do his best to endure Kal's reprimand.
He steadily circled the slime, searching for an opening in it's defense and trying to minimize his own. Nickel feinted forward, trying to bait it.
And like the brainless monster it was, the greater slime took the bait, throwing itself through the air at Nickel. He dug in his feet, meeting the slime's hard plates with his hands.
He quickly grasped the plates at their top, his claws immediately beginning to burn and weaken, far faster than when submerged in the lesser slime. He grit his teeth and began pulling the plates away from each other. After several seconds of struggling, both from pulling on the plates and keeping the slime in the air, Nickel succeeded, tearing the plates away from it.
The slime fell to the ground.
He jumped back, putting several meters between them. Keeping his guard up, Nickel cast two [Low Heal]'s on his claws. He'd found out the hard way that the mucus of a greater slime was far more acidic than that of a lesser one. There was no way his scales would survive extended contact. This was only his first battle in this dungeon. He couldn't afford to become so injured this early.
Pulling off the plates told Nickel everything he needed to know. He couldn't beat the greater slime. Not the same way he beat the lesser ones.
He'd have to use dragonfire.
Watching the greater slime begin to move towards him again, Nickel dug his feet into the ground, and took a long, deep breath. He pulled all the air within a meter into himself, his chest expanding, compressing the air down, smaller, more pressurized.
A bright silver light began to glow from beneath the scales of his chest. Once he stopped inhaling, the light began to move up his neck. Once it reached his cheeks and jaw, he breathed out.
A blazing mass of silver flames erupted from Nickel's mouth, quickly enveloping the greater slime, and continuing several meters beyond it, reaching to the edge of the clearing.
After around ten seconds, the flames ceased. Nickel heaved for air, massaging his throat. It might have been a natural ability of the dragons, but dragonfire caused quite a bit of discomfort for those unused to it's effects. He felt like he'd drank scalding tea. The feeling would pass quickly, thankfully, once his natural regeneration kicked in.
A minute or two later, Nickel was recovered, and looked to the remains of the slime. The seared mark it left on the floor, anyway. There wasn't a doubt in Nickel's mind the slime would be destroyed, dragonfire was just too powerful.
Unfortunately, due to that incredible destructive power, the slime's core was also destroyed.
Damn it.