Although my senses are no longer what they once were -- in many ways, my sensibilities have improved, in other ways, they have degraded -- but I know this: whenever the plague comes into contact with me, it burns me. It pains me to admit it but I cannot continue my research. Not without great risk. Not without... something more. It is time to replace my friend... --80.6 Seconds Post-Integration.

  Shet! It was coming straight for them -- what should he do?!

  His body reacted for him before Darren could even shout. Clark leapt to the lefthand side, dodging the Airheart's dive. Hardly thinking, he connected his will to a flurry of overturned canned goods and used his manipulation dandy to blast the cans at the Airheart. Most failed to land but a couple did; one careened straight through its grotesque garbage bag wings -- releasing trash in a wide arc over the battlefield -- while another smashed into its spindly leg.

  "Score!" Theo yelled, as he watched the exchange.

  The Airheart lost altitude because of its damaged wing. It's flight path became more erratic until it finally crashed into a display of tree fruit.

  "Lucky shot, Clark! Finish it!" Darren yelled as he and the (mostly) Greenhorne'd recruits engaged a small army of slimes.

  "On it!" he shouted back.

  Clark ran ahead with Hera at his side. Russet lagged just behind where he acted as a shield against those slimes which attempted to intervene. By the time they got to the stone fruit display, the Airheart tried to right itself; but disoriented and covered in smooshed fruit, which made it slick and slippery, it failed to right itself. Together, he, Hera, and Russet, having imbued their Blessed weapons with an amount of aura, whacked the Airheart repeatedly with their makeshifts weapons until its stopped moving and died. Like the slimes, it, too, dissolved into mist.

  [Airheart Defeated! Experience Gained!]

  [Congratulations! You Gained an Imbued Level Up! Level 24 Reached]

  [Airheart: The Trash Bird: A monster born of magified garbage, watch out for its knife-like wings and needle teeth. It eyes are made of a mélange of yogurt, ice-cream, and maggots.]

  Clark skimmed the notifications but otherwise did not pay them much heed.

  "How's the battle?" he asked his teammates.

  Hera answered. "It looks like it's going well. Darren is handling his own against the slimes. Theo and Bear are doing the same. Because our fellow Leaguers are doing so well in holding the line, we should press our advantage while we still have an advantage and march on the emergence point."

  Russet nodded, saying nothing.

  "Fine by me. Everyone good?" Clark asked, his own body feeling drained from repeatedly smashing the Airheart, but otherwise fine.

  Without objections, then, he and his team pushed ahead to the emergence point. Here, many slimes congregated. SIMP alerted him to slimes fusing together, creating bigger slimes which could take more hits before death. "Don't let bigger slimes fuse endlessly," SIMP warned. "You don't want to fight a Slime King! That kind of monster is way beyond your current capabilities!"

  Clark knew better than to argue with SIMP. "How should we clear them?"

  "With due diligence."

  SIMP's answer didn't impress him. Was there really nothing more effective than a protracted melee? There had to be something more efficient. He looked at the battlefield. Canned goods and fruit were everywhere, as were chunks of the floor, displays, and walls damaged in the fighting. He still had a good sum of his manipulation dandy left on top of a final unopened one in his satchel. He thought of an idea. "Hera, Russet. How about this? I can use my manipulation dandy to connect to a bunch of the bits and pieces on the floor. If I can get a whole bunch into the air, I could then slam it all down at once like an arrow rain. That should daze the enemy allowing you two to close the gap and mop up stragglers."

  Hera and Russet considered his plan. Russet spoke for the first time. "Do you really think you can manage so many items at once?"

  That was a good question. Could he?

  "I think I can..." he said, remembering how in the dungeon interior not long ago, he had been able to effortless fling about that burnt out piece of engine block. He was able to do easily manipulate those pieces because the engine block fragments weighed less than the masonry he trained with in the League stadium. Canned goods, chunks of tiles, and the sort, would be much lighter than stadium pieces. "And if it doesn't work out, we will pivot, and I will join you in the melee. Sound good?"

  Russet and Hera took position and settled into a melee stance. He, meanwhile, calmed and sought out elements of the store to repurpose as missiles.

  He found the required elements and brought them into his focus. He directed his will toward, tt first, only a few pieces. He tested the heft of what he had, wanting to be cautious against overloading himself. Finding the combined weight acceptable, he then willed himself into more and more fragments: before long, his half-dozen items multiplied to at least three dozen. "This good?" he asked Hera and Russet.

  Both Hera and Russet thought the number of projectiles were fine. Per the norm, Hera voiced her agreement while Russet only gave a thumb-up.

  "On me. Once my shower ends, charge at my call." Clark slowly raised both of his hands, as if he was demonstrating 'the wave.' When his arms reached as far above his head as they could go, he then slammed his arms flat against the floor. Such a gesture necessitated him to kneel, but that was fine, as it brought more force to his motion; the debris he held in thrall thanks to the manipulation dandy flung themselves at the slimes.

  Clark's assault was as destructive as it was all-consuming. It was over in an instant. A loud crunching-splat was all he heard of the attack's landing. Before long, the dust cleared, revealing a field of splattered goo.

  "Wow, Clark! That was impressive... we don't even have to charge," Hera remarked.

  It was true. He must've aimed with more accuracy than he imagined or maybe some items struck more than one slime because of the slimes' proximities to each other. Whatever the reason, the field, for the moment, was empty of combatants.

  "Don't get complacent," SIMP announced. "More slimes are coming from the emergence points. These ones are even bigger than the ones you just handled."

  "We should advance while we still have the momentum." Russet suggested.

  Clark couldn't argue with the man. "Yes. But remember, we are coming up on a sensitive point, where nearby slimes are bound to notice our presence. We will have to guard from two directions instead of the one direction, 'ahead,' that we have been worried over."

  "I know." Russet replied. "I have keen eyesight and senses. I will be our ward."

  The group resumed their advance on the emergence point. Clark's vision was peeled toward the widest section of the crevice, where black, foul-smelling smoke wafted up from some place below, likely a plague rot nest. SIMP had warned him against allowing the slimes to fuse into something called a 'King Slime,' so he wanted to make sure that didn't happen. Best way to ensure it didn't happen was to take out the biggest slimes first.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  His group was about halfway to the emergent point when larger than usual blobs jiggled their way onto the sales floor. Each blob was at least the size of a human child, if not larger. Clark knew right he and his party would be sore by the monsters' end.

  This time around, Hera offered the strategy: "Clark. Your hockey stick and my metal broom are meant to be used at a slight distance. Because these slimes are much bigger than what we've fought before, I say we use our tools to their advantage. Let's keep our weapons crossed. Then we sweep the enemy. That will put them off balance which will allow for Russet to come in and smash them to dust."

  Neither he nor Russet had any objections. Hera's plan sounded as decent as anything he could come up with, so he went with it.

  With a smack, he and Hera crossed their sticks, and bum-rushed the nearest large slime. Clearly unexpected of an attack so soon after emerging from its den, the slime couldn't react in time to defend. Their sticks pushed the slime back, knocking it into another large slime just behind. The ruckus caused a chain reaction as one slime fell against another, then another. He and Hera ran straight through the group of large slimes and back around toward Russet. In that moment, Russet saw his opening. He lunged at the enemy then bashed his mace against a part of the slime's body Clark thought most resembled a head. Russet thrashed the unsteady slime once, twice, then shifted toward the large slime just behind the first, where he delivered two mighty blows.

  One slime, two slimes killed: Hera and He brought themselves around for around for another surge and pushed through the slime ranks once more.

  Their strategy repeated, another couple of large slimes met their demise.

  And so-on they went battling the enemy. System notifications ringed out each time a slime was slain.

  [You've Defeated...]

  [You've Defeated...]

  [You've Gained Exp...]

  [You've Gained Exp...]

  The only notification he cared about was [Congratulations! You've Reached Imbued Level 25!]. "Another level so soon?" Once he remembered the experience multiplier from the Gold Opportunity he opened, and how it had been applied generally to his experience gain, he thought it less odd.

  "F-feck... is that the last of them?" Clark panted. Russet and Hera shared in his exhaustion.

  "I think so..." Hera said, straightening and narrowing herself to see better.

  "I detect no upcoming slimes -- but rot is already forming the base of monster materializations," SIMP added. "If you do not move now, more slimes will form before you can get through the passage. Move!"

  Clark led his team forward and closed the gap between they and the emergence point. A sloped path led the way into the dungeon interior. They ran down the path at full speed, nearly tripping over themselves because of their fast pace.

  "Monster formation imminent!" SIMP reminded. "Watch your backs!"

  Inside the interior, plague rot had consumed everything. The walls, floor, ceiling, even the engine blocks were so gunked over in black rot, nothing underneath was visible. Rot was so pervasive, even the engine blocks could not move in their typical up-down measure.

  "SIMP -- where is the node?" he asked. Without that node, they weren't likely to clean their backsides, let alone plague.

  An instant later, SIMP highlighted for him the node location. It was in the middle of four throbbing plague pustules where it stuck out like a hammered thumb because of its molded over, green, blue, and white coloring. How he didn't see it earlier he couldn't say.

  They rushed toward the node, slaying a few basic slimes which formed while they ran. To their backs, SIMP warned of a rush of slimes which materialized but did not bounce their way out of the interior. SIMP warned they intended to fuse into a bigger slime. Tempted though he was to release either Hera or Russet to eliminate the slimes before they could fuse, he needed all the help he could muster, for, the node was too big for him to take by himself.

  "Do you guys have any Blessing dandies? Now would be a good time to speak up!" he yelled.

  "I have one," Hera said.

  "I have two," Russet joined. "I wanted to save mine for my normal shift, but I guess this takes precedent, huh?" Russet did not sound convinced that their situation actually took precedent, but Clark was beyond arguing. He had his teammates hand over their three Blessing dandies, which brought his new total to five.

  "One dandy to bless our weapons," Clark said, opening and spilling a tonic over his stick, Hera's broom, and Russet's mace. "And our final two stamina dandies to share." He passed around both of his bottles. Each member was able to take about three small swigs of each bottle before it emptied. Because the situation was desperate, he knew it for the best if he handed out one of his penultimate defense dandies. Like the rest, his team finished the defense dandy in a jiffy. "Now, we each take a Blessing dandy and pour it over that node in the center. Is your HUD marked?" His team nodded. "Good. Pour, pour!"

  As one, he and his team uncapped the blessing dandies and drizzled each dandy over the vile, mold-ridden node. Ahead of them, the slimes had finished fusing into large slimes; at that point, SIMP warned of another batch of small slimes materializing which had already started their fusion into the large slimes by the time they finished pouring the three dandies.

  The dandies' effects on the node were immediate. Each drop upon the node gave rise to a steaming swirl as the Blessing melted away the corruption. Mold screeched as it withered away, its surface reeling back like a hissing cat's skin. By the time the three dandies had emptied, enough smoke had filled the chamber to form a smokescreen between the slimes and them.

  "We have one blessing dandy left but I need to save it for the final layer of gunk," Clark said of his plan. "You guys help bash away the goop."

  To demonstrate, his hockey stick reverberated dozens of whapping noises as he slammed it against the node as fast as he could. Slabs of rot fell way; Hera and Russet joined in, and it wasn't long before a great fraction of the node's surface was unearthed. SIMP warned of more monster formations and how they needed to be confronted, least they formed into a King Slime.

  "Hera," he said. "Do you feel able to take those monsters by yourself? I am going to need help from one of you to finish this. Russet has the muscles."

  "I'm sorry... I cannot, Clark. That is beyond me."

  Crap! He rushed to think of alternatives, but nothing came to mind. "It's okay. Take Russet. Just keep them off me!"

  Both his teammates rushed away from him. "Why is it always me chipping away at these rotten things?!" he muttered to himself as he continued to slam his stick into the node. Every strike against the node caused the nearby pustules to squirt a horrendous puss onto him. Having no protection against the bursts, it wasn't long before he was covered in a sticky, blobby goop. "Don't think about it, don't think about it!"

  As he whacked at the node, he grew tired. He imagined the node as a troublesome customer, his blows the retaliating verbiage he wished he could've lobbed at the customer. Thinking this way gave him a brief surge of strength. When the stamina flash flood faded, Clark admitted he couldn't go on without using his final blessing dandy. The exterior plague shell casing remained too hard despite all the abuse his teammates and he inflicted. He uncapped his final bottle and poured it over the node shell's final strongpoint.

  Whack! His stick hit so hard, it broke.

  "Shet -- shet!" he cursed. Futile though it might have been, he smashed is fists against the node. He didn't have any luck in using his fists. Desperate, he used the jagged edge of the broken hockey stick, stabbing into the node. When that blunted, he was forced to pivot.

  Frantic, he searched for a replacement weapon. To his back, his teammates fought the impressively huge slimes valiantly. Though a few slipped by them, they didn't last but a moment before Russet's mace or Hera's metallic broom whapped them to dissolution.

  "Need some help?" a voice said. Clark recognized the voice as Theo.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought--"

  "You thought wrong!" Theo said with a smile. "I figured you would need some help down here. So once topside looked handled, I came down to lend my hand. I'm not part of the League, technically. I can move without being ordered!"

  Part of him wanted to chastise Theo for his theoretical disobedience. His stronger, more rational side had him say, "Screw it! Go at it, buddy!"

  Boy did Theo stab!

  Theo's arms moved as a blur. He could only hear the whop-whop-whop of the blades as they penetrated the node like a gust of air gliding through a chain-link fence.

  "There! Clark, insert your System toggle!" SIMP commanded.

  Clark obeyed and uncurled the cord from around his shoulder and inserted the Link into a port freed by Theo's daggers. As with every previous node he had cleansed, a light burst from inside the node, sending a semi-solid wall of exploded plague particulate outward in a perfectly spherical explosion. Such an upset triggered the surrounding pustules; their membranes withered and the gallons upon gallons of infected bile within splattered to the floor.

  Silver white light spread out from the node's core and filled convoluted etchings within the node's surface. Away, the slimes shrieked with rage as they felt the destruction of their precious rotted heart. Distracted by the node's purification, they ceased their combating, and thus made easy prey for the beleaguered forms of Hera and Russet, bolstered by Theo.

  Another litany of System notifications flashed upon his HUD.

  [You've Defeated...]

  [You've Gained...]

  But he ignored them.

  The battle ended. No more new monsters formed. Those which had already formed were dead. Killed in his team's onslaught. Though adrenaline surged in his veins, the dandy withdrawal he felt despite it all.

  He and his team trudged back up the slop toward the sales floor. The dim emergency lights felt as though the sun compared to the dim smog of the Interior. Darren and the others rushed toward them once they laid sights.

  Clark expected to be rewarded, in so handily addressing the situation.

  Instead, Darren yelled at him.