Drip-Fed Pt. 10

Their speed was dragged down by Apexus in the first place. Even with a crippling injury to her shoulder, Reysha was still considerably faster than the muscle-less slime. This led to the tiger girl going at a pace that she, the only one of the three with a regular understanding of stamina, could keep up for a long time.

Time meant nothing if there was no safe haven to be found however. Time meant even less when they ran into another kind of monster. They only caught a fleeting glimpse of it. It had waited behind a boulder and darted forwards. It had no arm, only two thick legs and a torso that was made to ram things, most of it made from wood with some integrated pieces of stone.

Reysha just barely managed to dodge by executing a jumping roll. Apexus then kicked the legs away from under the new enemy and kept following behind Reysha. They had no opportunity to finish it off and more Thornspitters were already rising. "GO LEFT!" Aclysia suddenly shouted.

Without questioning things, Reysha and Apexus obeyed and took a sharp turn. Where they would have gone instead, the tip of one of the sky-guarding tentacles descended and rammed into the ground with enough power to make the earth tremble.

Which awoke even more Thornspitters everywhere around.

They should have accelerated, but Apexus came to a sudden halt. The sudden turn had sent them trampling into a field of ivy and a hidden tentacle had grabbed him by the ankle. Falling thanks to the energy of his own momentum, the slime slammed down to the floor. He barely started to rise when the grasp on his ankle was gone again. Reysha had finished the Thornspitter off the moment it started to rise with another quickly placed throwing knife.

"Get up!" the redhead shouted and extended a helping hand. Apexus moved to take it. He was halfway up, when suddenly he had to support Reysha. The tiger girl let out a pained scream, as a new thorn slipped into her flesh between two ribs. "This shit sucks!" Reysha declared.

"Keep moving, I can't properly heal you until we remove the thorns!" Aclysia shouted, her voice a pitch higher than usual.

"Don't panic!" Apexus shouted back, as he and the tiger girl did as they had to. "Panic isn't helpful for survival! We're doing good, keep going! Keep going!" Reysha would have answered if her lungs hadn't been occupied with breathing. Unlike her inhuman lover, she didn't just vibrate her words into existence. She still had stamina, but her lungs were burning and the literal thorn in her side wasn't helping.

Instead she kept the necessary words. "ivy-free area ahead!" she screamed, spotting a large area of nothing but dirt and mushroom in a circle of stones. She had almost missed them, covered by the ever-present ivy as they were. A few more thorns flew around them, as they trampled down the natural path that led in there.

Aclysia strained to fly ahead. Stopping in the middle, her expression shifted from strained to relieved. Against her worst expectations, there were none of the ramming enemies hiding in the circle. Instead, she saw a natural pond in the centre of the circle. "Safe area!" she shouted back.

Knowing that Apexus would make it either way, Reysha broke into a sprint to get safe as quickly as she could. She made it into the inside of the circle and immediately swerved to hide between one of the stones. Even though she was at the location of a healing fountain, the Thornspitters still kept firing in her direction.

Apexus had to take one more shot, burying unpleasantly into his neck, then he too arrived inside the safe area and hid behind one of the stones. Inside the circle, they were completely free of ivy. The grey rocks had a peculiar shape, being almost perfectly rectangular. There was even a roof. Half of it was holes, taking a shape that was similar to the wooden wheel of a wagon, but it would ward off rain and giant tentacle attacks.

"Fuck, that was dangerous," Reysha stated with a smile. She was breathing heavily, but still moving to take off her armour while Apexus spied outwards into Verdany. The Thornspitters, with no more target immediately apparent, started to lay back down. None of them were close enough that they could be agitated by the movements of the group inside the stone circle. Soon enough, the entire landscape had calmed down. They were truly safe.

Apexus relaxed. The slime on his bones became droopy for several seconds, making him seem like a half-melted wax figure. Then he pulled himself back together. Dissolving the last few thorns inside him, he looked over to Reysha. The tiger girl was now naked from the waist up. Not for any fun reasons. The crimson red spot on her right side distracted heavily from the otherwise so pleasurable viewing of her naked chest.

Aclysia was already next to her and trying to help. "...This is going to be difficult," the metal fairy mumbled, looking at the wound. "It's so deep in, you might have a small hole in your lungs."

"Certainly, feels like it," Reysha responded, forcefully calming her breath. "Although you may have now given me placebo. Can we skip the part where we deliberate what is wrong with me and get to the part where you heal me? Because listing all of my issues is going to take way too fucking long."

"Affirmative," Aclysia said and made an unhappy face. Taking her adventurer's bag, she retrieved a small cloth. "It is simply going to be a complicated task. Between how deep in it is and your blood making it slippery, getting rid of the thorn will be difficult... I will have to be very careful."

"I trust you," Reysha just said and closed her eyes.

"Thank you," the metal fairy smiled slightly. Tugging the cloth between her knees for the moment, she raised both of her hands to Reysha's naked torso. Golden light spread from her hands and, as if concentrated through a looking glass, focused on the wound.

Healing magic was potent. It eclipsed the natural healing factor of almost everyone in the Omniverse in terms of speed and reliability. A broken bone that healed naturally may not be set right; a cut that is treated only by physical means could leave a nasty scar. Healing magic did not have to contend with these things. It mended injuries as if they had never existed -- if the person who wielded it knew what they were doing.

Even a terrible healer could heal a clean injury, but there were numerous things that healers should be wary of. A foreign object still being inside the body of the person they were healing was a pretty basic example. Enclosing a large glass shard inside mended flesh was not going to do a person any favours.

Similarly, just healing the area around the thorn would fix very few things. The wood would remain there and start to rot. Small pieces, the body could handle on its own, but something of the size Reysha had lodged inside her couldn't be ignored.

Very carefully, Aclysia directed her magic to start the healing effort inside the body. The mending flesh pushed the thorn backwards. Once it was out far enough, the metal fairy took the cloth and pulled the thorn out properly. From there, healing the wound the normal way made the rest of the treatment a quick procedure. "We should acquire tweezers and the like for future complications," she stated. "Luckily, these thorns don't appear to be prone to splintering."

"What would you do if they were?" Apexus wondered, while picking up one of the nearby mushrooms and eating it. It tasted rather bland and the spongy texture wasn't that great. Although it grew in a dungeon, it was just a regular piece of flora.

"In the specific case of wood, I would keep treating the wound every day to prevent the rot from having adverse effects," Aclysia explained. "Other materials will be more complicated. Stone or glass splinters would be difficult to remove in their entirety."

"I've once seen a pretty great Shaman heal a kid's eye that was riddled with shards without issue," Reysha told both of them as she checked her now healed side. The blood was still there, but there was no issue otherwise. "He didn't deal with the shards at all."

"I presume that healers of higher skill know their tricks to circumvent issues like this," Aclysia commented. "There are many things I don't know. I can only heal wounds, as I am. Poisons and other adverse effects are beyond my capability at this moment. Now, let me see your shoulder."

"Yeah, about that," Reysha tapped on the spot where she had been first hit. There was no wound left there, neither was there any blood. There was just smooth skin, as if nothing had ever happened. "Seems like the demon blood works pretty well when it comes to regeneration," she drily said. "It must have pushed out the thorn while we ran away."

The group should have been happy about that development, but all three of them would have preferred if Reysha had suffered a normal injury. It was good that the regeneration factor of that area was strong enough to prevent the issues that careless healers could cause. The origin of it left all of them unhappy.

"You should clean yourself," Apexus spoke up, refusing to be taken by the bad mood. They had spent months coming to terms with what had happened, there wasn't any reason to revert now.

Reysha smirked. "Only if you join me," she purred and winked at Aclysia, extending the invitation. Threats to her life rarely failed to make the redhead horny.

As far as Apexus was concerned, any excuse to practice procreation was a good one.

________________________________________________________

Funatic

I feel like it is time to do a second one of these. As we finally return to action scenes, a refresher of our trio's exact abilities, available items, funds and equipment is likely to be helpful for some of you. I will continue to throw these in every now and again, when it feels a reminder might help or if I want to summarize a lot of recent changes, to keep them easily traceable for you readers.

Imagine, in this specific instance, that our heroes have finished their lewd celebration of safety and are now themselves reminding each other what they are capable off. An exchange, in order to plan their strategy for things to go forwards.

Apexus

Class: Omniverse Slime Chimera

Level: 12

Spell list:

-

Equipment:

Wing-friendly Robe: Although not a standard article in most shops, tailors across the Omniverse are generally capable of modifying simple robes to have slits at the back that serve winged humanoids. This particular robe is of a brown colour. Apexus doesn't wear it in combat, exclusively using it to conceal his nature.

Wooden Mask: A simple, undecorated mask that conceals the face. It makes the wearer stand out quite a bit themselves, but it beats a hairless face without nose in terms of concealing oneself. Apexus doesn't wear it in combat, exclusively using it to conceal his nature.

Gloves: Simple brown gloves, used to hide a lack of fingernail. Only used for concealing purposes.

Shoes: Simple leather shoes, used to hide the lack of toenails. Usual purpose limitations.

Adventurer's Bag: Although often held by Aclysia, Apexus has his own bag. Usually, it only holds his clothes.

Inventory:

-

Attributes:

Beyond Divinity -- Does not possess a divine spark. The exact ramifications of this are unknown.

Slime -- A being who is, at its base, made out of only two components: a nucleus and the name giving liquid surrounding it. The former serves as brain, heart and every other important organ of the creature. Without it, the slime dies. The slime around is a highly acidic substance that is separated from the outside world through a magical membrane. The acidity of Apexus's slime is also magical, thusly transforming it into a harmless liquid when separated from the main body. Only possess a natural sense of touch, noticing potential prey through tremors, working best underwater and worst in the air.

Acquiring Devourer -- Can grow or replicate limbs, organs and attributes of things he has killed and eaten. Those replications do NOT scale with the size or power of Apexus and they cost varying, but often high, amounts of energy to make. After roughly thirty days, knowledge of these replications fades and Apexus would have to devour a new member of the species. Can keep a Growth around for longer than he remembers how to remake it. Apexus loses all non-permanent Growths when he goes to sleep, something that grows more frequent in need the more complicated his own body gets.

Challenging Evolver -- Upon beating and eating the Apex Existence (Not necessary Predator) in an eco-system, Apexus may acquire one of his Growths to become permanent. These permanently acquired parts do scale with Apexus' abilities and will outperform their natural counterpart fairly quickly. If and how this ability would work in social settings, where the Apex Existence is determined not by natural factors, is unknown. Permanent Growths can not be completely dissolved, only shrunk down to an insignificant level.

Magic Sense -- Can sense magic while in contact with it, differentiating between a normal and an enchanted object.

Rebirth from Core -- If the nucleus is removed from Apexus' body in a mostly intact fashion, the slime does not perish immediately. While the entire body will immediately collapse, the slime turning into a harmless liquid and the remaining Growths laying around on their own, the ego and acquired information of Apexus will survive in the nucleus. Given enough time, the nucleus will shrink, its outer layers turning into slime, and allow Apexus to be 'reborn' in a severely weakened state. Water and food are an immediate necessity after such a regeneration.

Spark Eater -- Apexus devours the divine spark of a being along with its flesh. This bars demons from returning to the Hellroots, ending their life permanently.

Permanent Growths [and their current abilities]:

Pheromone Ducts -- Produce pleasant smells that can manipulate receptive insects and other organisms. Easily tracked by creatures with fine noses. After choosing his gender, Apexus' aphrodisiac has shown the capability to perform as a minor aphrodisiac. Apexus is able to tune the amount he spreads quite accurately, limiting or increasing the time the scent lingers.

Bird Wings -- Originally the shape of an eagle's, these wings can be transformed to better fit the environment or purpose Apexus needs them for at any given time. Such a transformations take time and energy, however, especially when it comes to increasing size. Making muscles and fibre out of slime takes a tremendous amount of energy. The wings have an emerald green colour, inspired by Aclysia's eyes. Attached to Apexus' shoulder blades.

Cat Eyes -- Pale blue eyes, chosen for their superb night vision. Sit in their appropriate place inside his skull.

Fox Ears -- Pale blue ears that blend nicely with the slime's main body, with black tips. Grant superb hearing that is highly adjustable in its directional perceptions. Located on top of his head.

Speaking Plates -- Wooden plates attached to the roof of Apexus' mouth. They vibrate to create a deep, extremely pleasant voice. Can be purposefully manipulated to create a cracked voice that's similar to a body in puberty. Through continuous humming, Apexus can create vibrations that have, so far, only been used for lewd purposes.

Toothed-Snake Teeth -- Uncannily human-like teeth, although with more pronounced edges and spikes. Attached to his human jaw, making seem almost correct, but emphasizing just how much more feral they look, thanks to being set in the genuine product.

Human Skeleton -- The skeleton of a male human. Adjustable in dimension of the individual bones, manipulating length and girth, but not in placement. Lacks sinews, muscles, cartilage and marrow. All of it is replaced by slime, which works well for cartilage and marrow isn't required either way, but the lack of sinews and muscles inhibit Apexus' physical abilities considerably. This makes him slower and weaker than one would likely expect. He remains completely flexible, however, as he doesn't have to worry about nerves and veins and such.

Skinwalker Hide -- Replaced Apexus' outer membrane with a superior version. It can part and close quicker. Its harder and more flexible at the same time. It allows him to hold appearance shifts without problem. Can change to different mono-colourations. It's also a perfect base for further improvements.

Physical Description:

Apexus is still a slime, making his shape a thing of his own choosing. His core is a dark blue, almost black, nucleus and his body is made of azure blue slime, covered by the often translucent Skinwalker Hide.

In day to day life, Apexus utilizes a common form. An almost two metres tall humanoid, with the fox ears and cat eyes visible on his head and the eagle wings attached to his back. The Skinwalker Hide takes on a light brown colour, whenever Apexus feels like he might run into strangers, and remains translucent, when not. Even with the skin colour shifted, his inhuman nature is clear due to a lack of sexual organs, muscle definition, nose and nails. The texture of his skin is slightly abrasive, not unlike normal humans, due to the pheromone ducts.

In this state, the outer layers of slime are heavily condensed, becoming as tough as leather around the limbs, softer around the stomach. The nucleus is placed behind the sternum. Ribs are fused together.

Aclysia

Class: Guardian Angel [Basic Class]

Level: 10

Spell list:

Sunlight Bolt -- Bolt, the most basic attack spell, limited to the Divine-Light category due to Aclysia's nature, adjustable in strength according to the amount of mana put into it and the user's skill.

Divine Healing -- Basic healing spell of all Classes that are divinely attuned, uses a moderate amount of mana for a moderate heal, scaling with the user's mana input and familiarity with the spell.

Sunray Mending -- Quick heal that consumes a lot of mana.

Sunshine Rejuvenation -- Time consuming heal that is very mana efficient.

Sunlight Focus -- A technique used to prioritize the healing of particular areas first. Mana costs are dependant on the healing spell used, but generally higher than the basic version. Failure prone if used without proper concentration.

Illumni -- Basic Light spell. Creates a stable, pleasantly warm sphere of sunlight that hovers over the user's fingertip. Functions as a basic, slightly inferior in terms of range, torch replacement.

Flare -- A flash of cold sunlight. Highly mana intensive basic blinding spell. Does next to nothing to people not looking in the direction of the user.

Spark of Life -- Analyse a female humanoid's body to find out whether or not a divine spark is forming inside them, thusly detecting whether a person is pregnant and, if yes, with how many children.

Equipment:

Priest's Robe -- The robe of a basic, non-church affiliated Priest. Made of completely white cloth, unnaturally resistant against dirt, this blessed garb protects adequately against magical attacks. It also provides weak physical defence. It is light enough to not be in the way during flight.

Leather shoes -- Nothing great, just some basic protective wear for her feet.

Adventurer's Bag (2) -- Aclysia has her own bag and holds onto the group bag, containing their gathered funds and a few commonly used items.

Inventory:

Casual Dress -- single article of clothing that covers the entire body, safe for the upper back. The kind of dress that farmer women can work and walk in without issue. Not particularly beautiful or outstanding, modified only to give room to Aclysia's wings.

Washcloths (5) -- A number of linen squares used for whatever purpose is appropriate at any given time.

Soap -- Block of animal fat used to clean one's body.

A total lack of money -- the group is currently broke.