With both of us refreshed and ready to go, we ascended the steps—the last room before the boss. I could already predict that it would be some kind of protection mission to award us the final grape; I just hoped it wouldn't involve the king or queen plantoid this time.
So when we saw the pedestal in the center of the room, we both let out a small cheer in celebration.
"Thank the gods, it's just another protect the pedestal mission. I don't think I could handle another round of the dancy boy," Vee said enthusiastically.
On the pedestal was the final grape that Vee sought, violet in color and the last piece to form a whole rainbow.
"Oh, so not just a time limit. I guess we should at least get another level up," Vee commented.
"Here's hoping. If the boss gives us two levels, then I'll only be four levels away from my evolution."
"And then we'll be one step closer to seeing if you change your color. Or will you remain a blue slime for another fifty levels?"
"Even if I do change my species, there's a good chance I'll use [Chroma Shift] to go back to blue."
"But why?" Vee asked. "Don't you want to try out some new clothes… err… chromas?"
"Everyone would underestimate a blue slime. Plus, I've grown quite attached to being blue."
"Okay, I guess if it's your favorite color, then that makes sense. Also, not to burst your bubble, but I think most people wouldn't underestimate you even if they found out you were a blue slime. I mean… just look at you! No way you can pretend to be a normal little blue slime, and all the extra cores would definitely be suspicious."
"I could make them transparent and the same color as my slime to hide them… but I do get your point. Plus, it's not like I keep just a regular slime appearance that much, and even when I'm just in blob form, I'm almost the size of an adult."
"And all the tentacles, can't forget the tentacles—"
"Oh shit, we goofed around too much!" Vee cried out.
My first order of business was casting [Expansion] around the pillar while withdrawing slime mass. I had a very respectable reserve thanks to all the killing and eating, even if it was an all-plantoid diet.
With the larger area of magical space, I had enough time to craft a defensive wall out of slime and finally see our opponents. It was a whole squadron of plantoids, with high levels in intermediate classes in a complimentary arrangement.
They had two tanks, two healers, a mage, a spearman, and three archers. If that wasn't enough, they had a strange foreign plant growing all over them. That looked oddly familiar.
"Let's take out the healers first!" Vee yelled as she [Warped].
But as she arrived, one of the tanks was there to block her as if he predicted her attack. His large tower shield made out of blackened and silvery wood didn't even take a dent from her fangs or cutting whip threads.
"What the hell, there's a taunt skill?" she cried out in surprise.
"Oh yeah, it's annoying to deal with, but we're not mindless, so we can just ignore it and suck up the damage reduction."
"Yeah, let's see if your taunt skill can stop some [Rift Thread]!" she yelled out, although once again, the plantoids showed no reaction to her words.
While Vee was preoccupied with the two tanks and two healers, their ranged damage dealers were attacking me in an effort to destroy the pedestal. Unfortunately for them, I could make a near-impenetrable defense if I put my mind to it.
And now it's time to try out my new spell!
I began to cast the most complex debuff I'd ever made and targeted the healer, not under the direct protection of the two tanks. Not that it would make a difference, as this debuff was just like the others—cast through visual perception alone, directly on a target.
The debuff struck, and then I began trying to teleport the healer directly in front of me. The coordinates were quickly calculated thanks to [Triangulate], and then my [Positioning] spell struck and began to manipulate the healer's coordinates unbeknownst to the plantoid.
Trying to teleport things without permission was like trying to catch water between your open fingers, as they constantly fought and shifted back to their original coordinates passively. However, now that my debuff was applied, there was an easily noticeable difference, as the numbers seemed "stickier" and languidly attempted to return to their original position.
"One healer-sized snack, coming right up!"
"Wait, what?" Vee asked confusedly.
I dialed in the final coordinate, and with a strange lurch, the healer was blinked out of existence and appeared directly before the giant slime dome.
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It spun around in confusion as countless tendrils burst out from the dome and grappled onto it. It struggled against the slimy grasp, casting various spells onto itself and against me, but to no avail as I drug it into my slimy maw.
"Okay. I've seen you eat plenty of monsters before, but that was terrifying!" Vee cried out in response as she whipped a dangerous formation of [Rift Thread] directly at the massive tower shield.
It sliced through the shield and took off the plantoids arm in one fell swoop. She used [Warp] again and struck at the healer, who formed a golden magical shield that shattered against the bizarre and extremely broken [Rift Thread].
The poor healer didn't stand a chance as Vee directed her thread with surgical precision.
"I'm guessing the debuff works?" she asked after observing her successful results.
"Oh yes, it does! It makes the coordinates sticky if that makes sense."
"No idea. Guess I'll have to try it out later."
Vee continued playing with the two tanks, who tried desperately to halt her threads with anything and everything they had available. The spearman joined them in trying to defeat her, but Vee's teleporting antics, combined with her grappling around with her threads, meant she was stupidly annoying to deal with.
Meanwhile, I continued to abduct their remaining members by teleporting them straight before my slimy maw. We proceeded to finish off the rest of them without too much issue.
"Queue the victory music!" Vee cried out with joy.
"Sorry, I'm not a music slime," I teased.
"Har har, hilarious," Vee groaned. "Now, let's eat the loot!"
I retracted my dome of slime and left Vee to grab her prize. I quickly looked over my results and was pleased to see another level up.
<22 Trait Points are now available.>
I'm a little sad [Triangulate] didn't gain a level after teleporting five enemies, but I guess that wasn't enough. I wonder if I'm capable of teleporting the boss?
While I was wondering what new doors were open thanks to [Displaced], Vee was chowing down. I was trying to ignore her delighted squeals, but then I saw a bright light that caught my attention.
"Uh… Vee, you appear to be glowing?"
"I feel like a million bucks! Holy shit, this is the best!" she cried out, the glowing light on her body growing at an even brighter intensity.
Then, a loud cracking sound was followed by multiple small ruptures and fractures. The cracks were forming over Vee's entire skin!
"Molting? She's a spider, not a bird," I pointed out.
"Spiders, lizards, snakes, birds, lots of things molt!" Vee replied.
The cracking had been worsening, and finally, a loud shattering noise erupted as one final burst of light came forth. Vee's skin ruptured into countless splinters, revealing a sleek and fresh look beneath.
"Wow. I feel reborn! It's like every little blemish or damage is gone in an instant!" Vee yelled out jubilation. "No, better than that. I feel faster, stronger, better! Not as good as an evolution, but a noticeable upgrade!"
"Well, assuming you have a body," I grumbled.
"Hey, with all the cheating your slime body can do, it's the least that can happen! Besides, I bet you're going to get some ridiculous evolution next that will blow anything I just gained out of the water."
"Right… anyway, are you done shedding your skin so we can go fight the final boss?"
"I think so. The glowing stopped," Vee said and looked around.
"Wonderful. My Mana should be good in a few minutes, and then we can take out the final boss."
"Your Mana is fine despite teleporting those plantoids?" Vee asked.
"They must not have been very dimensionally heavy. Or maybe the debuff is lowering the cost?"
"Unlike a certain slime. You're probably getting close to me being unable to teleport you again," Vee warned.
"Something to look into later."
After our short rest, we began ascending the stairs. As we went up, there was a noticeable cutoff point where the wood suddenly started to have gildings and engravings.
"Looks like Dran is rolling out the red carpet for us," Vee chuckled. "This looks like we're going into a palace with stairs this fancy."
"I guess because it's the final step of the dungeon trial? Got to make it look official?"
"I really wonder what the final boss will be. Hopefully, this time, it won't turn me into a statue."
"We could go full out right from the start. [Rift Thread], [Nitro Slime], the works."
"And here I thought you were going to ask to turn into a giant worm again."
"Sure, knock yourself out. Just don't self-destruct this time."
We reached the top and were greeted by an immaculate set of giant ornate doors. I began shifting my slime into massive arms to push them open when Vee curiously touched it. The doors then creaked open on their own.
"Doors open," she giggled.
I sighed and broke up the arms into tendrils. I wasn't going to deposit the slime if there was a good chance I'd be shapeshifting into something massive shortly.
I still want to try out some more spell orbs too… I got plenty of new magic to imbue them with.
Both of us were cautiously looking around, expecting something big and massive to jump out of nowhere. However, as we entered the room, it was already beginning to resemble a throne room.
There was a gilded walkway with suits of armor lining the sides. Vee and I shared a glance before we continued walking down the path.
"How is this all inside the tree?" Vee asked.
"I think dungeons don't have to exactly play with the rules. I wouldn't be surprised if they can build their dungeon with compressed space. Or maybe we are walking down a large branch?"
"You could do that with your slime dungeon and save a fortune on slime."
"At the cost of a fortune of Mana upkeep? I'd rather just find something big and tasty."
"Speaking of space size, though. In our last grinding room, I figured out something rather useful when fighting inside it."
"Oh?" I asked curiously while we continued to talk down the endless hallway.
"So our normal eyes get confused by the space, especially if you're using [Spatial Sense] all the time."
"Which I'm not, but carry on."
"Well, you should be. But anyway, if you turn off every other visual sense, then fighting inside the shrunk or expanded space feels perfectly normal!"
"Turning off your senses? Do you mean closing your eyes?"
"Well, closing your eyes is the first part, and then you unlock a trait that lets you selectively turn stuff off," Vee explained.
"You unlocked a brand new trait in that timeframe?"
"Maybe because of fighting so many monsters with my eyes closed?"
"Huh… interesting. I'll consider it, or just let my [Sub-Cores] navigate for me… oh, looks like we've arrived."
I pointed a tendril forward. We had finally reached our destination; a pair of resplendent thrones were on top of a raised dais. Sitting on the two thrones were a pair of individuals we were unfortunately familiar with.
They sat on their thrones looking proud and arrogant—the plantoid king and queen.
"You know… I'm not even upset," Vee said calmly.
"Because if they are in the boss room, clearly we get to kill them, right?"
Suddenly, I was delighted.