Dimminglights

Evil at the edge

The sound of footsteps pounding through the forest, leaves crunching underfoot as Octavia and her party dodged and weaved through the dense trees. Tetsuo's breath came in short gasps, sweat pouring down his brow as he glanced over his shoulder at the skeleton army that was relentlessly pursuing them.

"There's too many of them!" Tetsuo shouted, his voice tinged with panic.

Octavia, her hands glowing with arcane energy, barely dodged a rusted sword swung by one of the skeletal warriors. "Keep running! We need to regroup!" she called out, frustration bubbling beneath her calm exterior. She launched a bolt of magic at a skeleton, shattering it into dust, but more took its place almost instantly.

Julian, ever the powerhouse of the group, roared as he charged ahead with his great hammer in hand. "No more running!" he bellowed, launching himself toward the oncoming skeletons. With one mighty swing, he smashed three skeletons into pieces, their bones scattering across the forest floor.

But in his focus on the enemies ahead, Julian didn't notice the ground beneath him. With a loud crack, the earth gave way, and he fell, his massive form tumbling into a pit filled with a strange jelly-like substance.

"Julian!" Octavia shouted, her heart leaping into her throat as she saw him disappear. She and Tetsuo rushed to the edge of the pit and peered down. There, stuck in the slimy substance, was Julian, groaning in frustration, his hammer still in hand. To his credit, a huge portion of the skeleton army had fallen into the pit with him, their brittle bones dissolving in the slime.

"What is this stuff?" Julian grunted, trying to pull himself free but finding it nearly impossible. "I'm stuck!"

Suddenly, a strange movement caught Octavia's eye. The remaining skeletons, which had been swarming toward them, stopped in their tracks and turned as one, their empty eye sockets locking onto something behind them.

Emerging from the shadows of the forest was a giant slime, its translucent body glistening in the faint light filtering through the canopy. It moved slowly, almost lazily, but its presence sent a chill down their spines. The skeletons didn't hesitate; they mindlessly attacked the slime, slashing at it with their weapons.

"This can't be good," Tetsuo muttered, taking a step back as the slime absorbed the skeletons' attacks with ease.

The moment the first skeleton hit the slime, it was sucked in, its bones dissolving into the gelatinous mass. The more the skeletons attacked, the more the slime absorbed, growing in size as it fed on them. The once formidable skeleton army was slowly but surely being devoured by the creature, its form swelling as it ingested each skeleton.

"We need to move!" Octavia shouted, pulling Tetsuo back. "We can't take that thing head-on!"

Julian, still stuck in the pit, grimaced as he watched the skeletons fall one by one into the slime. "So... that's one way to finish the quest."

The group watched in stunned silence as the last skeleton was pulled into the slime, leaving nothing but a growing, quivering mass in its place. The creature, now even larger, turned its eyeless face toward them, but made no move to attack.

"Did... did the slime just complete our quest for us?" Tetsuo asked incredulously.

Octavia, her eyes still wide with shock, nodded slowly. "Looks like it. The skeletons are all gone."

Julian groaned, still trapped in the pit. "That's great and all, but... a little help here?"

Tetsuo sighed, casting a levitation spell to pull Julian out of the sticky substance. As his feet touched the ground again, he wiped the slime off his armor with a grunt.