“Dorin!” I shouted again, hopping as fast as I could to the knight’s side.

  Before I could reach him, the drake stirred. It rolled to its feet, releasing Dorin from its grip and revealing a blood-stained spine on its shoulder. That was what hurt him, and now that it was out…

  Humans are far too fragile. Lamenting the fact wouldn’t change it, but I desperately wished it did. I couldn’t heal Dorin, and I couldn’t carry him to safety. My mind raced through possibilities, trying to find any way I could save him, but I just came up blank.

  The drake, however, did not pause with me. Before I realized it, the monster had turned to me and fire was surging up its throat. I dug into the tiles, squeezing between them just in time for heat to scorch the surface. Even then, it was scorching. The tiles on either side took the heat of the blast and slowly cooked me alive.

  I flowed back out into the open, only to find my slime moved with more fluidity, giving a heavy, wetness to every move. Where once I was an adorable round slime, keeping its shape with ease, now I was dripping and drooping.

  Can’t give up, I instructed myself. Have to save Dorin.

  My slime sloshed forward as I hopped in slow and sticky motions. The drake looked at me, and I swore I saw triumph glowing in its eyes. It growled and stalked around the arena, its enormous paws shaking the ground with every step.

  Green and silver mana rose from its scales like smoke, but the scales themselves were scorched. In several places, the mana burn had eaten through scales to flesh. If I could just get my acid into one of those injuries, maybe I could eat it from the inside?

  The drake roared and charged, its enormous bulk shaking the entire room as it surged forward with impossible speed. Before I could hop away, it snatched me between the teeth and threw me high in the air.

  My core flipped inside me as I fell, throwing off my sense of direction. The world spun around me, moving past with disorienting speed. I fell in every direction at once, unable to tell which way was up as gravity pulled me towards the open maw of the drake.

  Instinct was useless here. Slimes weren’t meant to fly or fall this distance. Short drops from cavern roofs I could handle, but this? All I could do was scream and flail pseudopods in every direction in a desperate bid to catch hold of something—anything—that might slow my fall.

  When my pod latched onto something hard and solid, I gripped it with all my might. Hot magic was everywhere, but I clung to my hold while my core slowly righted itself inside me…

  And, once I could see straight again, I screamed again. Fate would have been kind to let my pod grip a stalactite or open crack on the wall. However, fate was not kind. Instead of a nice, safe wall-crack, I had caught one of the drake’s teeth and was clinging mere inches away from its horrible tongue.

  It couldn’t see me, but it could smell me. With a lunge, it hurled itself upward, trying to catch me on its enormous teeth. One caught my slime as it slid against my perch. The slime that was pulled from my main mass fell onto the creature’s tongue, burning through its flesh and making it howl and thrash its head.

  [Warning: Health below 50%]

  I gripped the tooth and asked for the full status.

  [Health: 8/22

  Mana: 21/46

  Injury index: 1 - Damage recoverable]

  Recoverable…everything is recoverable…

  I had to believe that. If I didn’t, then I was already dead. Slime was expendable. Health points were expendable. So long as my core remained unharmed, I could recover from anything.

  With a furious cry, I shifted my mana to match the heat of Slayer’s Stance, and set my enhanced acid to tear through the tooth to which I clung. Mana protected the monster’s fangs from damage, but I was determined. I sent my mana into the creature, the strength of Sealing Touch ripping through the creature’s layers of magical defenses until the fang was shorn completely off at the base. It fell into the drake’s open mouth.

  The drake let out a breathy cough which sent me flying into the wall where I clung to the rough forms of fire-breathing dragons. Silvery slimes retreated into the cracks to escape me, but I caught them with a pseudopod before they fled beyond my reach.

  [Creature eaten:

  Lesser slimes: 71/100

  +4 mana

  Mana: 15/46]

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  It wasn’t enough…

  On the other side of the room, the drake coughed again. It reeled back, whipping its head around in a desperate effort to free the fang jammed in its throat.

  Just a little more…

  I crawled along the wall, reaching into cracks to quickly catch the lesser slimes that tried to escape me. One by one, their silvery mana was pulled into my slime, purified, and added to my growing mana reserves.

  [Creature eaten:

  Lesser slimes: 83/100

  +12 mana

  Mana: 27/46]

  There. Twenty-seven was enough. That drake wouldn’t be free of the fang in its throat, not if I had anything to say about it.

  I crawled around the wall until I was close to the boss. It thrashed its head, backing several paces until its flank touched the wall. Taking the opportunity, I threw myself at its head, landing amidst its horns and clinging to it for dear life. Inch by inch, I crawled forward until I was at its snout once more. It spit blood and fire into the air, but the fang was thoroughly jammed in its throat now.

  “You wanted to eat me? Then choke on this!” I dropped into its mouth, weathering the flames that spewed past the scorched tooth. Before the heat became too much, I condensed my mana and released it.

  Wild Magic Wave ripped through the weak flesh on the inside of its mouth and forced the tooth deeper into the monster’s body. Blood filled the cavity, and the drake collapsed, its mouth hanging open in death.

  I oozed out of the mouth, covered in sticky blood. My magic softened, returning to Healer’s Bearing. For a moment, I shivered in place. There wasn’t enough mana in my reserves to heal myself. All I could do was wait for my passive regeneration to restore my slime from its liquid state.

  On the edge of my sight, Dorin lay still on the ground. Panic filled me again as I sloshed over to him in a series of weak hops. His blood spread in a wide pool beneath him from a jagged gash in his chest where the drake’s spine had pierced through him. Looking down, his leg twisted at a horrifying angle, one I was certain was not how human limbs were supposed to be.

  “Dorin?” I whispered, putting a pod on his hand. His pulse was thready and weak.

  Stupid slime! I raged quietly. What’s the point of having a mind and thought if you can’t use it to come up with an idea to save your friend! You’re a healer! Heal him!

  If only it were possible. If only he were a monster instead of a stupid, invalid target with stupid, incompatible magic. I could save him… I could…

  My thoughts raced, still desperate to come up with a solution. I rummaged through Dorin’s pockets, desperately hoping that he had another potion like the one he drank before. It would hurt, but it seemed to heal him the last time. Why would now be any different?

  The only vials that remained in his bag were the empty one and one filled with blue liquid instead of red. The mana within shone even brighter than the slimes. With it, a dangerous thought blossomed in my mind.

  What if I could save him? If I used enough mana, more than the standard cost of Soothing Touch, could I force even the smallest drop of life into him? Could I heal him enough for his own natural healing to take effect?

  My focus drifted from the dying knight, then to the bottle in my pseudopod, then back to the knight. I didn’t even know if the potion within would work on me, but I trusted in Efficient Eater and Enhanced Eater to give it a fair shot.

  I had to try.

  Dissolving the cork, I pulled the vial into my body completely. The contents spilled from its container, making my slime tingle with mana. The feeling spread to my core, and suddenly, I felt as if I were falling again. My core flopped over, and I huddled down, letting the vertigo and dizziness pass.

  When it was done, I checked my mana with the Voice of the Creator.

  [Health: 4/22

  Mana: 46/46

  Injury Index: 1 - Damage recoverable.]

  With all my mana restored, and my arcane stance still set to Healer’s Bearing, I crawled onto Dorin’s chest. There, I curled in on myself, directing my mana downward with as much focus as I could muster.

  [Warning: Invalid target]

  I ignored it. My mana took the form of Soothing Touch, and I imagined it merging with Dorin’s own magic. The fiery warmth that lay cold as dying embers within him, I urged my mana to stoke it into a burning blaze.

  “Come on, Dorin,” I muttered. “Please don’t go. Samri and Tanev still need you.”

  The cinders of his magic refused to light. My mana fell upon them like water. They spluttered and faded with every attempt I made to grasp them.

  “No, no, no, no, no!” I shouted, pushing more of my mana into him.

  But his flame finally flickered and died. Even the smoke evaded my grasp. His pulse weakened, and I trembled with frustration. With a furious wobble that encompassed the full breadth of my desperation, I fed him all my remaining mana. Every drop, I pushed into Dorin’s failing body. I pushed more and more until the Voice of the Creator began to ring with warnings.

  [Warning: Mana below 50%

  Warning: Mana below 25% Seek immediate aid.]

  I ignored every one, pushing every single ounce of mana into Dorin, willing and wishing for his magic to ignite into even the tiniest spark. When I was too low, I began sacrificing my own abilities in the name of more mana. The magic that infused my slime for protection dulled, and my senses began caving in, growing smaller and smaller until…

  [Tag Activation: Consumer of the Fourth Anchor]

  I almost didn’t believe my senses. They were so dulled, I didn’t stop, even after I spotted the tiny spark of light ignite within Dorin’s chest. I figured it was just an illusion, a trick of my mind that heralded the end of my valiant attempt to revive my friend.

  But that spark grew until a small flame developed. The mana I’d poured into Dorin, that had stifled his magical embers until nothing remained suddenly fed the fire until it was the size of a candle, then a small blaze. The injury in his chest knit together with threads of green, silver, and orange.

  I stared at the colors for a long moment, still unsure if what I was seeing was real. My mana was guiding his own…they entwined together and mended the injury…

  Dorin coughed. His chest heaved, and I melted in relief. Somehow, by some miracle, my mana had actually healed him. In fact, though my senses were untrustworthy and my core was spinning with vertigo, my mana did a lot more than just heal him. His skin shimmered with it, and his head glowed brighter than I did.

  [Warning: Injury Index increased to 2 - Critical mana overdraw

  Maximum health is reduced

  Maximum mana is reduced

  Health and mana regen are reduced]

  If this was the cost, then so be it. My senses dulled further, until even Dorin’s rising and falling chest blurred at the edges and my awareness faded to black.

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