I Killed the Hero and Took His Achievements-Chapter 13: The Landlord is a Tentacle Monster

[Location: Academy Basement - Sublevel 5]

[Status: Restricted Area.]

Most students think that the Academy has four basements.

1- Storage.

2- The Vault.

3- The boiler room.

4- The torture chamber (Detention).

But they were definitely wrong.

There was another basement Level, which is Level 5.

Sylvia and Seraphina stood behind me. Seraphina conjured a light magic. Sylvia held her nose.

"It smells like... a spoiled food," Seraphina gagged.

"That’s mana rot," I explained. "The Academy was built here 200 years ago to cover a Mana Well, but wells don’t stay empty forever, they breed slime monsters."

I traced the weld lines with my finger.

"The occasional bombing up there shook the foundations by time. The cover is cracked completely."

"Is that bad?" Sylvia asked.

"Yeah, it’s that bad," I replied.

I then drew the Soul-Eater’s Fang.

SLASH.

I cut the weld completely and kicked the hatch.

CLANG.

It fell into complete darkness.

SQUELCH.

A sound echoed up. It was wet and ravenous.

"Ladies first," I gestured. We went down.

[Dungeon: The Festering Well]

[Type: Slime / Bio-Organic]

[Level Range: 35-45]

We landed in knee-leveled gooey-like liquid. "Don’t let it touch to your skin," I warned decisively. It digests an organic matter."

Sylvia squealed and casted [Ice Floe], freezing a path under her feet.

"Nice," I complimented.

We walked deeper. The walls breathed, it was pulsing veins of purple mana ran through the concrete.

GURGLE.

From the pipes above us, something dripped above. It was an Acid Slime (Level 38) suddenly dropped directly onto Sylvia’s shield.

HISS.

The ice shield melted instantly.

The slime lunged for her face.

[Skill: Napalm Web.]

I shot a web. It wrapped around the slime in mid-air.

FWOOSH.

The slime ignited. It popped like a bubble of hot oil.

[Kill: Acid Slime.]

[Loot: Corrosive Gel.]

"Keep moving," I ordered. "The noise attracted them."

From the shadows of the tunnels, hundreds of glowing eyes appeared. Slimes. Blobs. Gelatinous Cubes. They oozed toward us, a wall of hungry jello.

"AoE Formation!" I grunt. "Sylvia! [Blizzard]! Slow them down! Seraphina! [Holy Burn]! Melt them!"

"Yes, Master!"

Sylvia unleashed a storm of ice shards. The slimes froze, turning into fragile ice sculptures. Meanwhile, Seraphina raised her staff. Golden light seared the frozen slimes, shattering them into dust. It was efficient.

[Combo: Freeze + Shatter.]

[Damage Multiplier: x200%.]

I walked behind them, acting as the clean-up crew. Any slime that got through the barrage met my dagger.

[Experience Gained.]

We carved a path through the slime horde.

After twenty minutes of walking (and killing), we reached the Central Chamber. It was a cavern the size of a stadium. In the center, suspended over a glowing pit of mana there was...

[Boss: The Gluttonous Matriarch]

[Level: 50]

It was disgusting. A massive, translucent blob the size of a building. Inside its body, you could see the undigested remains of previous adventurers; skeletons, armor, swords.

And... wait.

I squinted. Floating in the center of the Boss’s core was a glowing blue engine part.

[Item Detected: Aether Converter (Ancient Grade).]

My eyes widened. "Bingo. That’s the part I need now," I said, pointing at the slime. "That engine part? That fixes my ship."

"It’s... inside the monster," Sylvia noted, while looking pale.

"Yes. It must have fallen down a drainpipe 50 years ago and the Slime ate it."

The Boss noticed us. It didn’t roar. It rippled. Tentacles of green slime shot out from its body.

"Scatter!" I yelled in disgust.

SMASH.

A tentacle crushed the point where we were standing. The stone pulverized.

"This Boss has Physical Immunity!" I shouted over the noise. "Blades pass right through it!"

"Then how do we kill it?" Seraphina screamed, dodging another tentacle.

I looked at the environment. The cavern was filled with Mana Pipes. High-pressure conduits that fed the Academy above.

"We don’t kill it," I grinned. "We overfeed it. Sylvia! Freeze the tentacles! Seraphina! Shield me!" I sprinted toward the Boss. A tentacle lashed out.

[Skill: Combat Step.]

I dodged. Another one came from the left.

[Skill: Shadow Servant.]

I summoned a shadow clone to take the hit. SPLAT. The clone dissolved. I reached the massive pipe running along the wall behind the Boss. It was marked: "CAUTION: RAW MANA - DO NOT PUNCTURE." "Sorry, janitor," I whispered. I drove the Soul-Eater’s Fang into the pipe.

HISSSSSS.

Pure, unstable blue mana sprayed out like a fire hose.

"Hey, ugly!" I shouted at the Boss.

The Slime Queen turned her massive bulk toward me.

"Open wide!" I grabbed the ruptured pipe and aimed the spray directly at the Boss.

The Slime Queen didn’t dodge. She was a glutton. She felt the pure mana and opened her "mouth" to eat it. She started sucking it in.

[Boss State: Feeding.] 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

[Boss HP: Recovering...]

"Master! You’re healing her!" Sylvia screamed.

"Am I?" I held the ring of the Void Monarch against the pipe stream.

[Skill: System Override.]

[Target: Mana Stream.]

[Property Edit: ’Nutrient’ -> ’Poison’.]

I corrupted the mana, and turned it into Mana Waste. The Slime Queen drank it greedily. Then... she stopped. She turned purple. She started to vibrate.

[Boss Status: Indigestion.]

[Boss Status: Critical Failure.]

Her membrane began to crack. She had eaten too much corrupted energy. She was expanding like a balloon.

"Run!" I yelled to the girls. "She’s gonna pop!" I hid behind a rock.

KA-BOOM.

The explosion was wet, slimy, and breathtaking. Slime rained down like a rainstorm. The entire cavern was covered in green goo.

[Boss Slain.]

[Level Up: 21 -> 23.]

I stood up while wiping slime off my face. "Disgusting," I whispered.

In the center of the crater where the Boss used to be, the Aether Converter lay steaming on the ground. It was pristine. I walked over and picked it up.

[Item: Aether Converter]

[Condition: Perfect.]

"Got it."

I looked at the girls. They were covered in slime. Sylvia was crying silently.

"My hair..." she sobbed. "It’s ruined now."

"You look like a true adventurer now," I said. "Let’s go. We have a ship to fix."

"And after that?" Seraphina asked, wringing out her robes.

I looked at the Converter. "After that," I said. "We go shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yes."

I checked my map. The route to the Northern Empire passed through the Merchant Republic of Zimara. "We need supplies for the war," I said. "And by supplies, I mean guns. Lots of guns."