It was a creature that looked like made from slime.
But not the cute, blue slime from the games or anime.
This was a dark, slippery, viscous one that formed a vaguely humanoid shape.
It had no eyes, but it had a mouth, a gaping space filled with random objects: a shoe, a rusty sword, a bicycle wheel?.
"Is that..." Julien squinted. "Is that a humanoid zombie?"
"It's a Shape-Shifter!" Alice gasped, delighted.
"They eat all kinds of waste! Sam must have been feeding it his garbage for decades to make it this strong!"
The Shape-Shifter gurgled.
A litre of slime shot out, grabbing the skeleton for balance.
It dragged the bony construct into its body with a sickening slurp.
"It ate the security system!" Chris yelled. "Julien! Flashbang! Holy Water! Just throw anything!"
"I'm out of flashbangs!" Julien checked his inventory. "I have... [Mana Water] and [Steel Sword]."
"Give me the sword!" Chris demanded.
[Transaction Complete. -15 Credits.]
A basic iron sword appeared in Chris's hand. He didn't waste a second and quickly moved to the side and swung it with all his might.
SPLAT.
The sword cut through the slime, but the slime just reformed around the blade, leaving no damage. Then, it yanked the sword out of Chris's hand and absorbed it.
Burp.
"It fucking ate my sword," Chris said, offended. "That was fifteen credits!"
"It eats metal," Julien realised.
"It eats anything that is a physical object. Alice! Can you do magic? Necromancy to fight him off?"
"I can summon Mr Nibbles!" Alice offered helpfully.
"NO HAMSTERS!" Julien shouted. "We need something that actually hurts the slime!"
[Streetwise Alert: Slime weakness detected.]
[Weakness: Extreme Cold or Dehydration.]
"Cold," Julien muttered. "I don't have ice magic. Dehydration... Salt!"
He looked at the empty pouch of [Abyssal Salt] he had given to Grom. There's nothing left with him.
"Salt!" Julien shouted. "Alice! Do you have salt in here?"
"I have... bath salts?" Alice suggested, pulling a lavender-scented jar from her pyjama pocket. "For relaxation purposes?"
"Throw it!"
Alice hurled the jar to the side. It smashed against the slime creature.
The Shape-Shifter roared, a gurgling, wet sound released from it like a washing machine. The lavender salt hit its slippery skin.
HISS.
The slime began to bubble and foam.
It screamed, retreating into the corner of the room, shrinking as the salt absorbed its moisture.
"It's working!" Chris cheered. "Hit it with more hygiene products!"
"I don't have any!" Alice cried.
"System!" Julien screamed. "Inventory! Search for [Industrial Salt]!"
[Item Found: 50kg Sack of Rock Salt.]
[Cost: 20 Credits.]
"Buy! Buy!"
A massive sack of salt dropped from the air, crushing Julien.
"Heavy! Chris! Help me hold!"
Chris grabbed the sack, ripped it open with his teeth like a feral animal, and dumped the entire 50kg of salt onto the monster.
The room was quickly filled with white dust.
The Shape-Shifter screamed one last time, bubbling and dissolving until it was nothing but a puddle of salty, oily sludge and a pile of random junk it had eaten over the years.
Silence fell over the basement.
"Is it dead?" Chris asked, poking the puddle with his foot.
"It's... dehydrated," Julien said, coughing. "We turned it into jerky."
Alice walked over to the pile of junk the monster had left behind. She picked up something shiny.
"Hey," she said. "Look at this."
What she held wasn't a shoe or a juice can.
It was a ring. A silver ring with a black gemstone that pulsed with a faint, blue light.
[System Analysis]
[Item: Ring of the Void (Cursed/Rare).]
[Effect: Increases Necromancy potency by 50%.]
[Side Effect: User hears constant whispering.]
Julien looked at the ring, then looked at Alice.
"Alice, do you... Sometimes hear the dead?"
"Always."
"Well," Julien said. "I think we found your signing bonus."
Alice snatched the ring and put it on. Her single eye glowed blue.
"I hear them," she whispered, grinning maniacally.
"They're telling me... to buy more ribs from the brother's meat."
Julien slumped against the wall weakly.
"We finally have a base," he said weakly.
"We have a Necromancer. We have a Barbarian. And we have a puddle of garbage slime."
"And we're broke," Chris added, checking the account.
[3,665 Credits].
"Wait, why 3,665?"
"I bought the sword and the salt," Julien sighed.
"Right."
Julien looked around the smelly basement.
"We need to make money," he said. "Fast. Before the Union finds out, we dissolved their pet."
[Quest Generated: The First Sale]
[Objective: Sell the 'Ring of the Void' or use Alice to complete a Guild Contract.]
[Time Limit: 48 Hours.]
"Or," Julien looked at the quest.
"We use our new assets."
He looked at Alice, who was currently arguing with the voices in her head.
"Alice," Julien said.
"How would you like to be a consultant for our guild?"
"Does it pay in ribs?"
"It pays in ribs."
"I'm in."