"It really is just a floating mollusk."

  I was offended on Richard's behalf.

  "It's a snail, they're..." I struggled for an insult. "Really slow." I finished lamely.

  We were sitting in the shadow of the World Snail's foot. Luminescent jellyfish bobbed in the darkness as we debated our method of ascent. I was positive they were poisonous.

  "I say we send Cole up there to scope out the snail." Unsurprisingly, this was Leyla. Her nasally aristocratic accent made the suggestion even more unpalatable.

  “Or, hear me out.” I paused, waiting until they looked at me. “We all go and just make a run for it.”

  “That doesn’t make logical sense,” Ash explained patiently. “Why risk all of our lives, when we could just risk one? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

  Spoken like someone who was never voluntold to be the sacrificial one. The three individuals who wouldn’t be risking their lives refused to meet my eyes.

  The stupid thing was, they were right. I hated that Ash was right.

  I let out an explosive sigh that embodied every bit of angst I was feeling.

  "Look, I can swim up, but we already know we're going to have to deal with the Jellyfish and the Pterror Gulls. So until we have a plan for them, sending me up is just delaying the inevitable." I stared at Ash, who was our idea man. He gave me a nod, with a blush creeping across his face.

  I walked away to check in with Meredeath. The journey had been long and difficult. We'd had to go through several seaweed forests, the slippery plants falling flat in our dry bubble. Meredeath had gone gaunt with the display of power, her cheeks sunk. She still glowed softly with the [Death Knight] energy. The Tuli Monster stretched out obscenely in the water. The elongated neck twisted towards me, showing a full set of sharp, yellowing teeth.

  "It's really quite pretty, isn't it?" Meredeath's voice had turned from her stressed monotone to something more introspective, almost melodious. Her tone was as out of place as her statement.

  I would not call the Tuli Monster 'pretty' by any definition. Deadly. Maybe even elegant. The creature's body shifted sideways, using the slack in the rope to angle its barred eyes. Creepy. I'd definitely call it creepy.

  I knew it was dead. This was Meredeath just playing with her undead minion, but I couldn't help imagining the keen intelligence that had entranced us all behind those eyes. As though to mock my fear, the two eyes split right where I'd killed it. The eyestalks bobbed down against the monster's belly.

  "It's something." I didn't know what to say. "You doing okay? That took a lot of effort. You're looking paler than normal."

  Meredeath turned towards me, her face slack for a moment before it transformed into fear. It looked like she was fluttering her wrist to keep it active. It was a technique we'd picked up along the way to keep from bottoming out. Fluttering was dangerous, though, as a moment of lost concentration could drop an [Adventurer] in the middle of a fight.

  "You can drop the skill now, Meredeath. We're beneath the World Snail." I reached for her, but she jerked away.

  Eyes focused inwards, her face went back to a placid, hollowed calm. The monotone voice she’d used during our journey responded.

  "I have to keep him up. The Briyain." She winced as her magic flared.

  "What's Briyain? The Tuli Monster?" Since when did it get a name? "You can let go. If you need it again, you can just repossess it."

  Meredeath's face twisted at my suggestion before eerily calming.

  "I can’t; it'll disintegrate. The power..." Meredeath's teeth clenched as a wave of power came back from the minion into her. I realized that what I'd taken for fluttering her skill seemed to be some sort of backlash. I took a step forward. If I had to, I'd pry the rope out of her hands.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Meredeath's face transformed, as though my movement threatened her very soul. In the blink of an eye , her free hand held a dagger edged in green fire.

  "Don't." The word brokered no argument.

  I held my hands out, trying to come across as non-threatening.

  "I'm here to help. Tell me, why would the Tuli Monster disintegrating be such a bad thing?"

  "Cole, I can't swim." Her words were desperate, almost comical given our situation. She'd said them with the full emotion of someone admitting a shameful fault they'd been hiding, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more she wasn't willing to tell me.

  Not being able to swim was definitely going to be a problem. I glanced over at our three companions as Ash was making some hand motions mimicking swimming to the surface. I wasn't sure how we were going to possibly do this without swimming. Even if the Tuli Minion swam our air bubble towards the surface, it wasn't like we could float with it. The magical physics of the situation was mindboggling.

  I took a step closer, my eyes still on the dagger.

  "We're going to need to figure this out. I think it'd be better if you rested. There are other solutions.” I pointed out to the sea. “There's a whole pile of jellyfish we could use. The team was going to have me swim up by myself."

  The dagger moved from a downward position to the tip up, glowing between us. Meredeath wasn't buying it.

  "Find a solution first, and then I'll renounce Briyain."

  I took a step back. Okay, I guess I'll go talk to Ash.

  This time, I was the one to back away, keeping my eyes on Meredeath. Once I got what she considered a safe distance, she turned back to her minion. The green light reflecting on her pale face as the magic pulsed. I'd wondered how she'd been able to hold the magic long enough to get us to the World Snail. The mobile island wasn't moving fast, but it was a long distance for a [Death Knight] to traverse. A long time to hold a minion active.

  Maybe I could surprise her and break the spell?

  I edged my way behind Meredeath, so that I wasn't in her line of sight. Then, I took a quick step forward.

  The [Death Knight’s] dagger was up against my throat before I could blink.

  "Now isn't the time to test me, Cole." Meredeath bit each word, as though daring me to poke the bear. Her magic was hot on my skin, threatening, primal.

  "You win, Meredeath." I backed away. "Ash, we need to do this in a way that doesn't involve swimming." As I stepped away, Meredeath lowered her dagger. I kept my eyes on the true threat, the Tuli Monster that'd seen me coming.

  "That's going to be a problem, Cole." Ash, Leyla, and Argin gave me an odd look as I rejoined their group by carefully walking backwards. None of them, apparently, had caught the exchange between Meredeath and me.

  I took my eyes off the Tuli Monster when I had Ash and Leyla firmly planted between myself and the beast. I broke eye contact to look at my teammates.

  Pitching my voice low, trying to whisper out the words without warning Meredeath. I leaned into the group.

  "We've got a lot of problems, but I think Meredeath's been influenced by the Tuli Monster." I glanced at my friend as I spoke, and thankfully she hadn't reacted. Bringing my eyes back to the group, I spoke a little louder. "Meredeath can't swim, so we need to figure something out. I get the impression she's terrified of the water. I take it there isn't much in Kansas, where she's from?"

  Ash shook his head, verifying that at least that much is true.

  "I haven't heard of Kans-ass," Argin rolled the word in her mouth like it was from another planet. In a way, it was.

  "I have; it's just a small community in the plains." Ash and Meredeath had gotten a lot of practice covering for each other over the last month. "Do you two have a proposal of how we can do this without swimming?" He redirected the conversation back to me.

  I winced. "I think she wants to drag the SCMMOO up using the Tuli Monster and pop onto the shore."

  Ash looked at me like I was an idiot, and I didn't blame him. A drip of water eked through the barrier and hit me on the top of my head.

  Our time was running short.

  "Cole, you guys know that physics doesn't work like that, right? Gravity? Please tell me you know this."

  Leyla snickered. I gave her a glare, crossing my arms. This wasn’t about reality. This was about emotion, magic, and possibly a deranged Tuli Monster gaining control of Meredeath’s psyche.

  "I know, Ash. I know. But I'm not sure our new friend shares our understanding of land dwellers." I watched as Ash's eyes widened. He'd finally caught on.

  "That's a problem."

  No shit. I looked over at the Tuli Monster. It was gone. Where the fuck was the monster? Turning around, I couldn't make out the creature anywhere.

  Another drop of cold seawater hit the top of my head.

  Slowly, I tilted my head up.

  The creature's mouth had pushed through the barrier and hung above us.

  It grinned like it was a kid spying on the adults’ conversation.

  We were so fucked.

  For the latest slug-related updates - follow me on:

  Facebook -

  Instagram -

  Patreon - - free tiers grant access to the discord

  Podcast as a frequent host-

  Podcast who every other Tuesday talking about LitRPG and Progression fiction-

  Thanks for reading!