Luckner had some experience playing fantasy games. Even if he read more often than he played. Due to his knowledge in both mediums, Luckner knew enough not to mistake the amorphous creature jiggling in front of him. It was a slime.

The Mythic was the size of a large dog, and it looked fat enough to have eaten three medium-sized dogs. The slime’s green glistening membrane was the only barrier between what Luckner assumed to be translucent acidic fluids.

And further within, Luckner saw a dark round core the size of a tennis ball. He reached for it with his fire hand, his fingers arched to rake at the slime.

The slime’s membrane rippled when Luckner’s flame-hand neared. It slunk away at the last moment, dodging back down the steps in a sloppy roll.

Luckner kicked off his sandals and gave chase, ignoring the panicked cries and shouts rising behind him. He might’ve heard another argument break out between Mr. Baylor and Mr. Senaad. But all of that was background noise. It couldn’t compare to facing this creature as his heart pumped with sizzling stimulation.

Luckner clawed at the slime again. His fingers missed its surface as the Mythic dodged backward down the sidewalk with jelly-like grace. In his attack’s passing, Luckner’s flames licked at the slime’s body. The creature released a gurgling squeal. It was music to Luckner’s ears.

“Got you once,” Luckner said. “Watch me get you again.”

The slime oscillated in a violent way that made Luckner think it was angry. Well, tough shit. It had come up to Luckner’s home looking for trouble. He was responding in kind by burning the motherfucker.

Luckner had a fiery fist cocked to recontinue the punishment when he saw a small slit on the front of the slime’s membrane. Uh oh, that didn’t look promising.

He would’ve missed the slit if it wasn’t for the firelight. With [Zeal] or without, Luckner’s [Fighter] instincts told him to dodge. He backed off and skipped to the side. He twisted out of the way just in case, too.

The slime hosed the sidewalk Luckner was standing on a split second prior. Hissing vapors coiled up into the air, infusing the area with a terrible, stomach-lurching smell.

Luckner felt noxious from breathing in a trace of it. A flash of imagination showed him a gruesome scene of his flesh and muscles melting off his bones while covered in slime goop. It was such a horrible idea it dimmed his external and internal flames.

“Aw, fuck that.” If he could break through the membrane and burn the core, he imagined that would kill the slime. It was kill or be killed, and Luckner was not going to die as human soup. Determined, he tried to circle to take the slime’s backside.

But the same thing happened. A slit appeared, ready to squeeze out acidic death. Luckner bounded backward off the sidewalk and onto the street. He just had to keep dodging until an opening appeared, which should occur right when the slime released its latest payload.

This time, however, the slime readjusted its aim and tracked Luckner’s movement. Oh shit. Luckner backpedaled, his back hitting a parked sedan. The car alarm blared, but Luckner ignored it as he stared at his incoming death. At the same time, the slime jolted, wasting a precious second to shoot him with acid.

Luckner took that precious second to get the hell off the firing line. He dove and rolled. He heard the drumming-wet impact of liquid against metal followed by the spitting hiss of acid eroding the material swiftly. He couldn’t be sure if a droplet caught him. His shoulder was smarting from rolling across the hard ground, and he might’ve scratched himself at a couple of places.

Once he got to his bare feet, he kept on the move, circling back onto the sidewalk. He noticed the slime had lost interest in him. The blaring sedan received its undivided attention and got coated in acid for its troubles.

Luckner dropped [Flame Up] to conserve on stamina. He was all sweaty and gritty. His [Zeal] felt like a constant buzz under his skin, pushing at him to massacre that thing badly. He wanted to fuck its entire existence up and revel. But if he wanted the gratification of its defeat, he had to find a way to catch it.

He thought about using [Mythic Bond] for a moment. But that would use up a lot of magic energy on a move that could fail. Maybe it might be worth it if the spell made the slime hold still for a few seconds. But that would drain the potential energy that he could use on [Flame Up].

Movement at the door caught Luckner’s attention. It was Mr. Baylor. The old veteran had a pistol in his hand and his sights on the slime. Right then, the car alarm moaned its last honk. The sedan fell silent as a metallic steaming goop on melting wheels.

The slime started to roll toward Mr. Baylor.

“Hey, you biologically retarded bastard!” Luckner yelled, his voice booming with a chest-rumbling bass.

The slime halted.

“Learn to grow up and evolve like the rest of us instead of turning others into soup.”

The Mythic oscillated aggressively. Did it understand what he said? Or was it responding to his boisterous voice? Luckner had no idea, but he skipped off to the side quickly. More acid burned the cement and filled the air with repugnant gas. It was a short spritz, which made Luckner think it was going to rapid-fire another.

A crack of thunder and a lead projectile slugged the slime, interrupting its next attack. The slime emitted a low-pitch squeal⁠—music to Luckner’s ears. Acid blood leaked out of twin holes, sizzling its own membrane, although it didn’t melt as fast as the sidewalk or the sedan. It was a hell of a way to hurt it.

“Did it work?” Mr. Baylor asked.

“Hell yeah!” Luckner said. “Let it rip.”

Mr. Baylor popped off more shots. His aim was true. Slugs punctured one end of the slime and burst out the other. Globs of slime blood burned the ground, filling the air with wreaths of smoke. For Luckner, that was just about perfect as he skipped around acid puddles and held his breath.

“Reloading!” Mr. Baylor informed.

With the moment of respite afforded it, the slime started a desperate retreat in its sorry state. The holes Mr. Baylor drilled through its body patched up. The acid damages it suffered along its membrane healed up quickly. But it had shrunk down in size and looked pathetic. From an outsider’s perspective, with all the steam in the air, the slime could make a getaway.

Luckner burst out of the steam cover and threw that silly shit notion to the wayside. He cried out, “[Flame Up]!” and lit his hand aflame once again.

The slime tried to slink off to the side, but Luckner was prepared for that. He readjusted on the fly, bounded after the slime, and stabbed his fire hand like a spear.

Luckner poured magic into his spell and grew the flame. The flames needed to burn strong as he punctured the membrane and exposed his arm to acid. Thankfully, the flame coat protected him from getting his arm dissolved.

That invited him to thrust deeper past the flesh, his fire boiling the slime from within while its membrane popped, sizzled, and burned. It was glorious, watching it suffer a little before Luckner palmed the core. He ripped the core out of the monster’s body and observed it render into a puddle.

His [Zeal] damn near exploded his heart with this victory. His whole body pulsated with a high that he had never experienced before. It was like a dozen energy drinks mixed with cocaine. It should honestly kill him. Nobody should feel this cranked up. But he remained standing, riding the magical adrenaline rocket until it was spent.

It didn’t go away. Not quickly. Luckner realized he had to force himself to function even with his [Zeal] raised to crazy levels. He turned around slowly to face a squinting Mr. Baylor and a gaping Mr. Senaad.

The war vet pointed his gun Luckner’s way.