Chapter 119

It took a few more rounds, but Zoey and Delta fucked the slimegirl into submission. The solid, dark-green orb in her chest quickly turned red, then shattered, leaving her a half-formed mess. As the last time Zoey had defeated Mel, her mind was turned into as much of a sludge as her body. Getting fucked to the point of so-called defeat left her unable to move, and only half able to form words.

But in a good way. Mel looked like she’d been left out on a hot day, her sticky body melting into a puddle, but a very satisfied, well-fucked puddle. Honestly, Zoey felt a bit the same.

“Before you go,” Mel mumbled. “Take this ... wanted to give it to you...”

Holding out a hand, liquid green goo poured from Mel’s hand, separating from the rest of her body. At a gesture from Mel, Zoey crouched down and took the glob of slime, thought was confused by the event.

“It’s me,” Mel said. “I can’t leave my shard, but maybe a part of me can? Don’t know,” she mumbled, half to herself, her eyes fluttering. “Talking’s ... hard. Keep her well fed, okay?”

Zoey blinked as she took the words in. The puddle of goo was Mel? Right now, it was mostly formless, just green liquid. But that would change if she kept it well fed? And change how? As in, turn into a mini-Mel?

“Fed with what?” Zoey asked.

Mel gave her a look that suggested she was stupid.

“Right. Dumb question.”

“And come visit in your dreams, here and there,” Mel said. “Though I don’t sleep much. Might be tricky. Okay ... that’s it...” she sighed contentedly. “Thank you again. Now, taking a nap.”

With a last mumble of satisfaction, the goo-girl lost consciousness, her humanoid form almost fully dissolving into slime.

“Huh,” Delta said. She crouched down next to Zoey and inspected the puddle of goo in Zoey’s hands. “So it’ll grow into a second Mel?”

“I guess?” Zoey asked. “I’ll have to ask her, once she’s less...”

“Fucked to mindlessness?”

“That.”

Rosalie joined Zoey to the left, also crouching down. “Well,” she said. “I’m glad we’ve apparently saved this friend of yours, but we didn’t get many answers. And have something watching us, now? Something that eats shards? I feel like we’ve glossed over that.”

“We’re not glossing over anything, blondie,” Delta said dryly. “We were just a little busy.”

Rosalie huffed. “Regardless. What are we doing?”

“Let’s get moving, first,” Zoey said. “Get our gear back. We need something to hold mini-Mel, too.” She tilted her cupped hands and shook them back and forth, watching the thick liquid jiggle. It was highly viscous; it refused to separate or spill between her fingers.

“I assume the chests are still under the lake,” Rosalie said. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Zoey frowned, understanding the real question. Would the slime rejoin to the lake, if she brought it in? She doubted it.”Think we’re fine. Swimming’s gonna be hard, though, with my hands full.”

“Put it in your inventory?”

“Already tried,” Zoey said. “Can’t. It’s a person, I guess? She’s a person?” It was an unexpected event, and Zoey wasn’t entirely sure how to talk or feel about it.

Delta said, “Kay, well, I’ll tug you along, then. I can swim for two of us.”

Rosalie stood. Instinctively, she offered a hand to help Delta up, who, after quirking an eyebrow, accepted it. Hilariously, Rosalie blushed at her casual show of camaraderie, then glared at Delta to make up for it. Zoey found the interaction cuter than she probably ought to.

“To our loot, then,” Zoey said.

She couldn’t help but glancing to the tree line, searching it, as if expecting to find their mysterious voyeur. Obviously, she didn’t.

A short trip through the thick goo of the slime lake, and the squad of three emerged into a familiar loot-chamber, a shimmering black portal situated on the far wall—their exit back out into the Fractures.

After the devastating event of Rosalie and Delta getting dressed, and Zoey no longer getting to steal glances at them whenever she wanted, the three of them restocked their inventories with their gear. Shortly, they were ready to get going. Zoey placed mini-Mel—which was just a pile of formless green goo—into an alchemy-reagent collection jar, then tucked it into a satchel, since it couldn’t go into her inventory. She was stuck carrying it around the normal way.

“None of our items are broken, like that remote vibrator is,” Zoey commented. “That’s good.”

Rosalie made a noise of agreement. She’d had the same worry. Who knew what would happen to their items when stored inside a shard that was on the fritz?

“And Mel’s gonna be fine, now?” Delta asked. She sounded genuinely concerned for the woman. Though she’d only just met Mel, the slimegirl had, apparently, made an impression. Which was fair, considering how many places she’d let Delta stick that tool of hers—which had disappeared by now—and how enthusiastically.