Chapter 112

With everyone having found a new resolve to make it to Mel as quickly as possible, they set a much faster pace. In less than half an hour, they’d cut their way out of the stone-brick hallways and into the second stage of the shard, the night-time forest. They trekked down twisting dirt paths, bits of slime and goo clinging to nearby rocks and tree faces. A familiar ‘BEWARE THE SLIME’ warned them of the imminent encounter. Anticipatory of what they’d find, the squad strode forward without slowing.

Though the dungeon had morphed its layout in some ways, the clearing that opened up with a lake of green slime was the same as Zoey remembered. Last time, Mel hadn’t emerged until they’d gotten close. Zoey assumed it would be the same, now. Though she needed help, she was still bound by the rules of the shard—hence why she hadn’t come running for them the moment they’d arrived.

That theory proved true. A few dozen feet away from the lake, the slimy green substance rippled, and a curvy see-through figure poured upward, materializing into a humanoid shape.

Like their previous meeting, a bright smile split the goo-girl’s face, and she threw her arms wide as she ran toward Zoey.

For the second time, Zoey caught a slimegirl-turned-projectile. She had to drop the defective remote vibrator to free her hands.

Mel’s sticky body impacted Zoey’s, and she stepped backward to stabilize. To her side, Rosalie and Delta had tensed, but they could intuit that Mel hadn’t run at her with hostile intentions. Indeed, a look their way showed they were looking at Zoey with amusingly similar expressions: pairs of quirked eyebrows. They probably hadn’t expected her and Mel to be on such friendly terms. To be fair, Zoey was a bit surprised by that, too.

“You came,” Mel said. “I mean, I knew you would, but still!” She pulled away, grinning, and the infectious enthusiasm was hard not to match; Zoey smiled back.

Still in Zoey’s arms, with her legs wrapped around Zoey’s waist—which put her tits at an unfortunately tantalizing height, shoved straight into her face—the goo-girl turned and looked at Delta and Rosalie. “And you brought friends,” she said. “Hi. I’m Mel, short for Emerald Melt. I’ll be your sticky plaything, tonight.”

Zoey remembered her saying something similar the first time they’d met. A boss catchphrase? The thought amused Zoey.

Rosalie seemed unimpressed, and Delta the opposite—extremely impressed. The fox girl was, unsurprisingly, interested in a ‘sticky plaything’.

“Delta,” she said, returning the smile and not-so-subtly running her eyes across Mel’s curves—which were entangled with Zoey’s, seeing how the slime girl had catapulted onto her. “Man. Zoey told me about you, but actually seeing it is something else. Made of slime. Crazy.”

“It comes in handy,” Mel said brightly. A devious smile crossed her lips. “Mostly, it means I can really take a pounding. Not to mention all the other fun stuff.” She turned back to Zoey. “Speaking of! Why aren’t you hard yet?” She wiggled, rubbing her lower half into Zoey and trying to fix that problem.

Only through great effort—and concern—did Zoey stay focused.

She set Mel onto the floor, which she pouted at.

“Are you healthy?” Zoey asked. “We ran into some weird stuff on the way here. But you look fine?”

Mel rolled her eyes. “Like I said, our guest is focusing on parts of me that aren’t as critical. Eating me outward-in, I guess. Though I have no idea why. But yeah, me, myself, I’m mostly fine. Maybe she’s saving the tastiest parts for last?” Mel chewed her lip. “Though I don’t think so. It’s like she’s trying not to hurt me. Or at least as little as possible.”

“That’s some sort of good news?”