Chapter 3: New Gear

"Here we are," Slime hopes off my shoulder as we arrive in front of an abandoned temple covered in ivy. "This is an ancient shrine to a fallen hero, and their armour and sword are up for grabs."

"And this is the gear we will steal away from her," I ask and the slime nods.

"Yes, can you picture the look on her face when she sees you have it?" I smile, looking forward to that day. "Now, enough talking. We will put your training to use and speedrun this dungeon."

"Um, what do you mean by speedrun?"

"Just forget about it and focus on the task at hand," The slime smiles. "Now, let us get moving. Just stay behind me. I have the layout of every floor memorised."

Has he been here before? He certainly acts like is as he confidently leads me through the maze-like halls of the dungeon. No, he has definitely been here before. There is no other way I can explain how he knows where every trap is and what kind of enemies we will encounter on each floor. I am gald he is here. There is no way I would have been able to do this myself.

On the first floor, we find zombies armed with hatchets and hammers. They were easy to deal with. I just needed to stay low and aim only for their heads. With slime helping me keep track of the zombies and warning me of sneaks attacks, we made it to floor two in just under an hour. We take a quick break in an area slime says is safe before moving on.

Floor two was more demanding but not that challenging, thanks to slimes advice. This floor was filled with skeletons armed with swords and wooden shields while wearing beat-up chainmail armour. At first, I just wanted to cut them to pieces, but I followed slime's advice about keeping my sword in its sheath. It worked like a charm and imagining I was smacking that little homewrecker really helped me out breaking those skeleton's bones.

We took another break in a safe area before entering the third floor. This is where things got hard. This time we were up against golems. They were made of stone but fighting them was tough as all I could do was cut off their limbs and run before they regenerated. They were annoying and worked together in small packs, so I had plenty of bruises and even a broken finger bone by the time we cleared the floor and took our next break.

The fourth and final floor contained something slime called a boss battle. It was a wide-open room and brightly lit up by giant torches. I have only seen one place like it before. The colosseum in the capital. It goes without saying that I draw my sword before taking a step forward. But it turns out my fears were pointless.

When this boss monster and slime called it appeared, I was terrified. It had a boar's head and breathed fire, four arms, each holding a black axe and a tail spiked like a mace. Covering the monster's body is black scale-like armour and glowing red gems. I braced myself for the fight of my life, but slime suddenly jumped forward. Before I can even say anything, he fires a bolt of light from his body, piecing the golem, killing it instantly. I feel disappointed that I didn't get to fight but relieved as well.

"You could have used that on those other golems," I complain as we move to the altar behind the dead monster.

"You needed the practice," Slime replies making me want to slap him. "But enough about the past, hurry up and put on your new gear."

It is beautiful. My anger fades as soon as my eyes fall on the armour set. It's pure white with a golden lining and red rose decorating the armour. It is a complete set with a helmet that covers everything, but I can still see despite there being no eye sockets when I put it on. The rest of the suit protects everything from my arms to my legs. Strangely, it fits me so well. It is like it was made for me despite slime telling me that homewrecker was meant to wear it. Slime says the armour is magical and fits whoever put it on despite their size. Slime says this is the strongest armour ever made and will never break.

As for the sword, that is just as beautiful. A pure white and golden sheath houses a long-bladed weapon slime calls a katana. I have never seen a weapon like it, so I will just have to take his word on that. The blade is elegant and light. When I give the weapon a few test swings, it feels like I have been using this sword my entire life. This sword will never need sharpening or maintenance and can cut through any material according to slime.

We decide to test out my new gear on our way out. I feel bad for the golems. I slaughtered them by the dozen, but it was their fault. If they weren't so annoying when I last encountered them, I would never have needed to vent my frustrations on them. At least slime praised me. I can't help but smile when he tells me how much better I am doing. All that is left is to get whatever slime means by hidden item, and we are down.