While things took a different twist at the other end, I achieved my second success with the straggler.
One thing I had come to expect with the shorter teenager was that instructions often tended to elude his mind quite quickly.
The master had told them to watch where they put their feet and hands, and so far they had tried their best. Earlier, I had succeeded in managing to attach a layer of slime to the shorter guy's palm, and as soon as he brought it to his face to brush something off, I seized my moment.
With a snappy reaction, I transferred the slime from the palm, where it had played its inconspicuous role quite well, to the face.
The layer was not large enough to cover the entirety of the face, but it was large enough to cover the most important parts, namely the nose and the mouth.
Suffocation.
This was never my plan in the first place.
I never intended to kill, at least not this early. But seeing that they were already on the brink of killing me themselves, strategy was no longer part of the game. Survival was, and survival dictated that I get energy stones as fast as possible.
The only way I could do that was, one, pain, which I ruled out mainly because they already had a master.
If I transferred my leeches from the master to the weaker companions, he would likely help them and get rid of the leeches.
My only other option was death.
If I killed one of them, I would get fifty points outright.
That would be enough to facilitate some kind of response. For me, I still did not know or believe whether it would be enough, but at least it was something other than just sitting down and watching myself get destroyed.
Immediately, my slimes began to suffocate the boy.
He let out a muffled scream that startled his companion before dropping to the floor, throwing his arms helplessly.
Frost made to move toward him, then halfway remembered the instruction not to move carelessly.
"Help. Help. Master, we need help."
I could feel the master coming, all right. Just not coming to help.
I could tell that right away from the fury smeared across his face.
When he appeared, he assessed the situation, looking between the two boys with a mix of fury and anger.
Frost pointed desperately at his friend.
"They have got him. They are suffocating him," he pleaded.
Of course the master could see that.
"You need to calm down."
Frost looked confused, maybe because of the casual and carefree way the statement had been spoken.
"Yeah, but help him," he screamed.
"In a minute," the master said, approaching him. "First you tell me, did you mark the dungeon?"
To my surprise, Frost played completely dumb.
He looked at the master as if he did not even understand the word mark.
"I do not understand. What do you mean. He is dying," he said, torn between the urgency of his friend and the question that seemed important to the master.
A pathetic liar, I thought to myself. You could not fool even a fool with that kind of play.
True enough, the master did not seem to buy Frost's ignorant reaction.
"It was you," he said, as the revelation finally dawned on him. "You marked the dungeon. I do not understand. How did you get the marking runes. We never provided any."
Frost was still playing his ignorant card.
"I do not understand what you are talking about, Master Ogrey."
But the master cut him off.
"Are you willing to risk your friend's life just to lie to me. I assure you it will not work in your favor."
I could see the master's body language transform from that of an adult chaperoning two teens to that of a supervillain.
At that moment, I knew no matter what Frost and his friend did, their lives had likely reached an end, just like mine had.
"Eventually," the master said, pacing slowly toward the fallen teen, "you will have no choice but to tell me. It is up to you to decide whether it is after your friend dies or before, so we can save him."
You are being blackmailed. Do not get blackmailed, I thought to myself.
At this point, I wished I had just received one ability that gave me a chance to speak loud enough for them to hear me.
I no longer cared about the fact that I was going to die. I just did not want to end up in the possession of this greedy master.
Frost was better off. At least I had taken a few stones from them as well. Plus, they had come looking first.
Frost seemed to come to the conclusion that his ignorant game was officially up.
"Yeah, we marked it, all right," he said calmly. His face was plain careless for a moment, even though I could see the concern for his friend was still evident. "But I do not see what that has to do with you helping my friend. We are part of your guild."
He gave up the instruction of staying in the same place and tried to lift his feet.
I relieved him of the restriction of the slime, and he quickly rushed toward his friend.
The master smiled at the move.
"See. The dungeon recognizes you. This is my point. You are best suited to claim the core," he declared, approaching the two boys.
Frost was trying to tear off the slime from his friend's face, but my kindness did not stretch that far, so I did not free him.
Both of you keep arguing.
If I get just one death while you are still here, things will suddenly not be so easy anymore.
Unfortunately, the slime seemed to find it hard to induce total suffocation.
"You do realize that once you have marked a dungeon, only you can claim the final treasure."
Frost momentarily looked at the master before quickly looking back at his friend.
"Yeah, but we are part of your guild. According to the guild contract we signed, all the treasure belongs to the guild, unless the guild says otherwise."
"Perfect. I am glad you can remember that. It is the only hope for poor kids like you to even become part of a guild."
But Frost was jabbing at the master, unbeknownst to him.
"In that case, you should be able to claim the core, since you are the guild master," Frost spat. "Unless you have not registered the guild, of course."
The master smiled. I could see now that he knew his game was up too.
"You are a smart one, are you not. Well, I admit I have not come around to registering the guild yet. You, of all people, should know guild politics. They can hardly allow new members in. They already feel threatened by the possibility of someone else surpassing their achievements. But after this, the core will pave the way."
Frost was not letting it die.
"But you told us the guild was registered. You betrayed us. You tricked us."
Frost stood up.
For his own safety, I once again enforced the slime restriction.
Furious as he was, he might overreach. And if anything was clear, it was the fact that he was no match for the master.
"I am glad we got that out of the way. Yes, I betrayed you. And yes, I tricked you. Still, I gave you a chance. See what you have achieved with it. You found a dungeon with a core. Is that not something to be happy about. Your friend does not have any more time."
It was true. The straggler had already gone limp.
I could tell he was not dead yet. I could still feel the pulse. But he was almost there. A few more minutes.
Please keep arguing, I pleaded internally.
"Here is what we will do. You will get me the crystal, and I will revive your friend. Then together we will be founding members of one of the most influential guilds in Midland. What do you say."
Angry as Frost was, he was still loyal enough to his friend not to want to risk his death.
The master seemed to register this fact.
He reached into one of his pockets and poured another liquid beneath Frost's boots.
His feet were freed as my helpless slime failed to exert its restriction.
Now it was a matter of how well the straggler could do without breath.
This was literally a time attack between how fast Frost could acquire the crystal and how quickly I could suffocate the straggler with my feeble slime layer.
But one thing was clear to me.
Whether Frost succeeded or not, he and his friend were not leaving here alive.
I might as well claim their lives myself.