Plains

Onwards to farmland.

Dandy

You head over to the Plains.

There's a simple dirt path winding through some tall grass. Ahead, you can see a three-way intersection. South seems to head to a patch of farms and a small village, while north heads to town. You can also see the beginnings of a trail heading west towards a fast-moving river.

And in the center of the intersection is Leone, in the middle of fighting a large, green slime. She stabs it with her rapier, only for the thrust to bounce off. The slime jiggles and pulses, shoving her back. She retreats several steps, then resumes her combat stance with one hand on her blade and the other raised to her temple, almost like a salute.

Dandy

While you're distracted, the slime starts bubbling. It bursts, spewing green chunks in your direction, like a shotgun.

"Look out!" Leone yells. "Protect-!"

A shimmering, translucent wall appears in midair, with a few chunks of the creature splatting against it. Dandy, prattling at Leone, is close enough to be protected as well. Hezaki and Alice aren't so lucky. They both try to avoid the worst of it, but Hezaki's left arm and Alice's legs get splattered as they leap out of the way. Hezaki can feel it burning.

Alice stares at her hissing flesh. "That's... new... Aaah-haaaaaa, this is...!" She's... smiling... for some reason.

"We need to end this quickly!" Leone says.

Dantailan

Hezaki starts healing Alice. "Oh... That feels much better."

Dantalian reels back and kicks the slime as hard as he can. His leg slams into the slime... and the blow dissipates as the monster starts jiggling. The monster starts absorbing his leg.

Alice pulls out a yellow-bound tome and starts chanting a spell.

Dandy

You start feeding the ooze. And feeding it, and feeding it.

Meanwhile Hezaki gets to tending to his own wounds.

Alice realizes it would be a problem if she shot the ooze with a lightning bolt while you're inside of it. Leone similarly doesn't seem to be willing to attack while you're partway inside the creature. She wraps around your chest with her free arm and starts pulling back on you. Alice grabs you, as well. As the ooze starts to get thinner from all the stuff inside, they manage to pull you free.

The ooze, filled with dozens of dead, dying, and partially digested imps, seems to be slowed down and not very maneuverable. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's getting bigger as it consumes the imps, and digesting them exponentially faster.

Dandy

"Um... Well. We could keep feeding it. It's slowing it down, even if it's making it larger?" Alice says.

"I think we've got the right idea... Can you make a bunch of those things and throw them in all at once?" Leone asks. "Then the rest of us can his it with a powerful attack while it's distracted."

Dandy

While you summon some imps, you notice Leone glance at you and mouth something. You feel a slight shiver run down your spine, but nothing seems to happen. Weird. Then she goes back to concentrating.

Your imps line up while the slime finishes digesting the ones that are already inside. The thing is as big as a small shed at this point. And without all the imps inside weighing it down anymore, it's moving towards you at an intimidating rate.

"Whenever you're ready, Mr. Dandy! Mr. Dandy's friend!" Leone says.

"O spirits of nature, heed my call..." Alice mutters to herself. You can feel the wind picking up, rushing through the plain's tall grass.

"I'm not going to hold back on this attack!" Leone promises. She points her sword up to the sky. "Memory Recombination! MEGAFLARE!" A very familiar-looking giant ball of fire appears on the tip of her blade and begins growing larger and larger.