Lash was very enthusiastic about his new favourite hobby: magma serpent toss.

The next dungeon in their loop was Fire, and so that's where Levi took his new Soul-Seekers to test their abilities and get better acquainted with them. Though he was already beginning to get a feel for their personalities, just from the trip over.

Iris hovered just by Levi's side, moving closer or further away at the slightest indication of his desire.

Lash... Lash ran on ahead, doing things like grabbing crows from the sky and bringing them back to Levi like a cat offering a mouse, or he'd just disappear and not respond to any calls, only to bob up out of a bush with his eye wide and glowing.

Levi could have sworn Iris facepalmed at that. Or, at least, she covered her eye with her shadowy tendrils as best she could, which he was quite certain meant the same thing.

He wasn't quite sure if Iris was the responsible one, or just a complete suck-up; he couldn't be sure if Lash were as bumbling as he appeared, or if he was a rebel pushing the boundaries.

Either way, they'd arrived safely to the Fire dungeon, leaving the countryside considerably less torn-up than usual for Levi's passage with his entourage, only a few crows lighter.

And Lash immediately decided that grabbing magma snakes out of their lava pools and hurling them against the wall to see how much they splattered, would be the ideal way to spend the day.

The thing with magma snakes is that they're mostly obsidian, scales, and molten stone. So throwing them against a wall doesn't do much aside from tick them off, and force some of their magma out through their fangs in what Levi could only generously consider 'modern art'.

Lash didn't mind in the least. He had six snakes all chasing him - fruitlessly, since he was hovering and they were land-bound - and would snatch them all up and throw them as hard as he could against the wall, tentacles twitching eagerly as he bobbed and watched them all splatter.

Then they hissed, got up, and came after him again.

It was both mildly entertaining and entirely embarrassing. Iris had bobbed up to the far corner, facing the wall so she didn't have to watch. Levi wished he could, but he couldn't look away. Each hit took down less than a single hitpoint from the magma snakes, but the unconventional method was getting the job done. Though he was confident Lash could have finished them off if he'd used his tendrils as whips instead of ropes, he didn't see the harm in allowing the floating eye some leeway in how he approached the challenge in front of him.

At last, maybe ten minutes later, the last of the snakes splattered against the wall for real this time, landing in a limp molten puddle instead of a slithering creature, and Lash immediately darted for the exit tunnel without waiting for Levi's go-ahead.

"Lash, slow down."

Lash did not slow down. Iris chased him down and dragged him to a slower hover, then let go and bobbed off to the side as Levi neared them.

"You hogged the last room, it's Iris's turn to show what she can do."

Lash waved two of his left-side tendrils in dismissal, patting Iris on the back of the giant eyeball in a universal gesture of camaraderie. Iris rolled herself slightly, but didn't shove him off.

"I know Iris is the tank and you're the DPS, but that doesn't mean she's helpless without you."

Levi wouldn't have guessed a four-foot-wide floating eyeball could pout, but Lash immediately looked down, drifting closer to the floor, all his tendrils drooping. In fact, Levi could almost swear some of them grew more transparent.

"You're not what I expected, that's for sure. Wait here. Iris, go ahead. The room is yours."

Iris bobbed slowly into the room, then more quickly, then spun around eagerly as she poked her eye into every crevice, staring down to see what was lurking in the vent-like cracks that filled this particular room. Heat shimmered in the air, but whatever enemy they faced here wasn't immediately obvious. It wasn't a trap room, though, so there must be something--

A particularly large mound of stone by the wall cracked and shifted. Iris bobbed up, her gaze focusing in on it as it stood to its full impressive height. It wasn't much larger than Iris or Lash, but the fact that it was solid and venting smoke made it seem more imposing somehow.

It took Levi a moment to recognize what it was, until its outer stone coating cracked off entirely, revealing the smooth gleaming shell beneath.

Level 5

(Lava Snail)

Health 100%

It might have been comedic in other circumstances. A snail, dark red shell on its back, brilliant crimson body, slowly inching its way toward them. But 'slowly' for something that size was still faster than an average walking person. It raised its red-glowing eyes and focused them on Iris, then belched out a cloud of smoke-filled fire.

Iris didn't back off. Levi could see her iris shrinking in pain, but she was well used to taking the brunt of attacks. She dove straight for the snail, grabbed it with all eight tendrils around its thick red neck, and stared down straight into its eyes.

The snail opened its mouth, but before its fiery breath could emerge again it stopped moving, then started twitching, then shuddered and thrashed.

Iris remained unmoving, fixed to its face with her eye entirely focused, her power holding the giant snail utterly helpless.

Lash tapped Levi's leg with his four right tendril, bobbing from side to side, waving at the snail.

Levi sighed. "Alright, I get it, you're a team. Go get 'em."

Lash bounded up immediately and rushed forward, long thin tendrils trailing out behind him until he reached the enemy. Then he lashed out with two tendrils, grabbing the snail's throat just below Iris's hold, and spinning himself back and forth in a quick snapping motion to flail his remaining limbs against the neck in quick triple slices.

"Not bad." Levi vividly remembered being trapped in his own nightmares, completely unaware of his body or what was going on outside his mind, and watching the pair effortlessly neutralize what could have been a decent threat was undeniably impressive. Its one fire breath attack had brought down a decent chunk of Iris's health, but the one attack was all it got off.

Lash's attacks didn't deal a huge amount of damage, but he made a lot of them, and it added up the longer the one-sided fight went on.

The snail's health continued to drop steadily, even as Iris's mana ran lower and lower, but she had more than enough to outlast the lava snail. In the end, it died without the chance to make a single other move.

Iris released the body hastily, flicking her tendrils as though disgusted by the dead thing, while Lash bounded around it eagerly for a brief moment, then shot off toward the next hallway.

"Lash! We're supposed to stay together here!"

Lash didn't listen, and the whole rest of the dungeon went in fairly similar fashion. Lash was definitely the most maverick among Levi's minions, while Iris was businesslike or eager by turns, but always listened when he gave an order. At least Lash clearly cared about Iris; he may rush off into danger without a second thought, but if Iris was doing something, he'd usually come over to help out. Especially if she were at any risk.

The clear took a lot longer than usual, and Levi backtracked before reaching the boss room. Lash and Iris were good, but both were better at controlling the enemy than killing them. He wasn't ready to risk his life and theirs going up against a serious boss alone.

They did spend some time practicing group work, Iris and Lash controlling the flow of enemies while Levi killed them one by one. That worked out quite well. Though with a much larger dungeon it might not be sufficient, between being able to either immobilize two enemies or pick up and throw multiple others at once, they were better at crowd control than most. Though Levi had the feeling Drok could be pretty good if 'kick and/or throw enemies' was the criteria.

The only thing they didn't test was Lash's Command ability, because Lash stubbornly refused to use it. Levi tried ordering, coaxing, and everything else he could think of, but Lash just ignored his directives.

But, overall, Levi was quite satisfied with their new additions, and it was a happy group that returned to the previous dungeon so Levi could start reviving their currently-dead minions.

Even if Lash did try to smuggle out a magma snake to play toss with.