episode_0012

“Ubbup! Ubbup!”

Meruru struggled with her face buried in a giant jelly.

Shocked by the unexpected sight, I quickly snapped out of it, realizing the danger Meruru was in.

“Meruru!”

I grabbed Meruru’s shoulders from behind and exerted all my strength to pull her away from the jelly.

“Uwup! Ubbubup!”

But it wasn’t easy.

Meruru’s movements became faster and more frantic.

It was clear that she was struggling to breathe.

“Uwaaaaah!”

I exerted all my strength to pull Meruru away.

I planted my feet on a nearby rock, almost embracing her from behind, and pulled her away.

“Ubbup! Puhaha!”

“Meruru! Are you okay? Breathe! Breathe!”

“Haa… haa… huk… huk… I thought I was going to die!”

Finally managing to pry Meruru’s face from the giant jelly, I anxiously checked her condition.

Luckily, apart from being out of breath, she wasn’t injured.

“What is that?”

“Yunoa managed to pull Meruru away from the body of the Blue King Slime.

However, the Blue King Slime, a subspecies of Blue Slime that lives in groups, emitted pheromones to call for its kin as it deemed itself under attack.”

“What…?”

This… is a slime?

Aren’t slimes usually easy prey for beginner adventurers?

But the huge Blue King Slime in front of us looked undeniably dangerous.

Wasn’t slime a term used only in games for weak monsters for beginners?

Anyway, one thing was certain, we had to run away from that thing quickly.

“Meruru! Let’s run away!”

“But! There’s a meat party under that thing every day!”

So that’s what it was.

It seemed like beneath the Blue King Slime, there was a blessing from Freya.

“Whether it’s a meat party or a meat waterfall, it’s useless if we die! Let’s go!”

“Alright!”

I grabbed Meruru’s hand and started running back the way we came through the bushes.

But before we could take a few steps, another slime appeared in front of us.

“What is this…?”

Smaller than the Blue King Slime, a blue jelly blob of similar size blocked our path.

We tried to go around it, but every time we tried to avoid it, another slime appeared in front of us.

Continuously changing direction to avoid the slimes, we found ourselves surrounded by dozens of Blue Slimes.

“There’s nowhere to run…”

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

I realized we were completely surrounded.

The transparent blue jelly blobs were slowly closing in on us, blocking our escape route.

They were herding us back towards where the Blue King Slime was.

There were no slimes in sight just moments ago, where did all these come from?

“Yunoa! What should we do? These slimes are annoying!”

Sluggishly.

Meruru shouted as she watched the slimes slowly approaching us.

I looked around for any possible escape route.

Slimes everywhere, no gaps to escape.

But I couldn’t just leave them to close in on us.

Yes, the enemy is slimes.

Actually seeing it in front of me, fear gripped me, but from the perspective of an adventurer, this monster might not be as strong as it seems.

The Blue King Slime was so massive that I didn’t dare to think about how to deal with it.

But if it’s just the Blue Slimes surrounding us, maybe we can find a way.

The distance to the Kubele wasn’t that far when we sprinted with all our might to break through.

So, if we can break through the slimes blocking the path to the Kubele with just one point, maybe we can escape.

“Meruru! Let’s break through the guy in that direction!”

I picked up a thick branch that looked suitable for swinging from the ground.

And I rushed towards the slimes blocking the path to the Kubele, swinging with all my might.

Squelch.

The swung branch pierced about a hand’s depth into the slime’s body.

But I didn’t feel any impact in the hand that swung the branch.

It wasn’t a feeling of hitting, but a feeling of the slime tightly gripping the branch.

“Meruru, lend a hand!”

At that moment, Meruru also ran towards the slime from behind with a rock in hand.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

Thwack!

Before I could say anything, Meruru struck the slime with the rock in her hand.

“Aaah! This feeling is weird!”

Meruru’s hand with the rock was completely stuck in the slime’s body up to her wrist.

“Quick, get out!”

“My hand won’t come out!”

Meruru cried out in panic.

I tried to pull out the branch I swung, but instead of coming out, it broke with a snap.

Just like when Meruru’s face was buried in the Blue King Slime earlier, these creatures wouldn’t let go of anything that touched their bodies.

To make matters worse, while Meruru struggled to free her hand from the slime’s body, other slimes approached from the sides.

Meruru struggled to pull her hand out of the slime’s body, but ended up kicking the slime’s body with her foot.

Swoosh.

“Aaah! My foot got stuck too!”

In a complete panic, Meruru clenched her fist with her remaining hand and struck the slime.

Of course, that hand also got sucked into the slime.

In the end, except for one foot on the ground, Meruru’s other hands and feet were all stuck to the slime.

“Hey! Stay still!”

“Waaah!”

“Ugh!”

I grabbed Meruru from behind, pulling with all my strength, and slowly felt her hands and feet being pulled out of the slime.

It felt like pulling someone out of a very stiff swamp.

As I tried to pull Meruru out of the slime with all my might, I felt a cold and squishy sensation on the back of my head.

When I glanced back slightly, I saw another Blue Slime had come so close that it touched the back of my head.

Slimes on the side, in front, and now behind me.

Truly a slime prison.

At this point, trying to pull Meruru out of the slime seemed pointless.

The slimes, like wall traps closing in from all sides, were slowly trying to engulf us completely.

“Uuugh! Can’t get out! Can’t move!”

“Meruru… I’m sorry.”

No matter how much I racked my brain, there was no way to remedy this situation.

I felt the slimes slowly sticking to my back and shoulders.

Meruru was also on the verge of being swallowed by the slimes squeezing her from the front and sides.

Is this the end of life in this world?

Maybe it’s because I was too greedy.

Sensing the end approaching, I tightly embraced Meruru from behind and closed my eyes.

Feeling Meruru’s warm body temperature was somewhat comforting.

I’m sorry, Meruru.

For following someone like me for no reason…

Crack!

It was then.

The slimy sound that was slowly engulfing me from behind disappeared with a sharp noise.

Opening my eyes and looking back, the slime that was sticking to us collapsed like water.

“Ah-!”

A young man with a sword appeared out of nowhere and began cutting down the slimes surrounding us one by one.

Every time he swung his sword, the slime’s body split in half, losing its slimy texture and collapsing like water.

The slime that was holding onto Meruru also turned into a puddle with his strike.

“Ugh-!”

Without stopping, the young man rushed towards the remaining slimes.

The blue slimes that had surrounded us seemed to sense the danger and dispersed, gathering in front of the Blue King Slime.

Lowering his stance, the young man held his sword back as if loading a gun.

“Orenryu Bigi! Samshik! Baekinbegi!”

The young man’s sword swung horizontally.

The sharp sword energy gathered along the path of the sword, cutting down all the slimes in one sweep.

Even the seemingly invincible Blue King Slime collapsed horizontally.

All the blue slimes that had filled the surroundings disappeared without a trace.

“Are you okay? Any injuries?”

The young man who had wiped out the slimes immediately approached us and asked about our condition.

“Ah… we’re fine. Thank you for saving us.”

“Ubuubuubu…”

Meruru was still in a daze.

I supported Meruru, who had lost all strength in her body, and thanked the young man.

With a refreshing smile, the young man said, “Let’s go back to the village together. I’ll escort you.”