Ch.162Heavy Rain (2)

As I recall, in the mass media of my previous life, “slimes” were generally classified into about two main types.

One is the so-called fodder-type slime from JRPGs. They’re typically portrayed as the weakest monsters, and most have specific forms with eyes or mouths, making them quite “character-like” in appearance.

Going deeper, there are also R-18 monster girl types and such, but they’re not particularly relevant right now, so let’s move past them.

The other type is the slime portrayed in TRPGs like D&D. These embody the image of “amorphous monsters that digest and absorb everything,” depicted not as mere fodder but as formidable opponents.

Their portrayal is closer to “mechanisms” or “monsters” rather than “characters,” and despite their simple appearance, they’re generally considered quite powerful.

Anyway, among these two types of slimes, the ones in this world are closer to the latter.

The origin of slimes is commonly believed to be a byproduct of ancient imperial magical experiments, but considering that “primitive slimes” existed even before that, their true origin remains completely unknown.

Along with their mysterious origins, slimes are special creatures fundamentally different from ordinary organisms.

Their entire body consists of a fluid substance called “slime material,” and this sticky, soft viscous substance is essentially everything that makes a slime what it is.

It’s their brain, muscle, digestive system, arms, legs, body, and stomach all in one.

The slimes of this world are nothing more than masses of gathered material without any internal core, which inevitably leads to several issues.

For instance, no matter how much you damage or break apart a slime’s physical composition, every piece remains part of the slime unless you chemically destroy its molecular structure.

Of course, slimes need a certain amount of this material to maintain consciousness and movement, so you won’t see tiny nail-sized pieces wiggling around like slimes.

Therefore, the common approach to dealing with slimes is to crush them in one blow, and if that’s not possible, burning them is also a highly preferred method.

But if this were all there was to it, I wouldn’t be spending so much time explaining what these creatures are in this monologue.

“Slimes are… dangerous.”

“…”

Indeed. Slimes are seriously dangerous life forms.

If they just gather together and reach a certain size, they become mid-level slimes. Despite this, they can reproduce infinitely by absorbing organic matter, and their fluid bodies allow for unlimited regeneration.

Moreover, the body material of these regenerating slimes fundamentally functions as a digestive system, equipped with digestive acids, and some species even contain poison.

Since they primarily inhabit damp environments, they almost invariably contain various harmful bacteria and toxic substances. Even setting that aside, slimes are essentially hundreds of kilograms of muscle mass, making them incredibly strong.

No matter how soft they might be—no, precisely because they’re so soft—once caught, it’s extremely difficult to escape. Particularly, some “metal slime” variants can easily crush a person.

Slimes also primarily sense their surroundings not through vision but through special detection abilities that target any organic matter indiscriminately. They act without emotions or even reason, following behavior patterns more akin to machines or algorithms.

Approach, engulf, digest. They operate according to this simple three-step program, but frankly, this doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

At this point, one might question whether they’re truly living beings, but mystically speaking, they’re still classified as organisms. The most terrifying aspect of slimes is…

Their overwhelming reproduction rate and growth potential stemming from their extremely simple body structure.

Slimes can gradually increase in size just by crawling around and eating plants, and once they reach a certain size, they become mid-level slimes.

As they grow, once they determine their habitat is safe, they immediately divide into dozens of individuals. If necessary, dozens can merge to form a mid-level slime without much difficulty.

Of course, due to their lack of skeletal structure, slimes that grow to high-level sizes become easy targets, which might suggest that a “slime apocalypse” isn’t something to worry about.

But—looking at the practical issues, the ease with which mid-level slimes can emerge is certainly not something to be overlooked.

Because of these concerns and the sky-high danger level of these vicious creatures, slimes can’t be left unchecked. Considering the possibility that these overpopulated creatures might pose a threat to the village, I decided to personally undertake a slime extermination mission.

The extermination party consisted of five members: myself, Droop, Pierre, Sir Lucius, and Lord Falten—quite a luxurious lineup.

Essentially, we had four mid-level warriors, including Pierre who’s practically top-tier among low-level warriors, going to exterminate a slime horde that likely numbered in the thousands.

As I mentioned earlier, slimes are naturally resistant to warriors’ attacks due to their unique physical structure.

Slash them, and they just split into two separate entities. You can eventually kill them by repeatedly slashing, but it’s not only difficult to keep cutting them up, but it also takes a long time.

So if we had brought conventional weapons, we wouldn’t have been able to handle thousands of slimes. That’s why each of the five of us had prepared specific countermeasures against slimes.

First, Lucius Wolfblood, who was gradually completing his rehabilitation and wanted to help without overexerting himself, came equipped with two electric blue tree clubs gifted by his daughter (Gretel).

Though the quality of these weapons was lower since they were byproducts of what I used, clubs have the advantage of being impact weapons that don’t require direct skin contact.

Direct contact with slimes is essentially suicide, and knowing this well, Lucius was using these weapons to burst slimes left and right.

Meanwhile, Lord Falten, our only mage, was brought along not so much to fight on the front lines but to prevent the slimes from spreading.

Perhaps because slimes have high magic resistance that makes metal magic ineffective against them, he was creating metal walls over two meters tall through material transformation to prevent the slimes from moving elsewhere.

The alpha and omega of metal school mages is the manipulation and transformation of “metallized” substances. This unique power to handle metal, with its exceptional physical mass, proves incredibly useful in situations like this.

Droop, as usual, was swinging an axe with a blade heated to high temperatures. Though axes aren’t typically effective, the heat it generated was helping to process the slimes.

The slime body, which looks like water but is closer to a gel, is highly vulnerable to heat. As a result, slimes that were cut and scorched by his axe showed little sign of regeneration.

In the midst of all this, I was unleashing my full power after a long time, rampaging freely among them.

My weapons were a bladed shield attached to my arm and a special bludgeon. I infused it with magical power to increase its mass to 50kg and swung it around, using the bladed shield simply as another bludgeon rather than employing any special techniques.

The specially enhanced bludgeon (mace), with its greatly amplified mass, could burst slimes just by grazing them. In this situation, I activated my revealed petrification evil eye to solidify them.

-*CRASH!!*

As a bonus, I let loose the shadow of a basilisk summoned through my pendant—which could be re-summoned even if it died.

If there had been mid-level slimes, I could have tried to acquire their factors, but in their absence, the best option was to collect the remnants.

Gathering bit by bit to form if not a mountain then at least a hill, I was enthusiastically sweeping up slimes. After rampaging for quite some time and taking a brief rest, Pierre approached me with a water container.

“My lord, here you are.”

“Thank you. *Sigh* Now I can breathe a little.”

His main weapon was a halberd, and still at the low-level realm, he had been casually smashing smaller slimes with a battle hammer. As I quenched my thirst with the water container he brought—since he wasn’t particularly tired—Pierre suddenly looked at my face and spoke.

“By the way, my lord. Don’t we use slimes for sewage treatment in our territory?”

‘…Ah. I had forgotten about that.’

Pierre must have suddenly remembered this world’s unique sewage treatment method while looking at the slimes.