episode_0180

It is known that the origin of slime is a type of magical creature created by demons for cleaning purposes.

A monster that swallows things such as dirt, pests, and mice and dissolves and absorbs them with strong acidic digestive juices.

If trained well, one head-sized slime could do the work of three cleaners?

Of course, this is a story limited to small slimes raised by demons.

The combat slimes sent to the dungeon were literally like predatory tanks.

It is at least the size of a human being. It has digestive juices that are strong enough to melt a person’s armor, and even if it is shattered, it has the vitality to stick together and regenerate itself.

For a warrior who could only trust his own body and armor, it was such a difficult monster that his face would be distorted the moment he encountered it.

Even if you cut it into pieces with a spear sword and chop it into very small pieces, it did not die. Rather, it only melted as it was soaked in digestive juices.

Once it was devoured by it, even armor had no meaning. The same was true even for cloud-steel armor.

In order for any armor to move properly, there must be gaps here and there, and if the slime’s digestive juices flow through the gaps, the entire inside will melt.

It was a shame that the moving speed was a bit slow, but if the speed had been fast, it might have been treated as a disaster.

From the warriors’ perspective, they wonder why there are such unreasonable monsters.

There are three main ways to cleanly dispose of such slime.

Either ‘purify’ it with a priest’s sacred miracle, or feed it to a larger slime.

And finally, it was to hit the slime with elemental magic that would completely transform its body.

Burn it to ashes with enough firepower to evaporate all bodily fluids, or freeze the entire body and shatter it.

What do you do when there are no wizards, priests, or bigger slimes? If you don’t want to get eaten, there’s nothing you can do but run away.

Small slimes can be killed with just a torch, but those raised with the intention of using them for combat were unable to do so.

Would you be able to evaporate a human-sized lump of bodily fluid by burning it with a torch? If you just covered it with your body, the torch itself would go out and melt.

Even when burning with fire magic, the fire power needs to be strong to be effective, and using weak magic like ‘flame arrow’ was a meaningless waste of magic power.

On the other hand, in the case of cold magic, the situation was a bit better. If you keep pouring out cold, you will inevitably freeze at some point.

As long as you don’t die from the slime’s counterattack before it’s all frozen.

◆◆

Unlike wizards, priests did not need to use high output sacred miracles to subdue slimes.

Since the slime’s regenerative power is neutralized in the face of a sacred miracle, it was possible to completely destroy the slime by simply firing the lowest attack miracle, ‘Arrow of Punishment’.

“I can use it 15 times from now on… I guess three to four shots will do.”

The miracle that Arine chose was also the arrow of punishment.

It was a natural decision. Even if your axe skills are so good you can’t stand it, you probably don’t want to engage in close combat with a monster that melts the moment it touches you.

Because that’s not brave, it’s stupid.

“Goddess of Heaven, scatter light and punish evil.”

Ariene mutters a prayer while clutching the holy symbol. As expected from a silver armored adventurer accustomed to battle, the miracle casting was quick and concise.

– Whaaah!

Three times, light flashed in the empty air and a pure white arrow was formed.

When Arine aimed at the slime with her left hand, an arrow of light was shot leaving a comet-like tail that stuck into the slime’s body like a wedge.

Three flashes of light. Three explosions.

Before the slime could attempt a counterattack after realizing that it had been attacked, three explosions of holy power shattered its body.

Destruction of the cell tissue itself by sexual power rather than physical cutting.

Due to extreme damage that could not be regenerated, the remains of the slime were crushed and flattened like an egg that fell to the ground.

“Uh…is that dead?”

“Yes, he is definitely dead. The magic power that maintained his false life has been erased.”

Arine nodded, looking down at the slime fluid flowing on the ground.

Digestive juice that has been altered by sexual power and has lost its dissolving power.

To put it bluntly, even though it was just a liquid like water, it felt like I was feeling physiological discomfort since it was essentially the body fluid of a monster.

“Good job, Ariene. Let’s continue our search.”

This isn’t the only monster lurking on the 4th floor. I wanted to move as quickly as possible and get down one floor before they came.

Unless we plan to reveal Friede’s true identity, Arine is the only one among us who can deal with the slime.

However, Arine’s Holy Miracle had a limited number of casts, so if even five or six more slimes like this one appeared, the situation would become very difficult.

So, that means you have to leave the 4th floor before the slimes gather.

I wonder if the 5th floor is also a slime den, otherwise the other three, including me, will be able to fight just fine.

“Everyone, be careful. Those slimes stick to the ceiling and sneak up on you… If you get hit, your head will melt in an instant. You won’t even be able to scream before you die.”

Search resumed.

Reed, who had taken on the important responsibility of scouting, glanced up at the ceiling and explained the dangers of the slime he had seen.

The story goes that ten people stabbed each other with spears at the same time, and the next moment all ten were eaten and melted.

There are stories about a slime hiding in the ceiling sneak-attacking a wizard from behind, and the attack was so quiet that not even a sound was heard.

When the other party members looked back, the wizard’s head had already melted except for part of the lower jaw?

“Ugh….”

It was more like a ghost story than an experience. If the intention was to lower the party’s morale through an atmosphere of fear, it could be said to have been a huge success.

“I heard there’s even a slime among them that spews out digestive juices like a fountain.”

“Squirting? Digestive juice?”

“Yes. I heard that it compresses its body small and sprays digestive juices with that pressure… Even if it gets hit, it is said that if you wipe it off right away, you can survive, but it would be impossible if several of them shoot at you in succession.”

That’s terrible. Death that melts away in the shower of digestive juices. Doesn’t it feel like the person involved almost falls into a furnace and dies?

“Don’t worry. If that happens, I’ll block it with the Holy Barrier. I can still use it ten more times.”

Ariene glanced at Reid and joined our conversation.

“Ten times… That should be enough to block everything that comes at you. After all, Ariene. I heard you’re very trustworthy when it comes to things like this?”

“Did you finally know that?”

You guys are having a good time.

A goddess nun and a gambler who lives only for today.

I wonder if there is any other combination that doesn’t suit them well, but surprisingly, the two people seemed to have a very close relationship.

Unlike when talking to me, the tone of voice is different when talking to each other.

… Well, since we belong to the same organization and are the same silver level adventurer, we must have had a lot of experience working together like this time.

When you go through life and death and ups and downs together like that, you tend to develop feelings for each other. I thought that Reed and Arine also became close friends in that way.

◆◆

Perhaps because they wanted to eat up all the other monsters, the only monster on the 4th floor was slime.

And, the number of such slimes was greater than I expected.

There were really, really many.

“It’s coming again! Ahead! There’s no way out!”

“Hill-creamhilt! Crowds of people are coming from behind! All the way to the ceiling!”

A soft, squishy, dark purple mass filled the entire area, rushing in like a tidal wave.

A wave of slime that seems to exceed a hundred at best.

The rear was completely blocked and it was difficult to retreat, so we focused only on running forward with all our might and breaking through the slimes blocking our way.

“Arine-san! Just before we reach you, deploy the sacred barrier! We will create a gap in the barrier and break through!”

“I understand! Elianel, take pity on us—”

Ariene is praying as she is placed next to me like a piece of luggage.

Just before the waves of slime rushing in blocking the entire front line cover and melt us,

“Now!”

“yes!”

At my signal, the miracle of the sacred barrier she unleashed unfolded into a sphere of pure white light that covered our entire party.

– Cheeek!

“Gwaaa…?

The sound of burning meat. The slime, united as one and becoming as large as a tidal wave, lets out a loud cry and squirms.

Arine’s sacred barrier was pushing away and burning its flesh, creating a cave-like hole at the bottom of its dark purple body.

“Everybody run! Faster!”

The sacred barrier is covered in slime’s digestive juices, emitting smoke, and fading away.

In fact, it was like being swallowed whole by the slime’s stomach, so the speed at which the barrier was damaged was frighteningly fast.

“I’m going to run away if I keep doing this!”

“Well, if I had the power to talk, I could run!”

Fortunately, though, our steps were faster than the destruction of the Holy Wall.

“Okay, keep running! We’ll go down to the 5th floor like this!”

After confirming that Reed and Friede had safely escaped the tsunami of slime, I immediately ran forward again.

“Guuu…!”

“It’s chasing me! It’s fast!”

“Mr. Reed! Are you sure you’re okay?! Didn’t your leg get eaten?”

“It’s still fine! That stubborn bastard doesn’t know how to give up, perhaps because he has no brain!”

The giant slime let out a strange cry that seemed to be mixed with embarrassment, then reversed its direction and pursued us persistently.

It’s embarrassing.

Yes, it must be embarrassing.

It must have been the first time in my life that I had experienced a situation where my prey just passed through my stomach.

It was an experience I also experienced for the first time in my life.

To go into the stomach of a giant slime and come out on the other side without a scratch. When will you have that experience if not now?

Of course, it wasn’t an experience that was enjoyable enough to make me want to go through it one more time. In fact, it was the opposite.

One experience like this was enough. sincerely.