Engaging the Enemy

After following the slime trail for a while, Vales stood up.

"There are probably more than twenty slimes in this group. No wonder the water source got contaminated."

Slimes constantly secreted toxic fluids and liked gathering in damp places, especially rivers.

There had been many cases of people swimming in rivers being surrounded and killed by slimes.

With only one or two slimes, it was manageable. But once their numbers increased, quantitative change became qualitative change, and they could severely damage the local water ecology.

Drinking contaminated water could cause diarrhea and dehydration at best, or become life-threatening at worst.

More than twenty slimes were manageable, but they had to watch their formation.

They had to keep all the slimes attacking from the front. If they were surrounded from all sides, things would get troublesome.

Their positioning was especially important because of that.

"I'll take the lead. Vales, stay in the middle and use the torch for light. Zeliel, you take the rear."

Marcus began laying out the tactics. "When I advance, you advance. When I retreat, you retreat. Don't go past me."

"Understood."

Vales nodded. He pulled a pine resin torch over half a meter long from his pack and prepared to have Zeliel light it.

"No need for a torch. I can handle the lighting," Zeliel said.

He focused his mind. After a brief casting time, a bright sphere of light appeared at the tip of the white ash staff.

Zeliel swung the staff and tossed it upward. The sphere hovered above the three of them.

It illuminated a far wider area than a torch, and it could automatically follow Zeliel.

"You learned a new spell?" Marcus looked up at it.

"Of course I need to expand my skills." Zeliel smiled.

Vales was somewhat surprised as well.

But thinking about it, everyone had received four gold coins from the last mission. It was only natural to buy some magic scrolls.

Besides, not having to hold a torch freed up one hand, allowing them to enter combat at any time and improving their safety.

The party entered the abandoned cave.

At the entrance, the uneven ground formed small pits. Thin streams of water seeped from cracks in the rocks and gathered inside them.

The water in those pits was noticeably more viscous and carried the sour, rotten stench unique to slimes. It had clearly been contaminated.

Large amounts of vines and unknown ferns hung from the ceiling, partially concealing the darkness ahead. The sphere of light followed the party forward, gradually illuminating the path.

Marcus held his shield in one hand and his blade in the other, maintaining a steady pace. Vales also took his bow off his back, ready to fire at any moment.

The deeper they advanced into the cave, the clearer the sound of the underground river became. Water crashed against rocks again and again, creating a rumbling din.

"Wait. Do you hear that?" Vales suddenly asked.

Marcus stopped at once. He and Zeliel listened carefully.

"Tap..."

"Tap tap..."

"Tap..."

It sounded like jelly dropping onto the ground. The noise was faint, but undeniably there.

"That's the sound of slimes moving. They're right ahead."

Marcus gave a concise order. "Prepare for battle. Follow the plan."

After passing around a huge stalagmite, the view suddenly opened up.

It was a cavern as broad as a plaza, where the underground river pooled into a pond.

Around the pond, countless gray-green translucent gels wriggled densely together—slimes!

<Adventurers' Association General Monster Compendium>

[Sequence 2]: Slime

Individual Threat Rating: [Easy]

Appearance:

A semi-transparent gelatinous creature. A faint magic crystal is usually found at its core, the source of its life and instincts.

A slime's color changes according to its environment, ranging from the gray-green commonly seen in caves to the dark brown found in swamps.

Habits:

They favor dark, damp places. They are among the lowest-level monsters, possessing virtually no intelligence and acting entirely on instinct.

Special Abilities:

Their gelatinous body structure gives them a certain degree of physical resistance. The mucus they secrete can inflict corrosive damage on the human body, but has no effect on iron weapons.

Core Weakness:

Attack the magic core at the center of a slime's body to kill it immediately.

Fire is also a good choice. Under sustained burning, a slime's body will quickly melt.

Association Notes:

These sticky low-level monsters pose little threat to humans.

They move slowly. Their only method of attack is jumping onto someone's face, suffocating them while their mucus corrodes the skin. Just be careful to avoid them.

Also, if you rest in a swamp or another damp place, be sure to carefully check your surroundings. Slimes may very well crawl onto your face while you sleep.

Marcus glanced back at the other two, then slowly nodded.

These creatures were the targets of this mission.

No more words were needed. The battle began!

Vales's arrows were always the first to fly. He picked a slime close to the party.

"Squelch!"

The arrowhead pierced the gelatinous body and struck its core with precision. The slime exploded instantly, spraying sticky semi-solid matter everywhere.

That arrow also threw the slime colony into an uproar. They realized an enemy was present, and more than twenty slimes began bouncing and leaping toward the party.

"Come on!"

Marcus took the lead. He strode forward several steps and decisively held the front line.

One slime gathered strength and leaped, trying to pounce onto Marcus's face.

Marcus knocked it back with his shield, then followed up with a slash!

When the blade struck the slime's body, part of its force was clearly absorbed.

But Marcus was extremely strong. The blade still cut in and struck the core, killing it.

Marcus swung his blade backhandedly again, slashing at another slime.

This time, however, his strike went wide and failed to hit the core.

After cutting dozens of centimeters into the slime's body, the blade could go no farther. It only knocked the creature back some distance, and the slime could still move.

At the same time, Vales continuously fired arrows.

But with the slimes bouncing around as they moved, his accuracy clearly dropped considerably.

Most of his arrows only embedded themselves in the slimes' bodies, failing to hit their cores and kill them.

Zeliel observed the situation.

In this situation, Fireball did not seem very useful.

After all, Fireball only exploded for an instant. The slimes had nothing flammable on them, so they could not keep burning.

Water Ball was even less worth considering. It would be purely counterproductive.

Using Flame Dragon... seemed a little too wasteful.

That spell consumed an enormous amount of mana, and the slimes were spread out too widely to catch them all at once.

After a brief moment of thought, Zeliel decided on a response. He raised the white ash staff and began tracing the spell formation.