“Well, that went according to plan, I guess.”
I let out a sigh of relief as I saw the Yellow Slime emerge from the underground labyrinth.
It should go without saying, but my plan was to “gather equipment items in the Sealing Chamber to breed slimes, then lure a Fragment of the Evil God there and feed it to the proliferated slimes.”
As you may recall, I had stored a single Yellow Slime in a bottle inside a Cooler Box with the intention of using it as a trap during the Capital City Attack.
I overturned the Cooler Box, filled with stacked equipment, in the Sealing Chamber, releasing the Yellow Slime from the bottle.
As I intended, the single slime that was unleashed began to consume nearby items, exponentially increasing its numbers.
Honestly, waiting in the Sealing Chamber until the Evil God arrived was the hardest part.
I had to wait for an Evil God whose arrival was uncertain, all while watching the Yellow Slimes voraciously consuming and multiplying with the equipment.
I didn’t know when the proliferated slimes would start viewing me as food and attack, and on the other hand, if I diverted their attention from the door, I risked being instantly killed by the Evil God’s Kill Beam. It was a truly terrifying experience.
However, all of that meticulous preparation paid off, and I succeeded in trapping the Evil God and the Yellow Slimes in the same room.
Even though they are slimes, they are still Level 120 Monsters.
You might think, “Even if they’re weakened, won’t they be quickly defeated by a Fragment of the Evil God?” but in my assessment, the weakened Fragment of the Evil God has a bad matchup against slimes.
While the Kill Beam and tentacles are troublesome attacks, they are both single-target attacks. They aren’t very effective against opponents that attack in numbers, like slimes.
On top of that, the Yellow Slime’s HP is 1. This renders the tentacles’ forced stun and HP absorption abilities largely useless. Even if the tentacle’s attack hits, they would surely die before the stun took effect, and absorbing 1 HP would be of no consequence.
Therefore, my biggest concern when devising this plan was the Genocide Wave. That area-of-effect attack had the potential to wipe out all the slimes. I had even considered breaking free after destroying just its head, but thanks to its incomplete awakening, that became unnecessary.
The fact that a Yellow Slime, rather than the Evil God, emerged from the labyrinth suggests that I was at least able to overwhelm the Evil God.
Be that as it may.
“…I don’t exactly feel like it, but I guess I have to go.”
If I don’t do something about the Yellow Slime, it could cause more damage than the Fragment of the Evil God. It was a bit puzzling that the people around me, who should have heard from Mitsuki, were making such a fuss, but first things first.
Steelng myself, I drank the poison I had prepared. The poison spread through my body, making me unsteady.
Come to think of it, this is my first time ever being poisoned. It’s an indescribable, unpleasant feeling, but there’s no helping it. I have to do something even more unappealing now.
“…Soma?”
With Ringo’s curious and slightly anxious voice behind me, I approached the slime. By deliberately letting the Yellow Slime latch onto my arm, I initiated a full-clearing chain reaction.
Though I say it so nonchalantly, the horror of the slime wrapping around my arm and biting into it was indescribable. Even knowing I wouldn’t die from this, it was an experience I never wanted to go through again. Fortunately, the effect manifested quickly.
“Gah! W-what is this?!”
“Its color… it’s changing!”
“Cannibalism?! Are they breeding by eating each other?!”
“Wait! Aren’t they… dying?”
As the people gathered watched the slimes turn color and disappear as the poison took effect, they became even more agitated. But I didn’t have time to concern myself with them.
“Let’s hurry!”
I called out to Mitsuki, Ringo, and the others and set off towards the underground, chasing after the slimes that were vanishing due to the poison and the predation chain. Mitsuki and the others, seemingly confused like other adventurers for some reason, quickly ran alongside me.
“Where are we going?”
“To the Sealing Chamber! We need to check on the Evil God!”
As I answered, I couldn’t help but frown at Mitsuki’s lack of intuition. With slimes overflowing here, it’s certain they weren’t defeated by the Evil God, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Yellow Slime defeated the Evil God. In fact, the rapid proliferation of slimes suggests that their food source, the Fragment of the Evil God, survived for a long time. It’s possible the Evil God and the slimes were still fighting.
Considering the low HP of the tentacles, I thought the slimes wouldn’t lose to the Fragment of the Evil God, but whether they could win was another matter entirely. Damage from slimes is proportional to the surface area of the target. So, while tentacles and arms, which are easy to attach to, would be manageable, it’s questionable whether they could defeat the main body, which has immense HP but is relatively small, or the gem part.
Instead of the tentacles’ absorbed HP going to the main body, the main body doesn’t auto-regenerate HP. If given enough time, I believe the slimes would eventually win, but I couldn’t just leave the slimes that had already emerged above ground unchecked. I had closed the door to buy time, but it seems the mere door whose seal had been broken wasn’t enough to hold back the multiplying slimes.
If the slimes had defeated the Evil God, it would be a cause for celebration, but I couldn’t be that optimistic…
“—Ouch!?”
Suddenly, I felt an impact on the back of my head. My thoughts were interrupted. Reflexively turning my head backward to see what happened,
“Ugh!?”
As if timing it perfectly, something flew in and collided with my face. It burst.
(That hurt!! …Or did it?)
I braced myself for the pain, but felt no discomfort whatsoever. Instead,
“Ah, the poison…”
Before I knew it, the poison I had let linger due to the rush was completely healed. It seemed my HP, depleted by the poison, had also been restored. Apparently, what had just been thrown at me was a potion for detoxification and HP recovery. Relieved to know it was harmless,
“Waff?!”
Another potion came flying my way. It hit me. It didn’t hurt… but it was still a bit jarring to my heart. This one also seemed to be a health recovery potion. I felt somewhat grateful for the gesture, but frankly, my HP was already full. There was no particular need for recovery.
“Stop it, my HP is already… Woah!”
Despite what I said, potions continued to be thrown at me in rapid succession. Moreover, the one throwing these mischievous attacks was, surprisingly,
“Hey, Ringo, can you stop… Blah!”
The culprit was Ringo, running behind me. She had entrusted her Wakizashi, which she always carried, to her Bear and was taking potions from her Adventurer’s Bag and throwing them at me. I was the one who provided her with the bag and potions, but this wasn’t what I intended them for. As I tried to protest,
“…Soma. You did something reckless again.”
Ringo said, in an displeased voice, something nonsensical. I looked to Mitsuki for help, but Mitsuki was gazing at the disappearing slimes with a composed expression, and the Cat-eared girl also turned her head away, as if to say, “It’s none of my business!” I even glanced at Maki, but she seemed completely unaware of the situation and said, “Target practice? Me too!” before taking a potion from Ringo and throwing it at me. If she doesn’t understand, she shouldn’t participate, I wanted to say.
“…Even after everything that happened, you haven’t learned at all.”
At Ringo’s further grumbling, I finally remembered previous events. Come to think of it, the last time I plunged into the slimes, Ringo and Mitsuki scolded me extensively for being reckless. It could be said that I haven’t improved since then, but if that’s the case, they should have said something before the Yellow Slimes emerged.
“No, Ringo, I’m sorry!”
Despite my apology, a rain of potions descended upon me as if my protest was being ignored. While they didn’t hurt and my HP wasn’t decreasing because they were HP recovery potions, it was mentally taxing. Well, if this is Ringo’s way of protesting with all her might, I suppose it’s rather cute.
…Yeah. Compared to when Maki, furious that I had broken my promise with her by getting engrossed in a Game several years ago, deleted my save data from the game I was obsessed with at the time, this is truly cute.
(We had a real fight then…)
She already harbored an unusual animosity towards games at that point, so she might have had some grudge against them. Even so, she seemed to be enjoying playing ‘Nekoneko’ quite a bit.
But that’s beside the point. As much as I’d like to indulge Ringo’s anger a bit longer, it’s not a situation where I can afford to solely focus on that.
“Wait! …I see it.”
At my words, the barrage of potions finally stopped. The sealing door was now right in front of us. It had likely been pushed open by the pressure of the proliferated slimes. It didn’t appear damaged, but it was open wide.
Was the Evil God still alive, or had it already been defeated? At that moment, both Ringo and I momentarily forgot our quarrel and leaped into the Sealing Chamber.
“What is that!?”
There were no slimes in sight. Instead, something was rolling around in the center of the room.
—A pulsating, giant red gem.
It had expanded to a size I couldn’t believe was held within my hand. Unlike before its revival, it exhibited a biological pulsation, but there was no doubt it was the main body of the Fragment of the Evil God. It seemed the Fragment of the Evil God had all its parts destroyed, leaving only the main body. It’s a rare state, but not impossible.
Each part of the Fragment of the Evil God regenerates after a certain period if destroyed. Therefore, the standard practice is to target the core after destroying a certain number of parts, but because the slimes consume indiscriminately, the core, with the highest HP, simply remained.
Regardless, with its other parts destroyed, this was our biggest chance. Just as I let my guard down slightly, thinking to finish it off before any parts regenerated, and began to approach the Fragment of the Evil God.
“—Tch!?”
The Fragment of the Evil God emitted an ominous light.
(This is bad!!)
That was the preparatory motion for the Kill Beam. There were no more decoys left in this room, and no time to prepare any. If this continued, someone among us would surely die!
(I won’t let that happen!!)
Just as I was about to step forward, prepared to sacrifice myself,
“What the!?”
A silver flash shot past me, overtaking me. It struck the red gem, the main body of the Evil God, piercing it perfectly.
“Get down!!”
Almost simultaneously, a beam of light was fired from the gem, but the preceding attack had already thrown off its aim. The beam passed harmlessly over our heads as we hit the ground, striking the wall instead.
“Did… we make it…?”
I raised my head. The Fragment of the Evil God before me no longer possessed its former radiance. It seemed the previous attack was the Evil God’s final struggle. The gem, the main body of the Evil God, likely had its HP reduced to zero by the slimes’ predation attacks and that single final blow. The red gem slowly began to turn into particles of light, and—
—Clink.
Finally, “something” that had pierced the Fragment of the Evil God fell to the ground with a dry sound.
“…A Wakizashi?”
The true nature of the mysterious attack was a Wakizashi, thrown with incredible speed. It seemed Ringo, sensing the crisis, had attacked the fragment with the “Kongou Toshi” Skill.
(That was close…)
From a moment of carelessness, I had almost caused a casualty. Even weakened and on the brink of death, an Evil God is still an Evil God. I shouldn’t have let my guard down.
In this regard, I have to concede the MVP title to Ringo this time.
“Anyway, thank you for saving us, Rin—”
As I turned to offer words of gratitude, there stood—
—Smirk.
There was a Bear, wearing a cynical smile, in the pose of having thrown the Wakizashi.
Thus, the revived “Fragment of the Evil God” was vanquished by the heroic deeds of the yellow devils. It ended rather neatly, so I’ll split it here.
