35 Slimes

[OP: ]

Slimes. They are one of the most special creatures in this world. And it is a well-proven fact so even the worldline recognizes them as special creatures.

They are unique and it is not because of their tremendous ability to constantly reproduce but because of their innate racial ability to learn and adapt.

They are simple creatures who can adapt to their special environment faster with a high success rate and their ability to unconsciously learn new skills from their adapted environment is also a factor that creates slimes so weak even young children could kill them to the slimes that even the strongest of the world might struggle against.

But, their ability could only be perfectly seen in nature and not in the many laboratories that extensively researched on them.

Doing something that's usually referred to as nature's miracle artificially? Well, there are some tamers who can perfectly do it but, they are special.

However, the slime race itself is even more special than them.

How many kinds and types of slimes do you think are there in this seemingly infinite world of the Worldline?

And we are talking about the whole worldline's slime population so whatever your highest guess might be, the actual number… would be far more than one can think.

"Actually, there are only three hundred thirty-six million, six hundred ninety-nine thousand, one hundred and twenty-three kinds of slimes in this worldline.

The types could also be counted if we knew exactly how many types of natural habitats are there-"

"Which is not important right now, El. Take care of the right wing."

-Boooooooooooooom!

They were still at the entrance and their very first opponents were called (Rodent slimes).

"But aren't they cute…"

She was supporting him from the back while protecting Eva. And her eyes were filled with happiness.

"E-El? T-that thing is… c-cute?"

Well, these slimes could be called anything but cute from a normal point of view.

These creatures were bigger than any normal rodent creatures. And they looked disgusting.

So disgusting that you can imagine a disgusting zombie rodent, multiply that ugliness by the number of your age, and then again by three.

Yes, they were disgusting, had skin and flesh-like bodies that looked just like skin and flesh, and bright, red, mad eyes.

They were berserk creatures and at least Lucy didn't find them cute so he was slashing them in half from their cores.

Their glowing core was surprisingly easy to spot but they were some of the weakest ones in that dungeon. And still, they were giving them quite an exercise.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiish!

-Ka-chak…

"They are cute…"

She would be one of the only few in this entire worldline that can call them cute and be genuine about that. Even Eva was disgusted to even look at these creatures so it was obviously just too bad...

El was sad but she used her {(Wind blades)} spell to kill off multiple of these rodents at once.

"Kheee! Gwaaaaaa…!"

The sadness of this young girl was unfathomable to the other two beside her, still... Lucy focused on the rodents while Eva just watched them from the back with an unpleasant feeling eating at her stomach.

It was difficult for her, Lucy wanted to finish these small fries quickly, and El was still lamenting over this tragedy but then... one of these rodent slimes scorned and spitted a disgusting puke toward her. A grave mistake that marked their end.

"Alright, alright. They aren't cute."

Blocking the disgusting thing with a {(Rock wall)}, which almost disintegrated because of the strong acidity of the fluid, she threw a small fireball at the filthy creature.

"Strong…!"

Eva had seen El's amazing magic for a few months so she knew a wall like that could handle multiple acidic attacks from the gray slimes from outside so, getting damaged from a single attack from these filthy creatures meant only one thing.

These creatures that Eva didn't know were also slimes, were stronger than the ones outside.

But, the two of them were even stronger to be able to defeat them with such ease.

[ "El! Make space." ]

And the two were mostly talking through their special telepathic connection like always so the illusion that they both knew what the other was going to do next without words was maintained in her mind.

'They must be an amazing duo in their past life,' were her thoughts like always so she didn't think much about their special impeccable teamwork.

They were amazing so she just stood there as El cleared out the area before them and Lucy came back, took a stance, put his sword in the sheath, hand on the handle, took a deep breath, looked at the group of slimes spread out horizontally before them, and…

-Click.

A single, low clicking sound and a red slash of energy appeared before him, which moved so fast that the rodent slimes had no chance of dodging, cutting all of them in half from the middle, and even making a deep mark on the other side of the wall.

"Huuu… the weakest one is done. Break or continue?"

He wasn't tired even after using that skill that killed tens of creatures.

Eva was surprised but she didn't do anything so there was no reason for her to be tired.

She had a sword on her waist, and an enchanted armor under her clothes, and still, she was too weak to help them defeat mere rodents.

She didn't like it, but she had already sworn to follow the two of them and gain strength from their great knowledge. And when she's strong enough, she even knew what she was going to do…

So, right now, she just shook her head and El shouted excitedly.

"You know~? There are twelve kinds of slimes in this dungeon~."

Though this came out of nowhere, it was a fact that she was the one who made this dungeon so she knew this much but, even so, she was wrong this time.

"No ma'am. There could be fifteen kinds, thirty-six types of slimes, and a strong boss in this place under certain conditions."

He was talking from experience.

She might have created most of this world but he had experienced it the most. And there were things that the central brain added to most of the things that maybe only he had the experience of.

"Tsk. Bastard…"

Eva had lost them in this conversation but still, it was just like always. They knew many things about places beforehand so she had thought that they had some kind of special skill for it.

Maybe one of them was a prophet. And that thought just made her follow them with a deeper heart.

Prophets were regarded as above most high nobles after all. Just their existence was invaluable.

"Ok. Let's go…"

She didn't think much about things, like always, and the party moved forward.

This place was called slime village and the village meant an establishment where different people of different professions gathered.

This was similar to that. There were many kinds and types of slimes here.

Their first encounter was with the weak rodents who were around level thirty. And as they moved forward, the diversity, power, and variety of skills slimes possessed increased exponentially.

There were slimes that could use elemental magic around beautiful areas filled with elemental rocks.

There were slimes that could use illusion magic and show them their worst nightmares.

El was fine while facing them and they didn't work on Lucy, the one with the toughest mind of them all. But Eva was in a bad condition even after they defeated the slimes and the skills were removed.

Taking care of her was difficult for them so they just took breaks and continued after she had recovered fully.

And though it took her an entire day, now that she had faced a basic psychological skill so early, she would be fine in the future.

All of the monster's skills were strengthened so what she experienced was a mid-level skill, something that could break many people.

But she had a mental defense skill so she was better than many beginner knights.

There was also a weirdly big slime with actual long tentacles on their path.

This was the first slime El didn't like in that dungeon from the start, calling it a disgusting monster of hentais. So she used a stronger spell, depleted half of her Mana, and killed the ugly thing with a single blue fireball.

They walked forward and defeated weird slimes like that.

Some of them had forms resembling predator beasts like wolves or big cats.

Some were like bats and were stuck on the ceiling of the cave. And they were difficult because of their higher mobility and small core.

That was the point when tough monsters started appearing and by that time, their bonus experience gain buff had ended.

It was good that they had gained some levels and were reaching their mid-forties but their goal was far from visible.

It was fine till that point but then, as the red fog got thicker, the mere slimes got stronger, and they had to level up their game, so the two of them became more aggressive.

Lucy started using skills more often while El wasn't admiring the cute slimes anymore.

They had to clear this shit soon or they might, they didn't want to admit it, but they might actually die here.

But still, the creatures weren't coming straight at them like those rodents anymore.

They could rest after killing off slimes in one area and there was no need to rush things so they took their time.

The battles with higher-level slimes were difficult and there was no level correction effect in this world so things were just difficult for them.

They didn't look good after every fight and Lucy wasn't even talking anymore.

El was calm but Eva could feel her faint killing intent.

She didn't like the situation they were in. It was difficult. They didn't enter this place for that kind of suffering, but El had a strange slime on her face.

She was smiling while she was angry and though it didn't make sense to Eva, it was just how this young girl, Auriel, was.

The two of them were doing their best to protect Eva but she was just a burden on the two of them.

She couldn't do anything for them.

She was powerless in a place full of those scary, powerful, creatures.

She was useless to them and still, instead of using her as bait, the two of them only protected her to the best of their abilities.

The two of them had been hurt many times in the two weeks they were in this hellish place. And almost all of the wounds they received, were because they had to protect her from the dangerous monsters.

They had been hurt and still, she didn't even have a scratch on her filthy body all this time.

It was selfish. They were selfish. She was also a part of this party and she had to do something to be useful to them.

She had to do something… and she got the opportunity she was hoping for all this time when Lucy was fighting a dog-like skeleton with a slime-like membrane around its body.

He was going to get hurt. She knew he was going to get hurt. She could see it. She knew he wasn't paying attention to that one dog skeleton and he was going to get hurt by their purple light-covered claws.

She knew it so… she used the movement skill that El gave her before they came here and appeared just where the dog was going to appear with its own movement skill.

"Eva…!"

She wanted to be useful. She had grown these children. They were like her own children. She couldn't see them get hurt anymore.

"You dumb woman…!"

Her life was in danger.

She was standing between the creature and him. She didn't even have her sword in her hand and was trying to protect him with her bare body.

She was dumb. They wanted her. She wasn't ready to play such daring stunts. She was weak. Yes, she was weak. There was no denying it. She was so weak that she could still only defeat one weak slime.

This wasn't some place she was needed. She was useless here. She was useless to them right now. But they still wanted her. He wanted her…

He wanted to make her into a great swordsman. She had talent. If a talentless person like him could become a sword master, she possessed an abundance of talent. If she tried, she could even stand on the same level as the strongest weapon users of this world.

He wanted to cultivate that talent and she had the dedication to follow him. She couldn't die. Not here. Not now. Not in this filthy dungeon.

But…

-Pachak!

"I-I'm… s-sorry…"

Why?