The cave

They were surprised for a moment and from how the little slime was running at them, it seemed like someone or something was chasing it.

"Muuuu! Muuuuu!"

Thankfully that was not the case.

"Az! Where were you?!"

Elio was worried how it was coming out of the cave and looked worried. 

He could tell something was up just from that, but before he asked it for what was going on, he checked if the little one was hurt or anything.

He checked its status window, then picked it up when it reached them after jumping while 'screaming' and checked it around.

Thankfully there was nothing that he needed to worry about so he finished his check up and looked at the slime with a worried expression.

"What's going on, Az? Did something happen?"

"Muuuu! Muuuu!"

The slime was shouting, trying to tell them something. And though they could not understand what it was saying, as the master of the slime, Elio could guess what it might be trying to tell them.

"The cave? You want us to go into that cave?"

"Muuuu!"

The slime wanted them to go inside… they never told it what to do after it distracted the creature so they thought it would just find a safe space or come back to Elio. But that did not happen. 

The slime just disappeared and they forgot about it in the moment… which was not something he was proud of as its master.

"Alright. Then, let's go see…"

They were wrapping things up anyway and were going to go check inside the cave for anything that might have been left behind by the players that came to fight the Hob before them or something else.

"Muuuu!"

Alex had already finished storing the giant body of the creature inside her inventory and cleared the area. 

Nature would clear the mess they had left behind this time, so they did not have to worry about the craters and the pool of blood that was left behind. 

It was a natural fertilizer… but not all blood from the creatures was the same.

"Did it find some injured creature inside?"

Alex speculated the little slime might have found some injured creature that the Hob might have been saving for later. 

This specific slime was special and different from the other intelligent slimes and possessed a unique skill called {Emotions} so it might very well be worried about something that was inside.

"If that's the case…"

And if there was some injured being in there, Elio couldn't leave it alone. 

It needed help, and since they had the means to help it, they did not waste any more time, and ran straight to the cave.

"Muuuu!"

This cave was made on a cliff that was covered on three sides, so they always thought it would be a small place with enough room inside for one creature.

The boss monsters and field bosses were cursed existence that somehow repeated the same kind of life they had lived previously as if to be trapped in a time loop, so the hunters and players must have already searched the place.

"It's unexpectedly spacious…"

They did not think the place inside would be so large.

There was enough space for more than one of the Hobs to fit. 

It was practically like a large cave from inside. Though, it was still a closed off space with walls or a boundary on all sides.

"Muuu! Muuu!"

Or so they thought as well.

"Muuuuu!"

"You want us to go that way?"

Az was pointing them somewhere, but they were reluctant to move to that place.

"Are you sure little one?" Even Alex did not want to go towards that place. 

"Muuuuu!"

This place used to be the house of a field boss, a Red Hob, a creature that mostly ate meat.

It hunted creatures and ate nearly everything that had meat.

The rest of the materials from its prey? The Hob threw it all away in a corner and left it there to rot in a pit it had dug.

"Guess we have no choice then."

It was a creature that had become adapted to the contaminated air and the reason it had such a strong stench to it was also because of the trash which had ultimately become a pool of poison.

It was not harmful to the Hob or something that did not have the same kind of organ system as them, but they sure were vulnerable to that poisonous mess filled with bones, skin, and god knows what different kinds of other things.

"El, cover your face with this."

"Ah, yes."

Alex gave him a small scarf that had a purification enchantment attached to it so that they don't get affected by the contaminated air around that corner and followed Az's direction.

"I don't think there's anything here man…"

Alex did not have any good feelings about this. 

They might very well be walking into some trap or something, but at the very least, through this experience, they would be able to evaluate just what kind of creature their little friend actually was.

"Muuuu!"

"You want us to go around it?"

"Muuu!"

"But there's just another pile of trash there…"

"Muuuu!"

Elio couldn't help it when the little creature was insisting so much. 

They just believed in it, and walked around the pool of the amalgamation of the bodily elements, and around a pile of bones and skin of various creatures situated right behind the pool… unexpectedly, they saw a dull light.

"What's that?"

"It is something, alright~!"

This time, though Elio was confused once again , just seeing this unexpected light excited Alex. 

"Muuuu! Muuuu!"

And from the looks of it, it seemed like the little slime was also pointing them towards that dull light.

"It's behind the pile of bones…"

The pile of bones was big as well and there was also only enough specs for a small creature like Az to pass through them.

The only way they could clear this mess up was through clearing the bones. And, Alex found this to be the perfect opportunity to test her newly obtained skill.

"Back off a little please."

She took out the sheathed White sword she had always carried around with her but never used until now, and held it by the handle.

It was a strange white sword that seemed unusual. But at the same time, old and interesting.

"Huuu…"

He didn't know the lore behind that sword just yet or why she did not use it all this time, but since even right now, she was only using it while it was still inside its sheath, he could not help but be curious about it.

-Swish.

Anyway, she jumped up in the air, used the wall as a support to jump up once again, and then, holding the sword with both her hands, she smashed down with the sword.

-Swiiiiiiish!

-Booooooooom!

She made sure to precisely aim for the ground in a way that it would not destroy this part of the cave or disturb the pool of mess that was on the ground.

This was not something someone without experience could have pulled off, but she was a master.

"Hmmm. This is unexpected…"

Her attack cleared up the entire area and the bones were either thrown away into the pool of mess, or were all pushed back from the source of the blue dull light that they were seeing.

"Muuuuu!"

Az got excited seeing the cleared up space and jumped off from Elio's arms.

"What is it, Alex?"

He couldn't see what that light present inside a small cave was, so he also walked ahead at where she was standing and where Az had jumped off too… and, he was surprised to see the scene before him as well.