Translator: CinderTL Whoosh!
A razor-sharp sound pierced the air as the slime leaping forward was instantly cleaved in two!
Wind Blade Spell!
Vales and Marcus turned back in astonishment.
Had Zellier cast that spell?
Had he learned another new spell?
Ignoring his teammates’ surprise, Zellier immediately began channeling another wind blade spell.
Empowered by the ashwood staff, Zellier’s casting time for the wind blade spell had been reduced to just over three seconds, and its power had also increased, proving highly effective against the slimes.
The wind blade spell’s current destructive force was now comparable to a warrior’s full-strength strike.
However, while Marcus’s strikes could only penetrate halfway through a slime’s body, Zellier’s wind blade spell could cleanly bisect them.
After slicing through one slime, the wind blade still retained enough force to cut into the next, continuing its destructive path.
Zellier pondered silently.
Could it be the mana?
Does mana have a special damage amplification effect against slimes?
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Marcus and Vales plunged back into the fray.
The team’s primary attacker had now shifted to Zellier.
His wind blade spell sliced through the slimes like a hot knife through butter, each strike severing the bodies of two or three slimes at once—far more efficient than the others’ attacks.
Even if a wind blade missed the magic core and failed to kill instantly, the maimed slimes moved sluggishly, posing little threat and easily finished off with a follow-up strike.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The invisible wind blades rapidly reaped across the battlefield, leaving behind large chunks of gelatinous slime—the severed remains of Zellier’s strikes.
Marcus and Vales simply followed up, stabbing their war blades and arrows into the magic cores to deliver the final blows.
“Ha!” Marcus slammed his shield down with brutal force, shattering a crippled slime like a water balloon.
Vales abandoned his bow entirely, drawing his curved scimitar to join the melee.
Soon, the rampaging group of over twenty slimes was completely annihilated.
The last fleeing slime was finished off by Zellier’s final wind blade spell.
The entire battle was remarkably efficient, lasting no more than five minutes.
“Whew…” Zellier exhaled in relief.
He had cast six or seven wind blade spells, significantly depleting the mana stored in his sea of consciousness, leaving him with roughly half his reserves.
Simultaneously, his Experience Panel had been steadily climbing.
It had risen from Lv.
3 (33/150) to Lv.
3 (87/150), a total gain of 54 experience points.
Zellier roughly estimated that he had personally killed over a dozen slimes.
The remaining slimes, after having portions of their bodies severed by wind blades, were finished off by Marcus and Vales.
The experience from those assists likely contributed to the total.
He still needed 63 more experience points to level up…
If no other demonic beasts appeared, he’d probably have to undertake another mission.
“I must admit, you’ve far exceeded my expectations,” Vales said, clapping Zellier on the shoulder.
“Your progress is astonishingly rapid.” “Thank you,” Zellier replied with a smile, accepting Vales’ praise.
A mage who knew the illumination spell, fireball spell, and wind blade spell was already a hot commodity in low-level adventurer parties, the kind who would never lack for teammates.
However, Vales still harbored some doubts.
Zellier had now demonstrated two new spells, and he also had a wand blank…
That must have cost a considerable amount of money.
Could four gold coins really cover two magic scrolls and a wand blank?
No matter how he looked at it, something seemed off.
“We’ll split the reward proportionally,” Marcus said.
“Zellier gets forty percent, while Vales and I each get thirty percent.
Sound good?” Vales didn’t object, and Zellier accepted his larger share without hesitation.
After all, he had contributed the most in the battle and deserved the greater reward.
The team then began clearing the battlefield.
They had eliminated a total of twenty-four slimes.
Based on the bounty, they would receive seventy-two silver coins.
Like the wild wolf bounty mission, this task only offered rewards for heads; the spoils could be kept.
Each slime magic core sold for two silver coins, so twenty-four cores could fetch forty-eight silver coins.
The total earnings amounted to one hundred twenty silver coins, equivalent to one gold and twenty silver.
Zellier’s share came to forty-eight silver coins.
Hmm…
not bad, I suppose.
After collecting all the magic cores from the ground, Marcus glanced deeper into the cave.
“Let’s explore further inside.
There might be more slimes we need to eliminate.” The mission required a thorough investigation.
Moreover, this was a commission issued by the Blackstone Town Administrative Hall.
Any negligence could lead to accountability later.
“No problem,” Zellier agreed readily.
He was actually eager to encounter more slimes; he desperately needed experience points to level up.
The group continued deeper into the cave.
Small streams of water began to trickle across the ground, branches of an underground river flowing from the cave’s depths.
Vales crouched down to examine the water, shaking his head slightly.
“Just as I suspected…
there are more slimes inside.
The water’s contaminated too.” As the team advanced, the acrid stench grew stronger, and the temperature plummeted, becoming so foul that they wanted to cover their noses.
Soon, they heard the familiar drip…
drip…
sound again.
This time, however, the “thud-thud” sounds were much heavier, each impact seeming to shake the ground.
“Doesn’t that sound off?” Zellier frowned.
“Could a slime really weigh that much?” Marcus and Vales’ expressions grew serious as well.
They slowed their pace, moving as quietly as possible.
After walking for several minutes, they finally reached a vast, cavernous chamber.
A tributary of the underground river cut through the chamber, its current swift and turbulent.
Beside the river, a colossal slime over three meters in diameter was moving!
It was as massive as a small mountain, its gelatinous body far darker than that of ordinary slimes.
The creature’s thick body contracted, as if gathering energy, then with a boom it launched itself high into the air and plunged into the river.
A massive splash erupted, and the surging water immediately turned viscous upon contact with the giant slime’s body.
Streams of unidentified liquid flowed along the underground river, winding their way toward Blackstone Town.
Zellier also noticed numerous smaller slimes detaching from the giant slime’s body, only to merge back into it moments later, their dense, undulating movements making his skin crawl.
“What the hell is that thing?” Zellier asked, suppressing his nausea.
“A giant slime,” Vales whispered.
“An abnormal variant of the common slime.
They’re extremely dangerous.” (End of the Chapter) —————————————————— 🧩 What happens next?
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