Breaking down the wall wasn’t particularly difficult.
It would have been hard if I’d tried doing it all myself with the pickaxe, but unexpectedly, the slimes helped.
Boing!
As they repeatedly forced their bodies back and forth through the cracks, the wall began to crumble.
This was different from the way they usually slipped through gaps.
They were deliberately applying force as they squeezed in and out.
“That’s it!
Good job, good job!”
Thanks to them, I could sit back and relax after creating just a few cracks with my pickaxe.
Squirm!
“Ahem.
I’m the lord.
A lord doesn’t go running around doing menial work.”
I spoke with great dignity to Mark Two, which had wriggled as though asking why I was the only one slacking off.
A short while later, the wall finally collapsed and revealed the area beyond.
“It’s dark in here.”
The place had a strangely eerie atmosphere.
I took a cautious step forward with the slimes in tow.
As my eyes adjusted, the interior slowly came into view.
The chamber was larger than I’d expected and looked much like a natural cave.
“An altar?”
I wasn’t exactly an expert on altars, so I couldn’t be sure, but the structure inside practically demanded to be called one.
It looked suspicious enough that, naturally, I sent the slimes ahead of me again.
“Check if there’s anything dangerous.”
Squish!
The slimes wobbled adorably and spread out to examine the chamber.
Dokdoki had already checked it once, but it was better to be certain.
Squish!
After about ten minutes, they returned and indicated that nothing was wrong.
“This has to be a hidden piece, right?”
A hidden piece was exactly what its name suggested: something concealed.
It could contain information about the dungeon’s history or the being who had created it.
Or it could house a boss monster, or simply be an empty space.
It might provide a reward or bring disaster.
Nobody knew what a hidden piece would hold.
Still, they were far more likely to benefit whoever found them, so naturally I couldn’t help feeling hopeful.
“A monster isn’t going to jump out of that altar all of a sudden, is it?”
Wait.
Had I just tempted fate?
Creeeak…
As I approached, the previously motionless altar suddenly began moving.
With a low rumbling noise, the top opened like a lid and an eerie aura burst out.
“Gasp!”
Squiiiiish!
The slimes instinctively threw themselves in front of me.
I was touched that their first reaction to danger was to protect me, even in such an unexpected situation.
Unfortunately…
‘You’re not helping at all!’
Slimes were so slow and weak that even an ordinary middle schooler could beat one.
The unusual abilities they’d shown me had made them seem almost omnipotent, but at heart they were still just slimes.
Splat!
Squirm?
I scooped up the three slimes and held them to my chest.
Whatever happened, we had to survive first.
Retreat was the best strategy!
Thud-thud-thud!
I ran as fast as I could, but nothing tried to stop me.
Still, just to be safe, I fled as far from the chamber as possible, all the way back to the ladder.
“I-it isn’t following us, right?”
Squirm?
The three slimes nestled against my chest and tilted their little bodies up at me.
When I glanced back, nothing was chasing us.
I’d definitely felt a strange aura.
Had I imagined it?
“There was something there.
Right?”
Squirm?
“No?
But I’m sure I felt something.”
Squish!
Squish!
Had I made a fuss over nothing?
Still, no matter how comfortable this place had become, it was a dungeon.
Being cautious about even the smallest possibility was the right thing to do.
Absolutely.
“Shall we go back?”
Squirm!
The slimes climbed down from my body and slowly crawled toward the opening we’d made in the wall.
I matched their pace, keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings.
“There’s really nothing. The source of this chapter is g.com.
What was all that earlier?
Was I imagining things?”
When we returned to the cave-like chamber, the damp, eerie atmosphere enveloped me once again.
I was just reassuring myself that the strange feeling must have been caused by the setting when the slimes suddenly became agitated.
Squirm, squirm!
Squish!
They seemed to be calling for me urgently.
When I looked where they were pointing, I saw the altar.
“What is it now?”
I approached and was so startled by something that had appeared out of nowhere that I took a step backward.
“…Whoa.
What’s this supposed to be?”
There was a slime on the altar, dried out and shriveled.
It was still alive, apparently, because it was struggling to drag itself out of what had become a coffin-like structure.
Its shape and color were unusual, too.
I could tell at a glance that this wasn’t an ordinary slime.
“A yellow slime with stripes, huh…”
Instead of being simply round, it even had protrusions resembling a cat’s ears.
They were only shaped like ears, of course.
The creature was still unmistakably a slime.
“Oh, right.
I can just check its status.”
I’d almost forgotten that I could view a slime’s status window.
I examined the strange creature, which was still trying desperately to crawl out of the altar.
[??
Slime LV.10]
An unusual slime.
Sealed.
‘Eligible for Liquid Synthesis’
Ability: ??
I scratched my head as I read the status window.
As always, the system was utterly unhelpful.
“I can see that it’s unusual.
What’s with the question marks, though?
And what does ‘sealed’ mean?”
Whatever the case, it was still a slime.
Perhaps I could make it one of mine.
“Hey, little guy.
Can you hear me?”
Droooop…
As soon as it heard me, the slime went limp.
It looked to be in terrible condition, so I entrusted it to the other slimes and went to check whether any food remained.
“Tsk.
There’s hardly anything left.”
Those little gluttons!
Our tomato supplies were almost completely gone.
At least the second crop of cherry tomatoes had finished pollinating and was beginning to bear fruit, but with the number of slimes growing every day, keeping everyone fed was going to get harder.
“Well, that’s why I planted so many more crops downstairs.”
I’d planted seven varieties, after all.
The calculations were getting a bit complicated, but that didn’t matter.
I wanted to try growing as many different things as I could.
I took the remaining tomatoes back to the altar and held them out to the creature lying there like it was dead.
“Here.
Eat these and get some of your strength back.”
Droop?
The little slime looked at the tomatoes in my hand and struggled to move.
Then it began nibbling the cherry tomatoes one by one with what I assumed was its mouth.
“How are they?
Good, right?”
Droooop…
After finishing, it looked around for more.
Unfortunately, that was all I had left.
“Just hold on for one more day.
We’ll harvest another batch of tomatoes tomorrow.
The Leila should be ready by then too, and I’ll give you one specially.”
I’d planted thirty Leila seeds.
I had worried because I hadn’t had enough to plant more, but thankfully all thirty plants had survived and grown.
I’d always planned to give each slime one of the fruits, though I hadn’t accounted for this sudden addition to the family.
‘Well, what can I do?
It’s one of us now.’
All the slimes were members of my family.
And I’d be quite happy to have this unusual creature among my followers.
I’d never seen anything like it in the monster encyclopedias I’d studied while learning about the Awakened.
“What should I call you?
Since you’re Level 10, how about Ten?”
Ppuuu…
“You don’t like that?
Then how about Question Mark, since your status is full of them?”
Ppuuu… Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“If you keep making that ‘ppuu’ noise, I’m just going to call you Ppuu.”
Ppuup!
It sounded like it was complaining again.
Sorry, little guy, but I could only understand the general tone of what it was saying.
In the end, I decided to call it Ppuu whether it liked the name or not, and lifted it out of the altar.
“Maybe this wasn’t an altar, but a coffin after all…
Whoaaa!”
I nearly fell through the floor.
Thanks to my enhanced Awakened reflexes, I somehow managed to regain my balance.
Looking down, I discovered that the altar had split open when I removed Ppuu, revealing a staircase.
“Stairs?
A secret room?
Treasure?”
Naturally, my thoughts went straight to treasure.
I must have died in a previous life with a treasure chest right before my eyes.
Flinch!
I almost rushed forward without thinking again, but managed to stop myself.
I had no idea what was down there!
“Ppuu, do you know what’s at the bottom of those stairs?”
Ppuu!
Ppuu!
“I have no idea what you’re saying.”
The tomatoes seemed to have restored a little of Ppuu’s strength, and it enthusiastically tried to explain something.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand a word.
Its language was far more complicated than that of my other slimes.
“I guess that’s what you get from a Level 10 slime.”
Then again, for a Level 10 slime, it didn’t seem especially impressive.
Of course, its status did say it was sealed.
Hmm.
I’d have to look up what being sealed meant the next time I went out.
The odds of finding the exact information I needed were slim, but it was worth trying.
“Can we close this thing again?”
I wanted to leave the stairs unexplored for now and come back later.
First, I needed sleep.
I’d stayed awake for three days.
Physically I felt fine, but mentally I was exhausted, especially after everything that had happened in such a short time.
Ppuu!
Ppuu rubbed against the altar, and the opening to the staircase closed.
“Ooh, so you really are connected to this place somehow.”
Since I’d found Ppuu here, there was a good chance the stairs and whatever lay below were connected to it as well.
Then again, this was a slime dungeon, and it had even awakened Slime Lord in me.
Perhaps finding a Level 10 slime here wasn’t so strange.
Whatever lay under those stairs was probably slime-related too.
‘Another underground area, though?
Does this dungeon just keep going deeper?’
I’d originally thought the dungeon was only about two hundred pyeong, yet more and more underground areas kept appearing.
If the landlord, or rather the dungeon owner, found out, he’d probably try to raise my rent.
I needed to earn money quickly and buy this place first.
“All right, everyone.
You’ve had enough playtime.
Time to get back to work!”
Squirm?!
I could have sworn their gestures were saying, ‘When exactly were we playing?’ But I still didn’t understand slime language very well.
In any case, they all wriggled away and resumed working hard.
All except one.
“Hmm?
What are you doing here?
You need to work too.”
Ppuuu…
When I smiled and spoke to it, Ppuu staggered after the others.
Hmm.
It still didn’t look well.
I wasn’t an exploitative boss.
I was a wonderful boss who cared about employee welfare.
“Ppuu!
You’re still not feeling well, so let’s have you manage the upper level instead.
There’s barely any work up there, much less than down here!”
Haha!
What a generous employer I was!
Besides, the new recruit was already diligently looking after the upstairs patch, so Ppuu wouldn’t have much to do.
“Come on, show me the dignity of a Level 10 slime!
You can do it, Ppuu!”
Was I imagining things, or had it not answered?
In any case, another new family member had joined us, and my farm was becoming more varied by the day.
“Time for some sleep, I think.”
For some reason, I felt even more high-strung than usual.
It was probably the exhaustion.
I set my alarm, watched Ppuu and the new recruit for one last moment, then slowly drifted off.
One slime, two slimes, three slimes…