It struck Carlos’s shoulder before he could move.
Carlos stared at the slime that had fired it.
"You can do that now?"
More slimes began moving to surround him.
He quickly opened his inventory while the tree protected him. There was only one Recovery Potion left.
Carlos’s finger hovered over it.
’This is the last wave for this conquest... it’s now or never.’
Carlos took out the potion and drank it within seconds.
The pain started fading again, but Carlos didn’t charge out.
He watched the situation closely.
Only then did he finally notice something.
Every slime had to expose its core when it stretched its body to attack. The bead moved upward through the jelly, stayed still for a fraction of a second, and returned to the middle after the projectile was fired.
That was the moment.
When the right opportunity came, Carlos stepped out from behind the tree.
One slime stretched toward him.
He sidestepped the water projectile and thrust the spear forward.
CRACK!
[Water Slime eliminated]
He pulled the spear back and hid again.
Another slime came around the other side.
Carlos waited for it to attack.
CRACK!
[Water Slime eliminated]
"Five."
The slimes kept coming, and Carlos kept changing trees.
He climbed when they surrounded him.
He ran when they gathered below.
He used their own attack timing to close the distance and struck only when their cores were exposed.
Six became ten.
Ten became fifteen.
Each kill made the clearing quieter, but Carlos’s body became heavier.
His hands were covered in blisters. His shirt had almost nothing left that could be called cloth. Blood mixed with blue slime across his face and arms.
HP - 174/360
Remaining Water Slimes - 21/40
The potion had stopped healing him. Even if it was still working, Carlos couldn’t tell anymore.
He leaned against a tree and tried to catch his breath.
There were still more than half of them left.
"I only need... a minute," he muttered to himself.
A slime came around the trunk.
Carlos raised his spear, but his arm trembled.
The slime didn’t hesitate.
It fired.
The projectile struck his hand, and the spear flew from his fingers as if the slime had done it intentionally.
Carlos looked at his empty hand while the slime prepared another attack.
He rushed forward before it could fire and shoved both hands into its body.
The slime hardened around his wrists.
Carlos felt the pressure crushing them from every direction, but his fingers found the bead in the middle.
He pulled.
But it was as if the slime was clinging to life. The core refused to come out while the pressure around his wrists grew stronger.
"COME OUT!"
The muscles in Carlos’s neck and arms bulged as veins rose across them.
His wounded shoulder screamed for him to stop.
But Carlos pulled harder.
The core finally came free into both of his hands.
He threw it against the tree.
CRACK!
[Water Slime eliminated]
Carlos hurriedly picked up his spear from the ground, and his mouth opened.
"Twenty."
After that...
He stopped counting the pain.
A shot hit his chest.
He stabbed a core.
Then two projectiles struck his back, but he killed another.
His knee gave out, so he used the spear to force himself back to his feet.
The wooden shaft cracked near the middle.
Carlos simply tightened his grip around the broken weapon and kept moving.
HP - 91/360
Remaining Water Slimes - 8/40
Carlos could hear his heartbeat louder than the projectiles.
Eight slimes surrounded him in the middle of the clearing.
There wasn’t a single tree left nearby to hide behind.
His legs refused to run anymore.
"Come on then."
Carlos raised the damaged spear.
All eight slimes stretched their bodies.
Their cores moved upward at the same time.
Carlos threw the spear.
It pierced through the first slime’s core before continuing into the one behind it.
Two cracks rang out together.
Carlos realized the slimes still lacked intelligence to some extent.
Yes, they could make decisions, but they weren’t quick enough.
If the first slime had hardened its body immediately, maybe the second one wouldn’t have died.
[Water Slime eliminated]
[Water Slime eliminated]
Six projectiles slammed into Carlos and threw him onto the ground.
HP - 38/360
For several seconds, he couldn’t hear anything.
The grass felt cold against his face.
Then a random thought entered Carlos’s mind.
’Stay down.’
If he stayed still, maybe the slimes would think he was dead and stop attacking.
The moment that thought appeared, another memory surfaced.
The barren territory.
The Farmer staring at the empty plots with disappointment.
Cosmic giving away his only spear because he trusted Carlos to come back, even though he knew how reckless he was.
Carlos’s fingers dug into the soil.
"I haven’t... even planted one seed yet."
He pushed himself back up.
The six remaining slimes had been moving toward him as if he were free food to devour, but when they saw him stand again, they stopped and prepared another attack.
But they had come too close because of their greed.
Carlos grabbed the nearest slime with both arms and lifted it off the ground.
It hardened around his chest and tried to crush him.
Carlos charged straight into another slime.
Their bodies collided.
Their exposed cores smashed into one another.
CRACK!
[Water Slime eliminated]
One core survived.
Carlos punched it until it didn’t.
[Water Slime eliminated]
Another one down.
He picked up the broken half of the spear from the grass and crawled toward the next slime.
Three.
Another projectile scraped the side of his head, making his vision blur.
The only thing he could clearly see was the corner of his vision.
HP - 19/360
Carlos could no longer feel his left arm.
The last two slimes attacked together.
He only had enough strength to move half a step.
But that tiny movement changed everything.
One projectile missed him and struck the other slime instead.
"Huh..."
Carlos stared at it.
The slime’s body burst apart, leaving its exposed core on the grass.
Carlos fell on top of it and crushed it with his elbow.
[Water Slime eliminated]
The final slime jumped onto his back.
Its body wrapped around his shoulders and slowly crawled toward his face.
Carlos couldn’t breathe anymore.
He reached behind himself, but his fingers only passed through jelly.
His vision began to darken.
Carlos slammed his back against the ground.
The slime loosened for a brief moment.
He did it again.
And again.
On the fourth impact, something hard pressed against his shoulder blade.
Carlos grabbed it through the jelly and rolled over, putting all of his weight onto the core.
CRACK!
The slime collapsed around him.
[Water Slime eliminated]
[2nd Wave Completed!]
[Conquest Completed!]
Carlos remained lying on the ground.
He didn’t even have enough strength left to smile when the rewards appeared.
[Calculating Hell Difficulty Rewards...]
[Special combat conditions detected.]
[No combat troop used.]
[All enemies defeated personally.]
[Conquest completed below 5% HP.]
[Achievement Unlocked: UNYIELDING LORD]
[You have received the passive skill: Tenacious Body.]