Defeat the Slime.
What an easy mission.
I only needed to kill one.
The condition was simple enough to replace the first floor of the Tutorial Tower.
However—
“Now that I think about it, there is no chance it will be an ordinary Slime.”
Even with the Bloody Mantis, I had initially assumed it would be nothing more than a mantis.
Who could have imagined that it would possess such a durable exoskeleton and grow as large as a truck?
Considering that, there was a strong possibility that this Slime would not be ordinary either.
“Still, this is strange.”
I had suffered severe injuries and wandered through the forest for quite some time.
Yet strangely, I did not feel tired at all.
“I clearly remember being fairly exhausted when I returned home.”
Now, however, I felt remarkably well.
I was neither tired nor hungry.
My body felt almost unnaturally healthy.
At this rate, I could probably continue climbing the tower without stopping.
‘Setting that aside, I am curious.’
The Verdant Tower.
At first, I had regarded it purely as a place where I could raise my Synchronization Rate.
After reaching the third floor, however, I had begun to wonder what awaited me at the top.
“Surely the final floor will not be a forest too?”
Judging by everything I had seen so far, it was a reasonable suspicion.
Nodding gravely to myself, I stepped deeper into the forest.
***
STEP, STEP.
Several hours had passed since I began walking through the forest.
Releasing a long sigh, I sat on a boulder and glared into the air with a frown.
“Where in the world is this Slime?”
No matter how far I walked, I could not find it.
No.
To be precise—
“SQUEAK!”
—I could find Slimes.
I lightly kicked the Slime rolling around near my feet.
The attack had come from my ordinary right foot, not my right hand.
Even such a light impact was enough to make the Slime burst.
I had killed yet another one, but the system still refused to send me to the fourth floor.
“This is driving me insane.”
After wandering through the forest for hours, I had realized something.
This place was a paradise for Slimes.
They were behind boulders, between flower beds, and even in the trees.
Every time I turned my head, another Slime appeared, and I killed each one I encountered.
Even so, the Slime the system wanted me to defeat had yet to appear.
“What kind of Slime could it possibly be?”
After catching my breath, I quietly surveyed the forest.
Slimes rolled around everywhere.
For a moment, I wondered whether I had taken the wrong path.
However, I soon dismissed that thought.
Why?
“They are definitely becoming more numerous.”
The farther I advanced, the more Slimes appeared.
At first, I encountered them only occasionally, but their numbers continued to increase as I moved forward.
Even now—
“Squeak?”
Another rolling Slime bumped against my foot.
After watching them for two hours straight, I had begun to find them endearing. Killing the harmless-looking creatures was starting to trouble my conscience.
But I had no choice.
I needed to survive too.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I bent down and lightly flicked the Slime with the middle finger of my right hand.
“I am sorry.”
POP!
The Slime burst from a single flick.
Having sent yet another Slime to the Lord—
No.
Having sent another Slime to Black Dragon with a single blow, I turned toward the direction where their numbers continued to increase.
“Let us hurry.”
I was not physically exhausted.
I was only mentally weary after spending two hours seeing nothing but rolling Slimes, trees, grass, and stones.
Rising from the boulder, I headed toward the source of the growing Slime population.
As I advanced, a sudden gust of wind forced me to raise both arms reflexively and shield my face.
My clothes whipped violently around me.
Through the wind, which was strong enough to make opening my eyes difficult, I faintly saw—
“SQUEAK!”
—an ink-black Slime flying directly toward me.
And reflexively—
“Squeak!”
—I struck it with my right hand.
SPLAT!
The ink-black Slime slammed into a nearby tree, spreading its mucus across the trunk.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
“…….”
Something had gone wrong.
Otherwise, the Slimes rolling around me would not have stopped moving all at once to stare at me.
I could feel their gazes from every direction.
The Slimes were all watching me.
The problem was that I could sense no malice or hatred from them.
They were simply—
Watching.
I cautiously took a step backward.
‘There. I killed it.’
I had just defeated an obviously unusual Slime.
The system should send me to the next floor immediately.
What was it doing?
I shouted inwardly at the system.
However, it gave no response.
‘……Do not tell me that was not the one either.’
Even though its color was clearly different?
My eyes widened as I stared at the Slime.
The ink-black creature lay motionless after being struck by my hand.
Anyone could see that it was unusual.
“……SQUEAK!”
BOING!
The ink-black Slime raised its head from the spread-out mucus.
The liquid that had splattered across the tree gathered back into one place, restoring the creature to the same form it had possessed while flying through the air.
It stared at me with yellow eyes before turning around.
Then it lightly compressed its body—
“Ugh!?”
—and shot back in the direction it had come from with a tremendous gust of wind.
What was that?
For a moment, I stared blankly in the direction where the Slime had disappeared.
What kind of Slime moved that quickly?
I did not understand much else, but one thing had become certain.
“That is the Slime.”
The creature I had just encountered was the one the tower wanted me to defeat.
I could not let it escape.
I immediately kicked off the ground and raced in the direction it had flown.
The farther I ran, the more numerous the Slimes became.
As their numbers increased, the creatures beneath my feet began obstructing me.
The area had long since become densely packed with trees.
Thick layers of overlapping leaves blocked out the sky completely.
The forest around me grew as dark as night.
As I continued running, I noticed light shining in the distance.
The instant I reached it—
“This is insane…… What is that?”
My jaw dropped as I stared in stunned disbelief.
An enormous ink-black mass stood in the distance, as large as a two-story building.
It remained still, chewing incessantly.
Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of Slimes surrounded it.
“Wait. What is that thing eating?”
MUNCH.
The enormous ink-black Slime placed something offered by one of the smaller Slimes into its mouth and began chewing.
Narrowing my eyes, I stared intently at the object.
“……Steel?”
It was a silver object that gleamed in the light.
Whenever the smaller Slimes brought it other kinds of ore, the enormous ink-black Slime eagerly swallowed them as well.
“What is going on?”
Did Slimes eat minerals?
The ones I had encountered inside the F-rank Gate had merely grazed on grass.
“How strange.”
Even considering that the worlds beyond Gates were mysterious places, I had never seen anything like this.
However, that was a separate matter.
The fact remained that I needed to kill the creature to reach the next floor.
Clenching my right fist, I took a step toward it.
As I moved forward, the Slimes blocking my path divided to the left and right.
The enormous Slime stopped eating and turned its gaze toward me.
Phew.
I released a short breath and raised my right hand.
At the same moment, bundles of tentacles erupted from the ink-black Slime’s entire body and surged toward me.
“Damn it……!”
Why was a Slime firing tentacles?
Frowning, I kicked off the ground backward and avoided one tentacle as it slammed down.
However, that was only the beginning.
One, two……
Before long, dozens of tentacles were rushing toward me simultaneously.
I could not evade them.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the tentacles engulfed me.
“Hm?”
Nothing happened.
What was this?
Tilting my head, I touched the tentacle pressed against my side with my left hand.
It was soft.
Absurdly springy.
“It does not hurt at all.”
Was that supposed to be an attack?
I tilted my head and looked toward the enormous ink-black Slime.
Its triangular mouth opened and closed, as though it were momentarily confused.
‘In the end, it is still only a Slime.’
Its size and color had made me wonder whether it might be dangerous, but apparently, a Slime was still a Slime.
Smirking, I strode forward and punched its body.
Then—
“Hm?”
Nothing happened.
My eyes widened.
I had clearly felt my fist strike the Slime’s plump body.
Yet the creature remained completely unaffected.
[Haze]
Perhaps I had unconsciously held back because it was a Slime.
I took another stance and punched it again.
And—
“…….”
Once again, nothing happened.
At that point, I had no choice but to understand.
My eyes trembled as I looked up at the Slime, which stared down at me with an unimpressed expression.
The Guardian of the Tutorial Tower and even the Bloody Mantis had been equal before Black Dragon’s fist.
But this creature—
This enormous Slime, whose entire body was composed of springy mucus—
“……My punches do not work?”
It was an enemy immune to physical strikes.
I had never considered such a situation, so I was genuinely bewildered.
At worst, I had expected a Slime as powerful as the Bloody Mantis.
Instead, I had encountered a creature without hostility that was completely unaffected by physical attacks.
As I racked my brain for a solution, I noticed the Slime’s gelatinous body beginning to ripple.
“……Ripple?”
Its ink-black body undulated violently.
When the movement finally settled, a single tentacle emerged from its torso.
“That looks like my right arm—”
The familiar-looking tentacle surged toward me.
My instincts screamed.
Danger.
I had to block it immediately.
Gritting my teeth, I raised my right hand into the path of the incoming tentacle.
“……!”
I could not believe it.
That was impossible.
Staggering backward, I stared at my trembling right hand.
The right hand that had blocked the Bloody Mantis’s attack—
The hand of Black Dragon that had endured even the Guardian of the Tutorial Tower—
‘……It is numb?’
It was trembling from pain.
I had assumed physical impacts simply did not affect the creature.
But that had been wrong.
The Slime—
Could store physical force inside its body and release it back at its attacker.
Still gripping my numb right hand with my left, I raised my head and stared at the Slime.
It looked down at me with an unreadable expression after sending me skidding backward.
“Squeak.”
Not a chance!
Was it my imagination, or did the ordinary sound of air escaping from the Slime seem to say precisely that?
As my vision blurred, I bit down hard on the inside of my mouth to keep myself conscious.
[Synchronization Rate: 1.4%]
The enormous Slime created several more tentacles.
Apparently, it did not regard me as much of a threat.
With a relaxed expression, it continued crunching on the minerals delivered by the smaller Slimes.
I stared at it and crookedly raised one corner of my mouth.
‘Physical attacks do not work?’
Then I only needed to tear it apart.
A low laugh rumbled in my throat as I fully extended my right hand.
Sharp claws protruded from my fingertips.