If you cannot avoid it.
Then dance within the storm—!
The cry of a cheerful explorer that once set an online community ablaze.
It was said he had laughed and strummed his guitar even before the breath of an enraged basilisk.
That ridiculous video had set the hearts of millions of Hunters on fire.
└ You lunatic, why are you singing there?!
└ But there is something strangely romantic about it. I am going to the Tower tomorrow too!
It had made countless rookies cheer as they leaped onto a stage of death.
Only those who can hum in the middle of a crisis can seize true romance.
The heavy wheel of fate began rolling vigorously once more.
What delightful commotion would greet me on this stage?
***
A dazzling flash.
The familiar floating sensation gently embraced my entire body.
And so, I was thrown into the middle of the Black Tower's stage once more.
Somehow, I had already reached the Black Tower's fifth floor. While caring for and training Adele, I had answered the Black Tower's summons whenever I found time and cleared the third and fourth floors in succession.
The air here carried a heavy weight distinctly different from the floors below.
Hunters commonly divided the Black Tower's sections into three stages.
That was because the field's theme and ecosystem changed every 5 floors.
For example, the first through fifth floors comprised the [Forest of Beginnings], which teemed with life.
Meanwhile, the sixth through tenth floors unfolded into the [Crystal Cavern], where mysterious crystals sparkled.
For that reason, the five floors grouped under one theme were divided into three stages: Entry, Mastery, and Breakthrough.
The first floor, where the theme changed, was called Entry.
The second through fourth floors, where the real hunting took place, were Mastery.
And the final gateway to the next theme was Breakthrough.
The place where I now stood was the Black Tower's fifth floor.
In other words, this was the final gateway of the vast ecosystem called the Forest of Beginnings.
On a Breakthrough Floor, a special and powerful gatekeeper existed, one that condensed every essence of its theme.
Only by defeating the gatekeeper protecting this place could one proceed to the next stage.
I looked around. Thick ancient trees covered in blue moss densely surrounded me in every direction.
The stillness felt as though even the wind were holding its breath, while a thick fog of mana hung heavily in the air.
'Even the weight of the air is clearly different from the previous floors.'
I expanded my round jelly and pleasantly inhaled the surrounding mana.
The rough scent of the wild was entirely different from the cozy peace of the nest where I had been moments ago.
But my core enjoyed this electrifying tension like a sweet snack.
'I wonder if Adele is sweeping the Lounge around now?'
The face of the assistant I had left behind in the nest suddenly came to mind.
She was probably sweating profusely as she swept with all her might.
I should bring back some sweet fruit she would enjoy when I returned.
It was a little ridiculous for a mere slime to support someone.
Still, gaining a dependent who trusted and followed me felt rather pleasant.
Whatever the case, what I needed to do was extremely clear and simple.
Remove the obstacles and move forward.
It was the one truth that remained unchanged, both when I was the human Han Yuri and now that I was a slime.
The Tower grants its sweet rewards only to those who climb without stopping.
RUSTLE.
Something out of place entered my vision as I bounced forward.
A white skeleton leaned at an angle between the roots of a massive ancient tree.
It was the remnant of an unknown hunter who had lost their life climbing the Tower long ago.
But there was one thing to remember.
Anyone who suffered damage close to death in this place would turn into particles of mana and disappear.
Therefore, that skeleton theoretically could not exist, yet the fact that a skeleton was here meant......
'It is a clue about something that will appear later......!'
I carefully approached and examined the faded notebook lying beside the skeleton.
Its leather cover had already decayed, and dark red stains had dried upon the pages.
Fortunately, the writing on the final page was barely legible.
「Light begets struggle, and struggle soon sinks into the silent abyss.
For the wheel of life can never defy that natural order.」
A poetic passage that seemed to hint at something.
It was probably a clue for solving a mechanism hidden somewhere on the Breakthrough Floor.
I used the Swallow Skill and stored the notebook in my core.
After casting a brief glance at the skeleton, I rolled toward the depths of the forest once more.
RUSTLE.
An eerie sound of splitting air came from beyond the bushes.
A mantis-shaped monster wielding a massive scythe tore through the underbrush and sprang out.
It was an elite demonic beast guarding the forest of the Breakthrough Floor, and dark murderous intent whirled in its compound eyes.
SKREEEEE—!
The skin-crawling rasp stabbed my eardrums.
Deep green mana rose like a heat haze from the tip of its scythe.
It was an elite demonic beast of the fifth floor that instinctively wielded wind mana.
SLICE—!
The keen blade hurtled mercilessly toward my round body.
Rather than dodging, I instantly drew up the mana in my core.
Hardening the surface of my jelly like steel, I deflected its scythe outright.
CLANG—!
With a dull metallic ring, the mantis's scythe rebounded high into the air.
I saw profound bewilderment cross its large eyes.
It seemed incapable of understanding that a mere soft slime had blocked a blow delivered with all its strength.
"Your lower body's center of gravity is far too light compared with that sturdy carapace."
I annoyingly offered advice and slid smoothly into the creature's blind spot.
SWIIIIISH—!
The mantis violently twisted its body and immediately counterattacked.
It swung its remaining scythe like a windmill and scattered sharp blades of vacuum in every direction.
Branches snapped, and deep scars were carved into the earth.
It was a fairly threatening area attack.
But to me, its trajectories were painfully obvious and clear.
I flattened my jelly body and pressed myself against the ground.
Sharp wind blades passed harmlessly overhead.
An instantaneous evasion, followed by the perfect moment to counterattack.
I did not miss that opening and sprang from the floor like a coil.
Gathering condensed blue mana at the tip of my jelly, I struck the creature squarely on the head.
THWACK—!
An eardrum-rending burst and the weighty sensation of impact traveled satisfyingly through my jelly.
Without leaving even a final cry, its body scattered into blue particles.
A clean victory. I swallowed the Mana Stone that fell as loot and moved on again.
BOUNCE, BOOOUNCE!
After traveling toward the center of the forest for a while.
A mysterious gorge filled with lush clusters of plants appeared.
Bounce Mushrooms scattered glittering golden stardust.
The terrain was so complex that one wrong step would send someone tumbling beneath the underbrush and force them to take a long detour back.
It was an obstacle an ordinary Hunter would have to cross by carefully rigging ropes.
But.
'Elastic trampolines for a slime? This is the ultimate playground.'
Without hesitation, I threw my body onto the cap of the largest mushroom.
BOING!
The instant the soft mushroom's surface touched my jelly.
Its tremendous elasticity lightly launched my body into the air.
I began swimming between the ravines like an acrobat, making an exhilarating flight as I bounced from one mushroom to another.
The refreshing sensation of slicing through the wind pleasantly brushed across my transparent jelly surface.
And so, I crossed the amusement-park-like gorge in one burst.
A silhouette concealed by fog finally revealed its outline.
A massive stone door surrounded by thick vines blocked the way ahead.
Three round recesses had been carved into its surface along with complex patterns.
I tilted my round head and carefully examined the patterns.
'This is a stone-door mechanism that requires a random combination.'
As a former S-Grade Hunter, I knew the Black Tower's lower-floor strategies inside and out.
But no matter how thoroughly I had memorized the strategies, I could not afford to be careless.
The Tower's malicious system randomized the arrangement and conditions each time someone encountered the mechanism.
Therefore, even if the pattern of the answer changed, one had to carefully examine the surrounding clues and approach it logically.
This was a typical mechanism that activated once something was inserted.
Of course, knowing this would happen, I had gathered plenty of potential key materials while climbing the floors.
"Let us see. What arrangement does today's puzzle use?"
I opened my subspace and pulled out the Mana Stones I had collected while hunting moments earlier.
I carefully pushed red, blue, and yellow Mana Stones into the recesses in that order.
CLICK.
With a crisp scrape, a faint light seeped from the patterns on the stone door.
But the door did not open. Only the recess holding the red Mana Stone flashed with an ominous red light.
RUMBLE—!
The stone door vibrated noisily.
Gaps opened in the ceiling, and sharp projectiles rained down.
THUD, THUD, THUD—!
The merciless trap activated.
Using my flexible viscosity, I swam across the floor as though gliding and evaded the attacks.
I flattened my jelly and smoothly let the incoming pointed arrowheads pass through empty air.
It was a leisurely evasive maneuver, and not a single scratch remained upon my body.
But the trap did not end there.
GRRRRIND—.
The floor tiles rose in an irregular pattern, and sharp steel spears sprang out like a forest.
It was a vicious combination mechanism designed to skewer intruders who gave a wrong answer.
I leaped into the air once more.
Puffing up my jelly in midair, I stuck fast to the vine-covered wall.
The steel spears that rose beneath my feet stabbed futilely at empty air.
"Phew. That trap is fairly spicy."
With a light rebound, I slid down the wall and landed upon safe ground.
Only after the two vicious attacks swept past did silence return to the area around the stone door.
'Hmm, so the red Mana Stone does not belong here.'
Leaving the scattered arrows behind, I approached the patterns again.
To solve the mechanism in one stroke, I had to infer and piece together the meaning imbued within the patterns.
Beneath the leftmost recess, the shape of a brilliantly blazing sun had been roughly carved.
Beneath the central recess were the claws of fiercely battling beasts, an image symbolizing life's red struggle.
Beneath the recess at the far right rippled a tranquil lake that embraced all creation.
In an instant, the replica notebook I had found at the forest entrance crossed my mind.
'Light begets struggle, and struggle soon sinks into the silent abyss.'
It was the moment the clue deliberately placed by the system meshed perfectly with the reliefs before me.
'The sun, blood, and the flow of water.'
A symbol-matching puzzle.
The wrong answer had given me a clue to the correct one.
The yellow Mana Stone symbolizing light belonged first.
The red Mana Stone representing the dynamism of life belonged second.
And the blue Mana Stone containing water had to occupy the final position.
I stretched my jelly and swiftly rearranged the Mana Stones.
I firmly inserted the yellow, red, and blue Mana Stones again in that order.
HUMMMMM.
A pleasant resonance rang out, and the three Mana Stones shone brilliantly in unison.
With a dull scrape, the massive stone door slowly began opening to either side.
The mechanism had been cleared, and I passed through the open gap in high spirits.
Beyond the dark tunnel lay a wide, dome-shaped hollow.
Blue luminous moss densely covered the walls and lit the path like a mysterious galaxy.
It was a space utterly isolated from the rough wilderness outside, like a sanctuary offered only to a god.
A dazzling shaft of sunlight shone through an opening in the ceiling and illuminated the center of the stage.
And at the heart of that light.
An antique marble altar stood in aloof splendor.
THUMP.
My core surged. An intense wave of mana erupted from atop the altar.
I carefully bounced closer to the altar.
An essence containing a gentle flame floated silently above it.
My translucent concave star-shaped eyes curved like crescent moons in the reflected light.
'Heh heh heh.'
I puffed my jelly to its fullest and gave an adorable smile.
It was the moment I discovered the precious reward hidden beyond the complicated riddle.
"This is exactly it!"