The strongest, and the most fearsome.
His surname was Lü (Lü), his given name Bu (Bu), and his courtesy name was Fengxian (Fengxian).
He was a legendary warrior said to have possessed the greatest martial might of the entire Three Kingdoms era.
Posterity recorded him as a God of War who had surpassed the limits of humanity.
And now, in this place.
An existence comparable to him had appeared in the Forest of Beginnings on the Black Tower's first floor.
Should it be called the strongest Slime of all?
It had the appearance of soft, radiant blue jelly.
But hidden within that adorable form was the soul of a God of War who had crossed the line of death.
***
Boing, boing!
A tiny, adorable Slime darted nimbly through the green undergrowth.
A wondrous life-form in which primordial wildness and pure martial might had fused, beyond all human measure.
A pale mist lay thick between the dense trees.
'This is a pretty good environment for hunting.'
I kicked off a moss-covered rock and soared into the air.
My blue jelly body blended smoothly into the forest's shadows.
I erased my presence and silently dropped onto my prey's head.
"There! That damn Slime showed up again!"
"Form up properly and crush it for good this time!"
FWOOSH—!
I rotated in midair and concentrated the core's mana sharply along my edge.
Using the elasticity of my taut jelly, I pierced through their barriers.
With a violent impact, a huge man's body crashed beyond the undergrowth.
[Slime (Common) has defeated Player Ryujin (China).]
[Slime (Common) Player Xiaolu (China)......]
[Slime (Common)......]
Deeper in the forest, the clear sound of a stream struck my ears.
'Which side are our guests from this time?'
I adjusted my viscosity, hung upside down from a tree branch, and surveyed my surroundings.
A group wearing hakama embroidered with cherry blossoms stood guard over the forest with keen katanas drawn.
The remains of low-level monsters they had already killed lay strewn beneath their feet.
"Be careful! The named monster that wiped out the Chinese is nearby!"
"We cannot let a mere Slime trample upon a samurai's pride!"
SWISH—!
The instant a sharp wave of sword energy flew toward me, I flattened and contracted my body to evade the blade.
I rolled across the ground, burrowed beneath his guard, and surged upward violently.
The man took the blow squarely on the chin and shattered into a dazzling cloud of light.
[Slime (Common) has defeated Player Kenta (Japan).]
[Slime (Common) Player Ichiro (Japan)......]
[Slime (Common)......]
Without stopping, I launched my round body like a bullet.
I mercilessly battered the backs of the survivors as they fled in panic.
[Enemy defeated!]
All across the forest, Hunters began screaming as they were forcibly returned.
After finishing that light warm-up, I pushed into the heart of the forest.
RUMBLE—!
A heavy vibration shook the earth.
The density of the mana scattered through the air rapidly thickened.
'This pulse is......'
I bounced along the tree branches toward the source of the noise.
Past the dense trees, a vast basin-shaped clearing came into view.
Hundreds of multinational players stood in layer upon layer of formations.
Where their gazes converged, a demonic beast well over 5 meters tall was roaring.
The Red-Mane Orc Chieftain.
It was the field boss known as the lord of the region, ruler of the ecosystem on the Black Tower's first floor.
"Don't let the tank formation collapse! Hold the line!"
"Mages, pour on the fire magic as soon as your cooldowns are up!"
It was quite an organized army of Hunters.
The Chinese Mage Corps wearing red armbands had allied with the Japanese swordsmen bearing cherry-blossom emblems.
It seemed the main force of those who had failed to hunt me and scattered had gathered here.
They were the bands of cunning traitors who had once driven me to the edge of a cliff.
Now they were trying to hunt the boss before my eyes and seize control of the Tower along with enormous profits.
'I can't simply stand by and watch that happen.'
I made the core within my jelly vibrate faintly. I had observed enough; now it was time to personally crash this gaudy, greedy stage.
ROOOAR—!
At that moment, the Orc Chieftain, wounded by countless attacks, unleashed a ferocious roar.
Its entire body turned bloodred as its survival instinct reached its peak.
Berserk.
The creature had entered its second phase at just the right time, and an overwhelming pressure radiated from it.
BOOM—!
It slammed an enormous iron club, as thick as the trunk of an ancient tree, into the ground.
A shock wave spread outward in all directions, sending the shield bearers on the front line flying like leaves.
That single blow was powerful enough to shatter the barrier placed on me.
"Gaaah!"
"Th-this is insane! The defensive line's been breached! What are the healers doing?!"
The formation that had been solid a moment ago collapsed.
The Orc Chieftain did not miss the opening and leaped like a beast toward the mages gathered in the rear.
Desperate screams erupted as the formation shattered.
The Chinese guild's mages were swept away, tumbling across the ground like leaves in an autumn gale.
They were painfully realizing how powerless their magic was before the violence in front of them.
I waited until the Orc Chieftain had swept through the Chinese Hunters once.
Now. I charged in at once.
FWOOSH—!
The blue jelly burst from the undergrowth and traced a sharp arc through the air.
My target was the thick nape of the Orc Chieftain soaring overhead.
I compressed my body to its limit, then drew all the mana in my core to my edge.
An application of the Smash Skill. A solid jelly hammer struck the creature's beastlike hide dead-on.
THUD—!
"Ghrk?!"
A dull rupture rang out as though it had been struck by a solid lump of iron.
Its trajectory twisted in midair, and the boss crashed across the ground with an ugly scream.
Plop.
I landed lightly on the bridge of its nose.
The concave star-shaped eyes on my round body sparkled.
"Wh-what? A Slime?"
"Why is a low-level monster like that in the boss zone......?!"
The Hunters murmured in bewilderment.
The Orc Chieftain also radiated savage bloodlust at the tiny intruder who had trampled its dignity.
GRRRR—!
It exhaled roughly and tried to crush me with its huge palm.
It was a crude, destructive blow that looked capable of smashing a boulder.
But I had no intention whatsoever of quietly taking it like the Chinese Hunters had.
Splat.
I loosened my body's viscosity until it was sticky and flattened myself against the ground.
The terrifying wind pressure narrowly brushed over my transparent back.
At the same time, I spun the core inside me hard.
I unleashed the tension of my jelly, compressed like a spring, toward its wrist in a single burst.
FWOOSH—!
I raced up along the Orc Chieftain's thick veins and surged fiercely toward its forearm.
The lower half of my blue jelly sharpened like a crescent moon for an instant.
Piercing and severing.
The intent of a sword demon who had crossed the line of death for decades overlaid this squishy body in full.
SLASH—!
A miraculous blue arc cleaved through the air.
The Orc Chieftain's thick tendons and muscles were sliced clean through along with its solid armor.
"GRAAAAAH!"
A scream of pain.
Its right arm, which had been holding the iron club, sagged limply.
'Next.'
I lightly changed direction in midair and landed in the middle of its broad back.
I gathered mana into my core.
A concentrated point of impact, the breathing method of the Lightning God Style.
Blue currents of electricity surged violently across my jelly surface.
CRACKLE—! BOOM—!
My solid jelly, transformed into a hammer, pounded mercilessly into its spine.
Lightning-fast blows erupted one after another.
BAM—! BOOM—! KABOOM—!
Dozens of blows poured down like a rainstorm in a single second. The enormous boss's massive body collapsed miserably like an ancient tree struck by lightning.
THOOM.
The earth trembled and a thick cloud of dust billowed upward. Before that overwhelming display of force, the hundreds of Hunters gathered in the clearing froze without so much as a breath.
[You have defeated the field boss, Red-Mane Orc Chieftain!]
Its massive body turned into red particles and scattered into the air.
What remained in its place was a radiant red Mana Stone core the size of an ostrich egg.
'That looks delicious.'
I eagerly rolled my round body over and gulped down the loot.
Gulp.
Pleasant spiritual energy spread freely through the liquid to every last cell in my body.
Sticky, dense mana incomparable to a low-level Mana Stone struck my core.
[You have absorbed the essence of a boss monster.]
[Your Soul Rank has risen.]
[Your mana circuit is expanding.]
[The destructive power of the Smash Skill has increased.]
An electrifying rush of exhilaration.
My translucent body deepened into an even richer, more radiant blue.
Only then did an enraged shout erupt from the ranks of the stunned Hunters.
"Th-that crazy Slime bastard ate our reward!"
"It stole the boss after we'd practically killed it! Kill it! Tear that monster bastard apart right now!"
Human greed was endless, and those driven to the brink always took the most foolish choice for truth and charged toward death.
Those driven out of their minds by rage began raining all manner of magic and arrows upon me.
Hundreds of fireballs and sharp arrowheads blackened the air.
A murderous wall closed in from every direction like a storm, but those clumsy attacks could not touch me.
Boing, hop.
I lightly kicked off the ground and twisted my path as if dancing.
Using the viscosity clinging close to the ground, I slipped into their blind spot with fluid, flawless movement.
KABOOM—! BLAST—!
The spells collided where I had been and caused a meaningless chain of explosions.
I pierced the thick cloud of dust and dropped into the very center of their main force.
'Now then, shall we start the fun party?'
[Activating Star's Blessing.]
For a short time, the limits on my mana use vanished, and I concentrated my core's mana sharply along my jelly's edge.
On top of that, the destructive power that had risen to its limit after absorbing the boss's core surged violently out of my body.
The blue jelly spun at high speed, forming a vast storm of blades.
FWOOSH—!
I surged fiercely forward.
The shield bearers' thick plate armor blocking my path snapped and tore apart like rotten branches.
"Gaaaaah!"
"Stop it! Tighten the formation and stop it somehow!"
Screams and desperate cries crossed like waves.
I stepped on a flying rock and leaped, then brought a heavy jelly hammer down upon the crowns of their heads from midair.
BOOM—!
The ground caved in as crater-like spiderweb cracks spread across it.
Low-level Hunters caught in the shock wave collapsed helplessly like autumn leaves.
Utter chaos.
A massacre unfolding before absolute might!
Every time the tiny Slime's path crossed the forest, the number of Hunters forcibly returned in clouds of light increased exponentially.
[Double Kill!]
[Triple Kill!]
[Quadra Kill!]
[Penta Kill!]
I drew my core's mana to its maximum and scattered blue lightning in every direction.
Equipment shattered the instant the lightning touched it, and the Hunters collapsed and rolled helplessly across the ground.
It was utterly one-sided, overwhelming devastation—a thrilling disruption of the ecosystem.
Dizzying exhilaration, a one-sided massacre, and blue lightning tore violently through the forest's silence.
[Slime (Common) is on a roll!]
[Slime (Common): Massacre in Progress!]
[Slime (Common) is Running Wild!]
[Slime (Common) is unstoppable!]
[Slime (Common) is dominating the battlefield!]
[Slime (Common) is the Avatar of the Battlefield!]
[Slime (Common) is legendary!]
I landed lightly on a boulder, caught my breath, and stabilized my core.
A translucent scoreboard appeared in the air with a cheerful chime.
When I had first set foot in this forest, my accumulated points were pitiful.
[ - ] Slime (Common) ( 0 GP ) (-)
That was my score early on, when I had prodded low-level monsters while searching for prey.
But the situation reversed once I began tearing through the Hunters' formations.
[ - ] Slime (Common) ( 1,552 GP ) (▴)
My score began climbing without pause along a steep curve.
Every time I severed an enemy's throat, the number of digits exploded upward.
[ 999th ] Slime (Common) ( 110,552 GP ) (▴)
It was a magnificent feat, single-handedly collapsing and sweeping away the allied defensive lines of guilds from across the world.
The holographic window trembled faintly, as if even the system's processor struggled to keep up.
FLASH—!
[ 1st ] Slime (Common) ( 1,015,578 GP ) (▴)
More than one million points.
An unprecedented figure no single demonic beast had ever recorded on the first floor in the Black Tower's history.
The summit, looking far down upon the scores of elite Hunters who called themselves the strongest in the world.
And the owner of that dazzling throne was none other than a tiny Slime.
The administrators in the outside world who saw this leaderboard must have been unable to hide their shock.
It was a rebellion from the bottom of the ecosystem, a thrilling mockery directed at arrogant humanity.
My star-shaped eyes sparkled as I admired my glorious scorecard with satisfaction.
This had been a splendid game, more than enough for a proper warm-up.
The forest was strangely quiet and peaceful after the battle swept through it.
'Haa, I'm starting to get hungry.'
DING—!
[A special reward is being issued for your overwhelming achievement.]
A dazzling wooden chest dropped out of the air at my feet.
I rolled my round body with a springy bounce and smashed the chest's lock.
[You have obtained 3 bottles of Beginner Stamina Recovery Elixir (Common).]
[You have obtained the Forest of Beginnings Trophy (Special).]
[ Trophy ] Forest of Beginnings (Special)
▸Effect: Movement speed increases by 5% while active in the Forest of Beginnings.
I drank the clear liquid inside the chest and held the trophy above my head.
The energy I had spent fighting was replenished in an instant, leaving me comfortable.
Just as the hunt was drawing to a perfect conclusion.
At some point, my translucent blue body had begun radiating a brilliant light.
'Has the time finally come?'
As expected.
My vision flickered.
Mana swirled around my body, sucking in the surrounding air.
Soon, a dazzling flash of pure white light surged and swallowed me whole.
'I'm going back.'
Back to the Dragon's nest, where she was waiting.