Chapter 413: A Slime That Could Not Become a Dragon
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Slime dragons began raining down from above. Raining was putting it lightly; given their size and weight, it was more like steel beams from a construction site being driven straight into the ground.
[Throw all the slimes!!]
The corpses Rastujad had been controlling leaped high into the air. The Twelve Apostles also sent their slime dragons springing upward.
"Damn it! Run to the corridor!"
In the meantime, I grabbed Lune and Shaitan and jumped backward in a wide arc. The slime dragons plummeting toward us were briefly blocked by the wall of ghoul slimes.
[Corpse explosion!]
The moment Rastujad’s command left his lips, the ghoul slimes began detonating in a chain reaction. The explosions slowed the free-falling slime dragons, and in that brief window, we managed to retreat into the corridor.
"Almost got wrecked. Ugh, shit. Done in by my own trick."
"Master, your head...!"
Shaitan hurriedly used a system window as a mirror to show me my head. There, courtesy of the acidic slime, was a hole the size of a quarter eaten clean through. My reddened scalp still stung.
"You... sons of bitches..."
Me, of all orcs, renowned for my thick, luxurious hair, going bald. And not even natural hair loss; a circular bald spot where the hair on my crown had melted away, leaving a gaping hole.
"This is unforgivable...!"
"You’re right. Thank God it landed on your head; what would we have done if it had landed on your dick?!"
"Indeed. One second earlier and the acidic slime would certainly have landed on your erect penis."
"...You’ve got a point."
I was angry, sure, but let’s try to think positively about what already happened. One wrong move and my dick could have melted clean off, that much was certain...
’No, wait, my hair still melted off though.’
What if the hair on that spot never grew back? If all the follicles had been dissolved by the acidic slime, hair might never grow there again.
’The Legion of Wrath’s Commander has a circular bald spot!’
....
"Kill every last slime in this room. No survivors. Total annihilation."
"Going into the cavern is dangerous. Let’s intercept them from inside the corridor."
"They’re coming in a straight line, so they’re easy to deal with!"
We set up a defensive line inside the corridor. The slime dragons that had fallen to the floor trembled and glared at us. As if their bodies, stiffened from the impact of falling from the ceiling, were finally beginning to move in earnest, they started moving at a noticeably different speed from before.
Splat!!
A new slime dragon fell from the ceiling. The head of the slime dragon underneath it burst open.
"...."
Thud, thud, thud.
The rain of slime dragons from above continued. Crashing down with massive clouds of dust, they seemed less like they were falling of their own will and more like they were being forced to drop.
"Master, is this...?"
"Ah, crap. Usually when this happens, it’s a boss entrance mechanic."
Based on our position, this had to be the far end of the second basement floor. That meant either a massive swarm of slime dragons lived here, or something even worse.
Slither.
A colossal shadow grazed the opposite wall. The entire wall surface undulated and churned as if it were alive. I couldn’t help but doubt my own eyes.
"...So the big one was hiding here all along."
Befitting Baal’s former dungeon.
As if to prove that slime dragons were nothing more than a cumbersome nuisance when it came to actual movement, the enormous being that writhed from the walls all the way up to the ceiling was too massive to take in at a single glance.
"Son of a bitch, now I see why something at slime dragon size gets the name ’dragon.’"
Isn’t there an old saying that calls earthworms "earth dragons"?
If a mere 3-star beast was given the name "dragon," then a being above that would surely bear an even more powerful name.
"So 3-stars were earthworm-level. Damn."
The system window that appeared before my eyes confirmed my theory. The creature’s body, its head beginning to descend from the ceiling like a snake, looked thicker in girth than Flauros.
[Imugilaim: ★★★★☆, Lv 90.]
A slime that could not become a dragon.
A gargantuan beast whose body length easily exceeded 300 feet was coiled against the ceiling of the cavern.
"That thing is definitely the one that captured the thieves who came through the portal. I could acknowledge its contribution and recruit it as a subordinate of our Legion, but..."
Click.
I aimed the seax Mark 3 at the creature.
"You’re the one who stole my hair! You Forneus-looking bastard, you’re dead today!!"
We launched a full-scale raid against the giant beast.
***
[Near Regulus Castle in the Leo Marquisate, knight order assembly point.]
"Your Excellency, perhaps you should reconsider..."
"Enough. Don’t you realize that marching there in such large numbers could itself cause misunderstandings?"
"But the Barony has become Demon King’s Army territory now. There’s no telling when or where monsters might appear."
"If they’re the type to take people hostage, then they’re clearly capable of negotiation. There must be someone among them we can talk to. Yes, at least one."
Despite his retainers’ objections, Marquis Gotdaihal Leo’s resolve was firm. Without even a helmet, he mounted his horse and raised a flagpole bearing a white flag himself.
"Even the Demon King’s Army has emissaries of peace. Tell me, do you know the origin of this white flag?"
The white flag he waved bore an embroidered white dove.
"...I do. It’s a Demon King’s Army signal, isn’t it? Meaning an emissary."
"That’s right. It was a signal the Demon King’s Army sent to the alliance in the early days of their rise. But it disappeared just as quickly. ...All we can do is hope they recognize this signal."
The Marquis had no intention of fighting.
More precisely, he had no intention of attacking the Barony.
No matter how he looked at it, engaging the Demon King’s Army that had occupied the Barony, an army now bolstered by elves, would undoubtedly inflict heavy losses on the Marquisate.
"Even if the Goddess Church requests it, I will refuse. The only one who can give me orders is His Majesty the King."
"Your Excellency...!"
"Let us go. All we can do is pray they believe we are not coming to attack."
Neigh.
When the Marquis pulled the reins, his knights began moving their horses as well. They moved at a leisurely pace, slowly, as if on a casual stroll.
As if declaring they had absolutely no intention of attacking.
"That’s right. It would be far too unjust for us to fight."
For the first time, the Marquis let his irritation show with a sardonic tone.
"This is a problem the Goddess Church should be handling on their own."
The Marquis secured the parchment tucked inside his coat, making sure it wouldn’t fall.
A non-aggression pact.
If the existence of this document became known to the outside world, the Marquis could suffer considerable political damage. But he was willing to stake all his honor and give everything he had for the sake of the Marquisate.
"Until my dying breath... may no harm come to the Marquisate."
What if a Hero of the Holy Sword suddenly appeared and defeated the Demon King’s Army in the Barony? The Marquis prayed fervently in his heart as he followed the main road.
***
"Stick the corpses on! Then blow them up! Lune, covering fire!"
True to its name as an imugi, the creature was intelligent. Unlike the grubs that mindlessly devoured everything in sight, corpses and all, it methodically intercepted the ghoul slimes with jets of mucus.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat.
The slime imugi, hereafter Imugilaim, spewed mucus from its gaping maw in rapid bursts. The projectiles hit with the hardness of baseballs fired from a pitching machine, forcing me to focus entirely on defense.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
I gripped a ghoulified slime dragon in each hand and swung them to intercept the incoming mucus. Despite attacks from Lune and the Ghoul Mages, Imugilaim stubbornly targeted me, firing globs of slime in my direction.
"Shaitan, don’t you dare leave my back!"
It wasn’t me the creature was after; it was drooling over Shaitan behind me. Whether because of the Seal or because she was the Demon King’s daughter, the creature kept lunging at Shaitan with its maw wide open, again and again.
SHRIEEEEK!!
When its ranged attacks failed, the creature charged again, trying to swallow me and Shaitan whole. I hurled a ghoul slime into its mouth and snatched up the seax Mark 3 I’d planted beside Shaitan.
BOOM, KABOOOM!!
A massive explosion erupted inside Imugilaim’s mouth. The creature clamped its jaws shut and shook its head side to side. True to form as a level 90 beast, a corpse explosion from low-level dark mages didn’t faze it in the slightest.
Hisssss....
Drip, drip. Between the rows of razor-sharp teeth revealed by its gaping maw, the remains of the exploded slime dragon oozed out. If only those remains had been evidence of the creature’s own wounds; but the crushed slime dripping out like pus was red.
Imugilaim’s entire body was yellow. As if it were on the very brink of ascending to become a Gold Dragon.
SHRIEEK!!
Imugilaim opened its maw wide and lunged at me again. I raised my seax toward the head descending from the ceiling.
"You perverted imugi bastard! No matter how delicious Shaitan looks to you!"
I drew the power of my Seal to its absolute maximum.
"The only one who gets to eat Shaitan is ME!!"
KABOOOOM!!
I struck the flat of the halberd down across the creature’s snout from above. Imugilaim’s head was driven into the ground.
"Now’s our chance for an all-out attack! Focus on the head!!"
I stepped on the halberd’s shaft, vaulted up, and stomped down on the creature’s head. It would only be a matter of time before its resistance sent me flying, but I was the only one capable of pinning it down by force.
Whoosh!
Lune’s wind arrows flew in. Ghoul slimes latched onto the area around the creature’s face. Imugilaim thrashed its body, still anchored to the ceiling, and shook its head violently from side to side.
SHRIEK!!
Its target was still Shaitan. I leaped toward Shaitan.
"HRAAAGH!!"
I slid forward on my back, cradling Shaitan on top of me. Naturally, with Shaitan on top and me sliding on my back, my skin burned as if it were on fire, but this was no time to worry about that.
Crunch!
The creature’s fangs barely grazed Shaitan’s tail. A second later and part of Shaitan’s body would have been torn away. The seax I’d been pressing against the creature’s snout was flung sideways, and a dark shadow snatched it from midair.
"Gray, strike with the seax!"
"Seax!"
Gray, soaring in with wings spread wide, hoisted the seax and slammed it into Imugilaim’s neck. The halberd’s blade, driven with Dragonian strength, carved a long gash into the back of Imugilaim’s neck.
Glub, glub.
Yellow mucus began seeping from the split in its skin. The yellow slime splattered across Gray’s entire body like blood.
"Urgh, GYAAAH?!"
Gray clutched the seax and stumbled backward in alarm. Fearing it might be acidic, my heart sank.
"Are you okay?!"
"C-Commander!!"
Gray wiped the slime away, his face flushed red.
"Th-this is..."
"Is it toxic?!"
"It’s an aphrodisiac! No, this is a heat-inducing agent!"
"...Of course. It’s a slime!"
No matter how far it had evolved into an imugi, the fundamental traits of the slime species apparently stayed the same. The front of Gray’s trousers was swelling as if about to burst.
"Damn it, so it’s potent enough to put you in heat the instant it touches you?!"
"...That’s not all, I’m afraid."
Creak.
Shaitan opened her eyes with a grimace and pushed herself up. Her underwear, briefly visible as she shifted, was slightly damp.
"It seems to spread... through the air as well."
"Damn it, is this some kind of area-of-effect aphrodisiac?"
It was an ability of devastating effectiveness against anyone with reproductive functions, regardless of sex. Imugilaim smirked at me and raised its head high.
Grrr.
Coiled across the entire ceiling like a whirlpool, the creature peered down at us from dead center, moving only its elongated head. Its eyes were still locked on Shaitan.
"...I see now. So that’s why it keeps targeting Shaitan."
The enemy was an imugi. A creature that could not become a dragon.
4-star, level 90, one empty ☆.
"Fundamentally, slimes grow stronger and evolve by consuming other organisms. ...The fact that it’s ignoring the Dragonians Gray and Harpuia to fixate on Shaitan must be for that exact reason."
Because it needed Shaitan to evolve.
"You’ve hit the level cap but couldn’t meet the evolution requirements, you rotten thing."
Karrrr.
And consuming Shaitan would undoubtedly fulfill those evolution requirements.
"Heh heh heh, but you picked the wrong opponents. If your specialty is weakening your enemies by putting them in heat... then you picked the dead wrong opponents. Because we’re ALWAYS in heat!!"
"Dad, I’m ready!!"
Harpuia’s piercing shriek echoed throughout the entire cavern. The rest of our forces had already withdrawn into the corridor.
"Ready?!"
"Yes!"
"Then let’s do this!"
Boom, boom-boom, boom-boom.
I beat the war drum. A crimson aura began spreading outward from me throughout the cavern, gradually seeping into Harpuia’s body as she stepped forward.
"Everyone, earplugs in!!"
I quickly shoved slime mucus into my ears. Lune and Shaitan pulled mucus from their pouches and molded it into each other’s ears like putty. Gray plugged his ears with his thumbs and fell back.
"Harpuia, go!"
"Haaaaah..."
Harpuia drew in a deep, long breath, and:
"I WANNA HAVE SEEEEEEX!!!!"
Harpies.
Monsters that attack enemies with razor-sharp talons, but first disorient their prey’s minds with piercing screams.
"SEEEEEEEX!!"
Amplified by my war drum, Harpuia’s voice, soaring beyond seven octaves, rocketed toward Imugilaim with enough force to shatter the ceiling.