Chapter 16: What would happen if you were caught by something like that?

We were steadily making our way through the ruins—supposedly a beginner-friendly dungeon—as part of our investigation to locate the lair of an evil mage who had summoned magical beasts.

So far, the only monsters we’d encountered were clumsily moving skeletons.

At first, the sight of animated human bones had startled me, but once you got used to them, they really did live up to their reputation as beginner-tier trash mobs.

Neither Ririka nor Natsumi had any trouble dealing with them, calmly dispatching each one as it appeared. Even Evangelin, the princess knight traveling with us, showed impressive skill with her sword, felling skeletons with little more than a single swing.

I tried fighting as well, picking up a rusted sword dropped by one of the skeletons. As long as the blade wasn’t enchanted, I could at least manage the equivalent of hitting something with an iron rod.

That said, I was still a slender, beautiful young girl at level one in this world. Just to be safe, I only swung the rusted sword to finish off a skeleton whose arm and leg Ririka had already pulverized, leaving it unable to move. Even then, it took far too long—and left me gasping for breath—to smash it thoroughly enough to stop it completely.

And as expected, when I defeated a monster, it didn’t dissolve into particles of light the way it did when the others killed one. No items dropped, no materials appeared. On top of that, when Ririka checked my status, the experience value—already garbled into unreadable text—showed no sign of change, and there was no indication that my level would increase.

It took time, it was exhausting, and I gained nothing.

Fighting really was nothing but a loss for me.

I hadn’t tested it, but firearms would probably be ineffective against bone-only monsters like skeletons anyway. I should’ve brought a shotgun.

In the end, I wound up holding a magic lantern Natsumi had handed me—an eco-friendly, convenient lighting device that produced no heat, lasted a long time, and emitted no carbon dioxide—while watching the other three fight from behind. I also doubled as the biscuit carrier.

And so, while thoroughly searching the ruins said to have three underground levels, we steadily cleared everything up through the second floor. Finally, it was time to descend to the lowest level—the third floor.

"Erika, can you still hear me?"

"No issues at present, Master. As a precaution, I launched autonomous relay units from the Dragoon near the opening of the underground cavern. Considering the artificial structures forming the underground space and the surrounding strata, I judge that communication should remain stable even if we descend another fifty meters."

"Got it. I’m counting on you if anything happens."

"Roger."

I checked our communications with Erika before heading down, and everything seemed fine. Even if the dungeon was labeled beginner-friendly, I’d already been betrayed by that phrase more times than I could count since coming to this world. You couldn’t be too careful.

After we’d walked a short distance on the lowest level, Ririka spoke up, as if confirming things for herself.

"We’ve only run into the same skeletons as in the game, and there don’t seem to be any signs of disturbance, nya. Looks like no strong monsters have wandered into this dungeon, nya."

"Even monsters would probably prefer living in a forest over a dark, cramped underground space like this," Natsumi said. "If a big ogre were down here, it’d feel suffocating."

"Hmm. Do monsters choose their habitats selectively as well? Come to think of it, some of the places we’ve seen them before felt unnatural. Why were so many monsters living on a high rocky mountain like Mount Andares, where hardly any trees grow?"

"Well, I guess that’s just how things were set up until now, nya. No point overthinking it, nya."

"Still, it’s so damp and unpleasant," Natsumi added. "They didn’t have to make even this part so realistic."

She wasn’t wrong. Even though the air down here was cool, the humidity made it distinctly uncomfortable.

"Feels like there could be some weird creature lurking around," I muttered. "Are skeletons really the only monsters that appear in this dungeon?"

"Mm-nya, the lowest level does have other monsters properly, nya. They’re still the usual RPG trash, though… ah, see? There it is, nya."

From the darkness Ririka pointed toward, an amorphous mass crawled into the lantern light.

It was a writhing, semi-transparent green, gelatinous lump—about knee-high, but spread wide enough to suggest considerable mass. Near its center was a faintly glowing red, spherical organ that resembled a nucleus.

"...A slime."

"A slime, nya. Seeing it like this, it’s pretty gross, nya… Ririka fights barehanded, so I really don’t want to touch it, nya."

"Really? It kind of looks like melon jelly," Natsumi said. "I don’t hate it."

"Hmm. Slimes are said to attack humans in groups, engulfing them and invading the body through every orifice," Evangelin said gravely. "They may be slow-moving monsters, but if you were trapped by something like that, what would happen, I wonder."

People’s opinions on slimes clearly varied widely. And why did Her Highness the princess knight look just a little pleased while describing their threat?

"Anyway, fire-element magic works best on slimes, nya. Natsumi-chan, do it, nya!"

"Okaaay! Looks like it’s my turn!" Natsumi said enthusiastically. "Flames! Burn my enemies to ash! Fire Arrow!"

The flaming arrow pierced the slime, setting its entire shapeless body ablaze. It quickly dried out, hardened, and collapsed, its fragments turning into particles of light that vanished after leaving behind a few coins.

But from the darkness, another slime crawled out.

"Here comes another one!" Natsumi called. "Fly away—fire!"

That slime too was engulfed in flames and disappeared into light, but yet another emerged.

"Doesn’t matter how many you bring!" he shouted. "Burn, fiery fighting spirit beam!"

Each time Natsumi’s magic burned one away, more slimes appeared, until eventually multiple slimes began spilling out from deeper within the dungeon.

"W-Wait, aren’t there too many slimes!?" Natsumi cried.

"This is bad, nya! We retreat to the upper floor, nya!" Ririka shouted.

We turned to follow her call, only to find that behind us as well, huge numbers of slimes were oozing out from gaps in the stone walls, blocking our escape route.

"This way, nya!"

With no choice, we dashed past the slimes ahead of us, brushing dangerously close, and burst into a space like a small hall, wider than the corridor. We threw open one of the doors there and dove into the room beyond.

"W-Why are there so many slimes!?" Natsumi yelled.

Once inside, we confirmed it was safe and shut the door. Natsumi collapsed onto the floor.

"I think slimes were set up to multiply endlessly as long as there’s even a little water and air, nya… That’s probably why their numbers got so ridiculous, nya……"

"If we were swallowed by that many, we wouldn’t come out unscathed," Evangelin said. "At that point, even I wouldn’t feel like ‘testing it out’……"

That kind of slime setting was common enough, but having them truly multiply without limit was far too much of a nuisance. And just what exactly had the princess knight been thinking of trying?

"Either way, hiding here won’t solve anything," I said. "If each individual isn’t much of a threat, then we should fight together, thin their numbers, and secure a way out."

As I unfolded the transformable assault rifle slung on my back, Ririka leaned in and whispered quietly.

"...About that, nya… Ririka actually still can’t use magic, nya… Jumping into that many and punching them would be really bad, nya… I want you to help me, nya……"

That idiot cat-eared girl. She’d bragged so loudly about being a grand archmage, and yet she still couldn’t even use magic on her own.

Meanwhile, Natsumi was tossing spells around with ease.

He’d talked about things like mental focus and visualization before. Judging by appearances, Ririka—who looked hopelessly scatterbrained and lacking in imagination—might simply not have the aptitude for that sort of thing. Maybe the old guy inside her didn’t, either.

"Well, yeah… anyway, just do your best to take care of whatever slips through, even if it’s only a little."

"Got it, nya… at least Ririka will hold the light, nya……"

I handed the lantern to Ririka and raised my assault rifle, taking position in front of the door as I prepared to charge out.

"Is that the magical weapon Ririka-dono crafted?"

"Yes. While Ririka-sama concentrates so I can use this weapon, she’ll be following from the rear. Please protect her so her focus isn’t disturbed."

"I understand. Rest assured—your master will be protected by me."

I nodded at Evangelin’s response after giving her a convenient excuse, then threw open the door and leapt into the hall.

The hall was already overflowing with slimes.

With this many, I didn’t even need to aim—something was bound to get hit. I pulled the trigger and unleashed full-auto fire from the assault rifle.

"Master, I’ve detected gunfire. Are you currently engaged in combat? The surrounding area appears to be flooded with an unidentified liquid, but I’m unable to detect any lifeforms resembling hostile entities."

It seemed Erika couldn’t detect slimes at all, mistaking them for some kind of fluid. Despite the writhing mass of slimes clearly filling my vision, the targeting reticle showed no motion-detection box—only the static crosshair remained.

"It’s hard to explain the situation! We’ll try to escape, but if that fails, move the Triad to a position above us and punch a hole through with a penetrator! Get ready!"

I never imagined slimes would turn out to be this dangerous.

I kept firing, but bullets that struck the slimes simply passed through their semi-liquid bodies. Unless a shot happened to hit the core directly, it seemed to have almost no effect. I switched to my handgun and changed tactics, aiming specifically for the cores—but there were too many. At this rate, I’d run out of ammo fast.

Evangelin was slicing apart slimes that approached Ririka, cleaving straight through their cores, but she was already starting to breathe heavily.

Amid all this, Natsumi was incinerating clusters of slimes at once with wide-area fire magic. Out of all of us, his attacks were clearly the most effective.

Using grenades in an enclosed underground space surrounded by stone walls was risky, but if I timed it with Natsumi’s magic, maybe we could blast open a path to retreat.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the slimes began gathering together, pressing toward a single point.

They merged—sticking together, layering atop one another—until they formed a massive unified mass.

Eventually, the individual cores fused into a single enormous core, glowing a vivid red.

"They… fused, nya……"

"This looks like… you know… that one with the crown and everything."

"It’s pretty standard for slimes, but still… yeah, this is bad."

"Hmm… wrapped in a layer this thick, attacks won’t reach the core."

The sense of danger Evangelin felt and my own idea of “bad” were probably different in nature—but the situation was exactly as she said.

To shield its core from Natsumi’s magic, the fused slime grew so large it nearly brushed the ceiling, completely blocking the corridor that led to the exit.

Unless we defeated it, escape wasn’t happening.

"Master, are you safe? Triad Primus is ready for takeoff. Issue the order at any time."

"Sorry for worrying you. I think we’re okay. You don’t need to send the Triad."

Ririka stared at me in shock and protested.

"What are you saying, nya!? If we don’t deal with that thing, we can’t get out, nya!"

"We were in trouble because there were too many of them. Now they’ve conveniently gathered into one—this actually makes things easier."

I pulled the trigger and fired the handgun straight at the fused slime’s core.

The round—accelerated by explosives and an electromagnetic barrel—hit its target, but its kinetic energy was absorbed by the semi-liquid body before it could reach the core.

"Yeah… figured that wouldn’t work."

"Don’t ‘figured that wouldn’t work,’ nya! What’s with that sudden, smug, cheat-protagonist line like you’ve seen through everything, nya!? You only get to say stuff like that after you become the cheat, nya! Stop messing around—if you’ve got a plan, hurry up and do something, nya!"

"Quit saying stuff like that. All we need is for an attack to reach the core, right?"

I shrugged off the poncho I was wearing and dove straight into the fused slime’s semi-liquid body.

The three of them shouted something in shock.

"Ma…ster… com…muni…cation… lost… please… re…port… your… sta…tus…"

Erika’s voice came through in broken fragments before vanishing completely.

So this thing interfered with communications too.

I kept my mouth shut and held my breath, but the semi-liquid body—apparently able to move freely even on the inside—kept probing, trying to pry my mouth open, writhing unpleasantly across my body everywhere at once.

This probably wasn’t living up to Evangelin’s expectations.

Struggling, I forced my way through the slime’s interior as if swimming, pushing forward until I reached the core. It pulsed with a blinking red light right in front of me.

Was it angry? Happy? Afraid?

I had no idea whether something like emotions even existed for it, but I met its glow head-on and muttered silently in my mind.

So long.

I pressed the handgun clenched in my grip against my own chest and pulled the trigger.

With a sharp bang, the electromagnetic shield of my deployed suit activated, blasting outward. The slime’s body was violently blown apart, its core left completely exposed.

"Now!"

My body was hurled free, and as I fell, my shout was answered by Natsumi’s magic flames engulfing the exposed core, followed immediately by Evangelin’s sword piercing straight through it.

The slime convulsed violently once, then rapidly dried out as if all moisture had been drained away. Crumbling apart, it turned into particles of light and vanished, scattering coins with a loud clatter as it disappeared.

"Master! Are you safe!? All signals were lost for several seconds! Please respond if you’re unharmed!"

"I’m fine. Sorry for worrying you, Erika."

As I replied to Erika’s anxious voice, Ririka approached me, holding the poncho I’d thrown aside.

"Nyaa, thank you, nya. You really saved us, nya… but, um… if you got that close, couldn’t you have just shot the core directly and beaten it that way, nya?"

"...Don’t… say things like that…"

It wasn’t that I hadn’t noticed.

I’d just chosen the surer option.

I definitely hadn’t overlooked such an anticlimactic solution, you tasteless cat-eared idiot.

"That was amazing! You actually jumped right into it! Is that some kind of hobby!? Too bad your clothes didn’t melt off!"

"Hah… you truly surprised me. And… how was it? Inside there…?"

Natsumi’s and Evangelin’s reactions weren’t quite what I’d hoped for, either.

I’d put my body on the line—couldn’t they praise me a little more?

"Anyway, we’ve taken down that many slimes, nya, and it doesn’t look like there are any others around, nya. We should be able to continue the investigation safely now, nya."

As Ririka said that and pulled me up by the hand, a different door at the far end of the hall—one we hadn’t fled through—creaked open, and a voice echoed out.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You foolish adventurers! To think you would kindly defeat the slimes and free me from these ruins yourselves! Now I can summon the great magical beast Garmglyph and offer the ignorant masses as sacrifices for the revival of the evil god! You have my thanks, adventurers!"

It seemed this ruin really had been a hit after all.