Chapter 28 – Dungeon, Evolution and Success (2)

[Giant Slime]

[Level : 102]

[Goo-ohhhhhhhh…..  Oh-oh-oh-oh….]

“Ee-yah.  We’ve actually arrived at this point.”

They were on the Dungeon’s 7th floor.  For some reason, the adventurers had been barred from coming down this far for in the past.  Artpe’s party had gained access to this region.

Of course, the one to act in their stead was the Giant Slime that had finally went past level 100.  It was that particular Slime.

[Goo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

[Kee-heeeeeeeeeee!]

The Giant Slime had grown so big that it had to destroy the Dungeon’s passageway to move around.  The level 50 and over Slimes, who resided on the Dungeon’s 7th floor, were screaming as they ran away.

He had only known this place as a beginner’s Dungeon.  He never expected to find high Class Slimes residing here.  It seemed the Dungeon was structured in such a way that the hidden lower floors were only revealed when the corridors were destroyed.

Basically, a high Class party over level 250 had to come into a lowly Slime Dungeon, and they had to indiscriminately use Skills that would cause structural damage.  Or they could do what Artpe’s party had done.  Artpe had baited the Slimes to consume each other, and this resulted in the lower floors being revealed.  This was a method that had never been used in his previous life.

[Goo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

“Oh.  It’s eating them.  It’s eating again.”

“How rare is that one, Artpe?”

It seemed even Maetel realized that this particular Slime was slowly turning into something remarkable.  Moreover,  the evolving monster and the involvement of the Dungeon reminded her of the first Dungeon they cleared.  It reminded her of the Record Link, so her interest in the matter was getting deeper.

“Yes, let me see….   It is a Special Rare Elite monster.  Numerous requirements has to be met for a normal Slime to reach that point.  It was possible, because no one had yet to set foot inside this Dungeon.  It wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t an enormous amount of Slimes spawned within this Dungeon.”

“It’s really an incredible monster!”

It had went past level 100 to reach Special Rare Elite status.  It had almost reached level 120 right now, so it was a monster that would be able to kill Leseti if she wasn’t careful.  Leseti unsheathed her sword from her waist.  She was very tense as she asked Artpe a question.

“Shouldn’t we kill it soon?  No, don’t we no choice but to kill it now?”

“Not really.  I just had a thought.  How great a Slime would form if it was allowed to swallow an entire Dungeon?  I keep thinking about it!”

“Why does your curiosity get piqued over such a topic!”

In truth, the Giant Slime had assessed the battle capability of Artpe’s party when it reached level 100.  It decided it wouldn’t fare well against them, so it charged towards the 7th floor.

As its level grew, its ability to sense Mana became more accurate.  Basically, its intelligence was increasing.

Of course, despite this fact, the Slime continued to eat the Mana-infused rocks.  Even if it was  smart, it was only a smart Slime.  The fact that it was able to level up didn’t mean that it could surpass the limitation of its race.

“Are the Mana-infused stones you are throwing accelerating the growth of the Slime?”

“It is as I’ve said before.  It takes awhile for the Slime to digest objects infused with Mana.  It is the same as the treasure chests and artifacts it ate as it descended from the 1st floor to the 6th floor.  You don’t have to worry too much about it.”

“So why do you keep feeding it!”

Leseti and Silpennon didn’t have any deep knowledge about magic, so they were frustrated at Artpe’s bizarre actions.  On the other hand, Maetel had a rough idea on what he was doing.

She had hunted in a Dungeon with him for the past year.  In that period of time, she had never seen Artpe waste a single drop of Mana.

“Uh.  The 7th floor is collapsing.”

“Wow.  There’s a silver treasure chest over there.  Ah. The Slime ate it.”

“This isn’t the time to leisurely watch the Slime eat!”

The same scenario kept repeating, so Artpe was used to wrapping Mana Strings around the party members.  Artpe made sure he wasn’t hurting the others as they landed softly on the Dungeon’s 8th floor.

[Sheeeeeee-sheeeeeee.]

[Gee-gee-gee-gee.]

There were Slimes over level 70 residing on this floor.  Each Slime was considered to be rare in terms of probability of them making an appearance in the world.

They were all born with great attributes.  Some could use simple magic or they could change a part of their body.  Some had a special camouflage ability, and others could counterattack when they were hit with a subpar attack on reflex.  The variety of Slimes that existed here was vast.  The Slimes were quite surprising….!

[Goo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhng!]

The Giant Slime was eating every single one of them.  The other Slimes were showing up in style, but they were swallowed before they could do anything.  The Big Slime was the calamity of the Dungeon!   It was like the second coming of the Demon King within this Dungeon!

“I kinda feel bad for the Slimes now…..”

“Hey, look at that.  It is extending its body to eat them all at once.”

It seemed the Giant Slime was tired of eating them one by one.  It extended its body from side to side, and it swept over the Slimes that were all over the Dungeon.  The Giant Slime melted them all down.  It looked as if a wave was sweeping through the Dungeon.

“That looks like a wave?  It is so pretty…….”

“Someday, I’ll take you to a real ocean.”

“Yes!  I’ll look forward to it, Artpe!”

The two Heroes were mellow even as they watched the Giant Slime stuff itself.  Silpennon looked at them with salty eyes as he mumbled to himself.

“Artpe was able to compare such a horrifying sight to a wave, and Maetel admired him for it.  I think both of them has a screw loose…..”

“It seems your highness’ delusions are slowly becoming shattered.”

When it ate all the Slimes on the 8th floor, the Giant Slime had reached level 120.  At this point, Leseti would have to fight through the day and night for four days to kill it.

“A…Artpe….   Are you sure it isn’t time yet?”

“Leseti.”

Artpe tossed several rocks with significant amount of Mana infused within them.  He helped satiate the appetite of the Giant Slime then he spoke to Leseti with a voice that was low and silky.

“Ooht.”

At his solemn attitude, Leseti once again failed to act her age as her heart beat faster.   However, she came to her senses when she heard the words coming out of his mouth.

“We are about to see something that will never happen again in history.  Even if I have to sacrifice Silpennon’s life and your life, I’ll have to watch this unfold!”

“Why don’t you or Maetel sacrifice your own lives!”

Artpe snorted at her ridiculous words.  He gave a response to her words.

“I don’t know about you guys, but we won’t fall to a mere Slime.”

“You cowardly hero!  Kill it immediately!  Let’s kill that bastard!”

When it ate everything on the 8th floor, the Giant Slime took time to think this over.  Should it just charge them?  Was it strong enough?

It was confident that it could eat the female knight and the red haired brat.  However, the other two brats made it feel uneasy.  If it was uneasy, it had to eat more.  The Giant Slime made a firm resolve as it made a request to the Dungeon.

Open the 9th floor!

“Maybe, this is what happens when a Dungeon encounters a hero.  It could be a special change that occurs to match the current situation of the heroes.”

Artpe watched the Giant Slime eat the level 100 and above Slimes on the 9th floor.  He became pretty sober as he mumbled to himself.  Maetel tilted her head in puzzlement as she asked him a question.

“Does that hold true when we face other adventurers?”

“What I’m discussing right now isn’t that simple of a problem.  A hero is born when a Demon King appears.  A hero’s presence could create a Dungeon, a city or even a country.  A hero causes a fundamental change to one’s surrounding.”

He had explained this before to Maetel once.  He wasn’t joking.  It was real.  The hero’s existence itself was a miracle, and the hero was the focal point in causing changes to the Records.

If one thought about it from that perspective, the biggest variable causing his past life and the current life to change so starkly wasn’t the action of Maetel.  The change might be driven by the existence of the newly born hero in Artpe.

“Of course, a hero possesses incredible abilities within one’s body.  However, they have an uncharted ability to cause change to a situation.  Maybe, this Dungeon and the growth of the Slime might be aggressively helped by our presence.”

The Slime eventually went over level 150.  It was so large that it wasn’t able to move unless it caused changes to its body.  The amount  and density of the magical energy within its body wasn’t normal anymore.

These were Slimes that would have probably rested inside the heart of the Dungeon until end of time, yet the Dungeon opened up the walls when the floor was broken by the Giant Slime. The Giant Slimed moved at the guidance of the Dungeon, and the other Slimes were letting out wails of resentment.

[Goo-ohhhhhhhhhhh.]

“That’s right.  You are eating well.”

Artpe was feeding the Giant Slime by habit.  As he threw the rocks infused with Mana, he looked up.  His eyes were letting out a purple light as he used his Read All Creation ability.  He gathered all information from his surrounding.

There was the crumbled walls, and the hallway that looked like it was about to fall apart.  Then there was the remains of the Slimes and the Giant Slime that was eating all of them.

He was slowly able to see the entire structure of the Dungeon.

“The 10th floor is the end.”

“Artpe, your eyes……”

Silpennon was taken aback as he sensed unfathomable energy within Artpe’s eyes.  Normally, it wasn’t something people noticed.  This made Artpe have a pretty good opinion of Silpennon.

“Is that perhaps the Mystic Eyes?”

“It’s a secret.”

Artpe grinned as he extended one hand.  As always, three strands of Mana String came out.

“We just have to endure it once more.  You should just guard your master, Leseti.  Silpennon, you should look at what happens with both eyes wide open.”

“You……”

A fair amount of time had passed since they had entered the Dungeon.  They had descended from the 1st floor to the 9th floor .  They watched the evolution of a single Slime.  It had been a fun and exciting experience, but….   It was time for the heroes to act in earnest.

“Just endure it once more.  You should even be careful about breathing on the 10th floor.  Ah.  Unsheathe your sword, Maetel.”

“Yes!”

“Please use the longsword instead of the bastard sword.”

“……yes!”

The Slimes on the 9th floor were all gone now.  The Giant Slime had achieved level 168, and it thought it had a chance against them.  It dragged its enormous body towards Artpe’s party.  It was very slow.

No, it had thought about going down to the 10th floor, but it decided to confront them on the 9th floor!  Silpennon was about to let out words of complaint when Artpe opened his mouth.  He let out a quiet instruction, and it changed turned the entire situation on its head.

“Maetel, Berserk.  Show off your power.  You should only show it off.”

“Yes, I understand what you are trying to say.”

“Berserk!?”

Leseti knew about the terrifying Buff Skill, so she let out a shout.  She wrapped up Silpennon, and she distanced herself from Maetel.

However, she thought over what he had said.  Berserk wasn’t a skill that could be activated at will.  Wasn’t it automatically activated in extreme circumstances?  Moreover, Maetel was a brat, who received her Class only a year ago.  How could she handle Berserk!It probably wasn’t Berserk.  Leseti thought Maetel was using an artifact’s option or a skill that was a poor imitation of Berserk.  She had already made up her mind as she observed Maetel…..

“Hoo-ooh……  Hoohp.”

“What the….  She can activate Berserk at will!?”

When she realized Maetel could freely control this vast power, Leseti was thunderstruck.

Until now, Maetel had already shown herself to be strong.  However, when she used the Bone Gauntlet’s buff option and Berserk, she became as strong as a being at level 200.

How ridiculous was this!  The leader of this country’s order of knights had yet to pass the level 200 threshold.  A mere 13 year old child hero was displaying power of that caliber!

Of course, Maetel was using Berserk, but she was able to have full control over the skill.  She was as strong as most level 200 being, who possessed a high rank Class.

Maetel put her rising anger into her longsword.  She had a very refined posture, which was ill-matched with her slender body.  She pointed the sword at the Giant Slime as she opened her mouth.

“Are you really going to fight me?”

[Goo…goo-ohhhhhhh…..!]

Of course, the Giant Slime could feel how strong she was.  It didn’t take long to find out its answer.  It immediately broke the hallway that separated the 9th and 10th floor.  It dragged the party down towards the 10th floor!

[Goo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ohng!]

“Yes!”

As if he had been waiting for this moment, Artpe stylishly surrounded the Mana Strings around the party as they landed on the 10th floor.

The Giant Slime had gotten cold feet when it saw Maetel’s show of force.  It didn’t even look back as it ran rampant as it ate everything.   The party was left behind, and they watched the result of Maetel showing her power once.  Silpennon and Leseti were too dumbfounded to speak.

“Good job, Maetel.”

“Don’t.  If you give me too much praise, I’ll feel too good and the Berserk will be canceled.”

Maetel was trying very hard not to smile as she maintained her stance.  Artpe snickered at her words, and he took out an item from his Dimensional Pouch.

“Uh?”

“Uh…..!?”

When Silpennon and Leseti recognized it, they both let out a strangled sound at the same time.  Artpe ignored them, and he focused his Mana into the item.

After being injected with Mana, the Demite’s Gemstone was activated.  It started emitting purple light that was brighter than the light within Artpe’s eyes.

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