A Narrow Escape
A thunderous gunshot tore through the night, shattering the heavy darkness. The man who had been overseeing the cleanup near the gate immediately sprinted toward the sound. His subordinates shouted after him in confusion, but he didn’t stop. When he reached the source, his face twisted in dismay. It was an inexcusable mistake on his part. He had never imagined that one of the stragglers would break away from the group.
Clicking his tongue, he raced toward the temporary tent. Even though it was deep into the night, he had stayed behind for a simple reason: to deal with any organized criminals who might be drawn here by the scent of easy profit. Just moments earlier, there had been a small clash near the dungeon exit. He and his men, lying in ambush, had surrounded and eliminated the intruders who had tried to sneak in. No matter how heavily armed they were, ordinary thugs stood no chance against awakened hunters.
He had predicted this outcome based on two facts: the area was notorious for gang activity, and the large number of personnel who had been combing the dungeon since morning in search of bodies. At least some of them must have discovered the massive cache of magic stones buried near the boss room. With such chaos erupting in their territory, the criminals would naturally have been sniffing around for information—and it was only a matter of time before word of the magic stones reached their ears.
Of course, this was only a theory. He hadn’t been certain, but years of experience had guided him to set the trap anyway. The result had been a resounding success. Yet before executing the plan, he had made one critical oversight.
‘I really didn’t want to stay here overnight… No, when it comes down to it, this is my fault.’
Two mistakes had led to the current situation. First, he had placed too much faith in the gangsters’ habit of moving in groups and failed to anticipate stragglers. Second, he had never imagined that intruders would boldly sneak all the way into the temporary headquarters itself. The fact that the base had been set up far from the gate had only made the lapse worse. Regret washed over him for not leaving at least one person behind, but it was far too late now. Praying desperately that the child was safe, he rushed into the tent area.
His eyes swept the surroundings like a hawk, but he detected no unusual presence. Still, he remained on guard as he moved swiftly through the camp. Thanks to his caution, he soon reached the tent where the girl was supposed to be staying tonight. Standing before the entrance, he felt a wave of dread. A similar scene had played out in his distant past—the terrifying moment of having to confirm the fate of his comrades with his own eyes. The long-buried trauma stirred, but he shook his head sharply. That was all in the past. Right now, he had to face the present.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the tent and carefully lifted the flap.
“……”
The interior was pitch-black, yet the faint moonlight spilling in allowed him to make out the shapes inside. With a pounding heart, he scanned the tent. The moment his gaze reached the cot at the far end, relief flooded his face. The girl lay there, blanket pulled up to her nose, quietly watching him.
Seeing that she was unharmed, he relaxed and switched on the lights. The tent’s interior appeared perfectly normal. He checked once more under the illumination, but found nothing suspicious.
‘No other presence nearby… The shooter must have already fled the area.’
The intruder’s goal had obviously been to steal anything valuable. Why the criminal had risked exposure by firing a gun was harder to understand. If they had only come to steal, there would have been no need for such noise.
His eyes met the girl’s. She stared at him with wary eyes. For a fleeting second, an absurd suspicion crossed his mind, but he immediately dismissed it. If the child had somehow repelled the intruder, there would be clear signs of a struggle. Yet the tent showed none. Moreover, the acrid smell of gunpowder was absent—something that should have lingered in the enclosed space.
Letting out a long sigh, he relaxed. The suspicion had been nothing more than paranoia. Turning to the girl still huddled beneath the blanket, he spoke gently.
“…It’s all right now. The bad men have all been driven away. So… hmm.”
He faltered, unsure what to say to a frightened child. Dealing with monsters and burly subordinates was one thing; comforting a small, delicate girl was entirely outside his experience. He thought of his wife, who had always loved children, and desperately tried to imagine what she would say.
The awkward silence didn’t last long. The girl, who had been watching him quietly, slowly opened her mouth.
“…I heard footsteps outside earlier. And a really loud noise, too…”
She shrank deeper into the blanket as she spoke. Surprised that she had responded at all, he offered her a small smile.
“Thank you for telling me. And… I’m sorry you had to go through something so frightening again. We won’t be leaving this area until morning, so you can rest easy and get some sleep.”
His low voice was accompanied by a gentle hand reaching toward her head. The girl flinched, and he hesitated for a moment, but he managed to pat her hair softly. With that, he turned off the lights and stepped outside. Staring up at the moon, he quietly wondered whether his actions had been correct—a secret doubt he would keep to himself.
“……”
Even after he left, I kept my guard up. Only when his presence had faded into the distance did I allow myself to breathe easily.
Enemy defeated!! …The defeated target possesses a certain level of Karma or higher. Due to the effect of the title Outsider Magical Girl, bonus experience points have been acquired.
Ulthar’s voice came from somewhere in the darkness, sounding just as shaken as I felt. I nodded unconsciously. The fact that the gangster’s bullet had struck my body was nothing short of a miracle. If it had missed and punched through the tent or hit the ground instead, things wouldn’t have resolved so cleanly.
I slowly peeled off the blanket. My translucent gray slime body came into view, along with the dissolving remains of the former gangster inside me.
“…Ugh.”
The grotesque sight made me quickly look away. It was fortunate that all the lights were off; in bright conditions, the scene would have been nauseating.
Relaxing my tense body, I lay back on the cot and replayed the events. Transforming into my original slime form and swallowing the intruder had gone smoothly. I had used Dissolve immediately, finishing him off while he thrashed inside me. The real problem came right after.
An unknown presence had suddenly appeared nearby and charged straight toward the tent. I had expected someone to come after the gunshot, but not this quickly. With the presence closing in by the second, I frantically prepared. First, I closed the tent flap and turned off all the lights. Then I tried to revert to human form, but something went wrong. No matter how many times I attempted Transform, I couldn’t regain a perfect human body. Panicking, Ulthar intervened. It explained that perfect transformation was impossible while actively dissolving something, then gave new instructions: use Absorb to remove the gunpowder smell filling the tent.
Still dazed, I immediately complied. Looking back, I wasn’t even sure how I had managed to erase only the specific odor—it had been almost instinctive. Once the smell was gone, Ulthar told me how to deceive any onlookers. I perfectly reshaped only my head and neck into their original form while keeping the rest of my body in a rough human silhouette. Then I leapt onto the cot and wrapped myself completely in the blanket, leaving only part of my face exposed. The blanket was bulky enough to hide the fact that my body was slightly larger than the original girl’s.
Just seconds after I finished, the man I had spent the afternoon with appeared at the entrance. It had been a hair’s breadth difference. The being that had been beside me moments earlier was already gone.
After that, I watched him enter with bated breath. He scanned the interior, and for a terrifying moment I thought he would see through everything. But in the end, he never noticed. Once he confirmed I was safe, his attention shifted to searching the tent more carefully—ironically, that very focus helped sell the deception.
With the night’s many events finally behind me, the darkness deepened around the camp.