Chapter 43. Slime (2)
“What……the hell is going on?”
Jeonghyeon’s eyes widened in utter bewilderment at the incomprehensible turn of events, leaving him staring blankly ahead. Then the slime surged upward with a violent gurgle.
“How dare you! Who wakes me from my slumber?!”
The purple-tinged slime had no face, yet it bellowed as if it had a mouth, its voice booming through the air.
“Uh…… I didn’t mean to wake you. Could you just let us pass through?”
Jeonghyeon mustered a flash of wit, responding lightly as if greeting an old friend.
“Never, you insolent human whelp! You think I’d let you into the Demon King’s Castle?!”
Unfortunately, Jeonghyeon’s shallow ploy fell flat, only provoking the slime further.
Even without absorbing mana, a slime with self-awareness capable of distinguishing humans was threat enough.
Physical attacks won’t work from the start…… It’ll definitely go for the airways……!
“I’ll choke the life out of you!!”
Figured.
To block the slime’s entry points, Jeonghyeon crouched low and covered his mouth and nose with his one arm.
A weak attack would let it slip through a gap; a strong one would just feed it strength.
It’s a rock and a hard place. Damn it.
Not as fast as a harpy, but the sudden array of possibilities froze him momentarily. Breaking the silence was Philip’s voice.
“Hold on!”
“……?”
Both Jeonghyeon and the slime paused, turning to Philip.
“What?!”
Enemy or not, it seemed the slime wasn’t eager for the next phase unless provoked, as it swiveled toward Philip.
Philip wore an unprecedented stern, dignified expression as he opened his heavy mouth toward the slime.
***
“Demon King? Demon King’s Castle? There’s a world beyond the Tower too?”
The slime halted at Philip’s question.
“You fool, who do you mock? This overflowing mana! This is obviously……”
“Obviously?”
The slime suddenly went mute, like it had swallowed honey. Though, looks-wise, it was closer to the honey itself. Jeonghyeon inwardly cheered and seized the moment.
“Yeah, Philip’s right. Take a good look. Does this look like the Demon King’s Castle?”
This guy’s got a knack for hitting the key points.
Like with the lich, he played the fool but had a talent for creating crucial openings. Philip’s thoughts trickled in then.
No, what’s right about it? What the hell’s a Demon King’s Castle? Am I the only one out of the loop……?!
Of course.
Philip’s confusion made sense, but buying time was what mattered now.
“I’ll explain later, Philip. Plenty to tell you.”
Jeonghyeon lowered his guard, sheathing his aimed blade, and addressed the slime again.
Better to talk it out, even if risky, than waste energy in needless combat and risk death.
Especially since this ethereal slime was trickier than even Soul of the Mountain.
“Hey, slime. Who are you, and where’d you come from?”
Thankfully, the slime fell for Jeonghyeon’s ploy, puffing up dramatically.
“This one? I guarded the 39th turret of the 27th branch fortress in the Demon King’s Castle!”
“That……sounds like basic mob trash.”
“No!!”
Nailed it.
“You just thought, ‘Nailed it!’ You vile cur! Judging and insulting others?!”
The slime’s entire body flushed red in rage, face or no face.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry. So you guarded one of those many, many branches of the great Demon King’s Castle. You’re supposed to protect the Demon King’s Castle, not us. What if the Demon King gets in danger while you’re busy?”
“As if that’d happen. And address him properly—with ‘nim’!”
“How do you know? What if other hunters slip past you and attack His Excellency while you’re blocking us?!”
“Hah! You think I’m some ordinary slime? Not all ethereal slimes have intellect, you ignorant backwater bumpkin.”
“……Then?”
From here, Jeonghyeon sensed something off, a subtle certainty that even in battle, there’d be gains from this slime.
“This one was personally cherished by His Excellency the Demon King. He even shared his mana stone power with me. What would you know?”
A slime cherished by the Demon King. Jeonghyeon would scoff at most monsters claiming that, but this was an ethereal slime.
Unassuming in form, yet capable of devouring a hunter guild whole.
Who knew? This ego-overloaded slime might truly be close to the Demon King.
And it shows up right in front of me……
Either the Demon King’s scheme, or the slime—drawn by the Demon King’s power in Jeonghyeon—had come to him.
“Oh yeah? That close to the Demon King?”
“‘Nim’!”
“So you know His Excellency’s power well?”
“I grew by devouring it!”
Jeonghyeon grinned.
“Right…… then……”
He poured intense mana into his Demon King’s Eye and spoke.
“You’d know whose power this is too.”
***
As Solgaleh’s awakener and humanity’s strongest hunter, Jeonghyeon’s mana control rivaled the Demon King’s, transcending race. He’d never once pushed it to overload.
He’d tired from inefficient use, but never burdened his body—that meant he’d always been holding back.
But now, he infused the maximum he could handle.
His inscribed eye, brimming with excessive mana that scorched beyond optic nerves and eyeballs into head and body, glowed red.
The fiercely manifested power blackened the whites of his eyes, leaking from his body like an aura.
Even Philip, bound by Attribute Domination, felt uncanny dread from the erupting malevolent energy.
“J-Jeonghyeon-nim?”
Philip tentatively reached out amid the ominous aura bursting from Jeonghyeon’s form, but the pressure halted him in place.
“Look…… closely.”
The slime froze like rigid liquid, staring in disbelief at Jeonghyeon’s mana.
“……”
“Still don’t believe me? I’ll show you properly.”
Jeonghyeon drew Blood Dissector. He barely contained the exploding mana, channeling it into the blade. The near-uncontrollable surge stabbed at his mind, but he persisted.
A normal sword would shatter under that mana alone……
But it’s from him—gotta be different.
With the same reckless abandon.
Vrrr—!
The blade hummed low, its edge shifting from red to black.
Jeonghyeon stepped toward the slime, slowly, silently.
The slime stood petrified, hesitating like a lost dog scenting its long-gone master.
“……If I absorb that attack! You die, human!!”
It bluffed strength, but clearly abandoned by the Demon King long ago, it inched subtly toward Jeonghyeon, craving the power.
An ego-bearing ethereal slime as the Demon King’s sidekick? Not a lie, but that reaction screamed abandonment.
“Don’t make me laugh. You’re scared too, aren’t you?”
“Scared of what?! This one is His Excellency’s……! His Excellency’s……!”
Before it finished.
Jeonghyeon closed in and swung at the monster before him.
Shluck!
The Demon King-powered blade pierced the slime indifferently. Blackened, it sank into the semi-solid body without passing through.
Sssip— sssip—
Mana surged from Jeonghyeon’s veins through the sword into the slime.
Denying it futilely, but identical to its master’s power—the source it hadn’t tasted in ages.
Schlop.
Jeonghyeon withdrew the blade from the defenseless slime’s body. Before more mana drained.
“You’re human…… human……”!
The slime absorbed the power, regaining its original form.
“Why does it hurt so much……!”
Sorrow seeped from its body.
A mere mana aggregate feeling emotions.
The Demon King had cherished it with immense effort, only to discard it callously into the tower.
A faint pity for the abandoned slime—and hatred for the Demon King—stirred in Jeonghyeon.
“How dare you wound this noble form……! Only His Excellency could……”
Like weeping, the slime dripped pure Demon King mana.
***
“I’ll open the way.”
The slime’s first words after silently sobbing.
“Why?”
“You’re still a lowly human, but that power is undoubtedly His Excellency’s.”
It turned as if enlightened.
Jeonghyeon knew enough about slimes to discern front from back now that it had reformed.
“Surely His Excellency has a grand scheme. I lament only that I cannot partake in his dream.”
“But to let me pass, don’t you have to die?”
“Cold bastard. I’m ethereal slime, not immortal. I choose to absorb and end it.”
No, it’s not cold—it’s that slimes lack intellect, you fool. They just absorb and emit mana freely.
Suppressing the urge to snap, Jeonghyeon listened as the slime continued.
“I’ll forgo absorption. A self-imposed demise.”
“Why go that far? Just open the door and head back to the Demon King’s Castle.”
“We slimes are bound by mana. I dreamed of freedom but couldn’t leave. His final order was to guard…… But waking from long slumber, I don’t know where this is or why he abandoned me.”
Its slumped form depressed even the onlookers. Quiet Philip sidled up to Jeonghyeon and whispered.
“That guy…… Why not coax him and bring him along?”
“……Him?”