The Golden Slime
I kept walking down the corridor for quite a while after that.
I wondered if the place was designed as an endless loop of identical hallways, but that wasn’t the case. Right when the boredom and leg pain were starting to hit, they tossed a monster my way.
But.
“Why are all the monsters that show up slimes?”
Did the dungeon designer just get lazy?
Every single monster was a slime, and they didn’t even have any unique traits—just different colors slapped on like a cheap paint job.
One swing of the sword—slice, pop.
Then walk until the next slime appeared.
Infinite repetition.
“Haa… At this point, it’s starting to feel a little unpleasant.”
Every time I killed a slime, my body got drenched in sticky mucus. There was no water to wash it off, and I didn’t have a change of clothes.
I have no idea what kind of amazing item they’re trying to give me to make up for this.
I’m sure my grapes are sweet grapes. If they’re going to make me this uncomfortable, they’d better give me something good, right?
With that bit of mental gymnastics, I started walking again.
After who knows how long, a different space finally appeared.
It wasn’t a thin, long corridor anymore. This place had a high ceiling and was incredibly wide.
A room roughly the size of a World Cup stadium.
And right in the center, a chest sat quietly, waiting for me.
It was mostly black with golden trim.
Are you fucking kidding me? A Golden Chest here?
Chests have grades too, and Golden Chests have the highest chance of dropping good items.
Alright, what kind of cutie is waiting for me inside!
I barely managed to calm my racing heart and slowly opened the chest.
“Kyu?” “…Kyu?”
Inside was a very small, very tiny… golden slime.
Fuck. So all those slimes up until now were foreshadowing?
And of all things, I got a dud? There’s nothing else in here?
I flipped the chest upside down and shook it, but the only thing that came out was that one slime.
“Kyuuuiing!”
The slime that fell to the floor bounced with a boing and rolled far away.
“Is there really nothing?”
Nope. Nothing.
If that’s the case, why the hell did I go hiking at the crack of dawn?
I let out a deep sigh and was about to leave the ruins when the entire room began to slowly darken.
But the torches hadn’t gone out—they were still burning brightly.
That meant something was blocking the light.
A bad feeling crept over me. I drew my sword, took a stance, and spun around.
What came into view was—
“…This is insane.” “Kyuuuoooooo!”
A ridiculously, enormously huge golden slime.
Wait, can slimes even get that big?
It’s common for slimes to merge together. But most of the time they can’t handle the weight and split apart again soon after.
Yet the slime in front of me was maintaining its perfect spherical shape.
At that moment—
◈ Can transform into any form.
◈ Cannot be used unless the slime acknowledges the user as its master.
The chest wasn’t empty—the slime itself was the item?
Wait, it’s even S-rank.
I had no idea what I’d use a Golden Slime for, but hey, it was a slime. I’d just deal with it quickly and head back.
I took a stance, leaped forward, and sliced horizontally across its belly.
But—
Shlurrrrp.
The cut section immediately began filling back in with golden slime, and the wound healed in an instant.
Caution — Golden Slime possesses Physical Immunity!
A physically immune slime?
You crazy bastards, you should’ve told me that earli—
The moment I got distracted by the message window, a massive golden tentacle slammed into my side.
I was sent flying and crashed into the wall.
Boom!
My back hit the wall hard, but thankfully it wasn’t anything serious.
However.
“How dare a mere beast lay its hands on my body?”
I was a little pissed off now.
I briefly considered using the Golden Truth to slaughter it, but decided against it. That was an absolute last resort I had to save for the worst possible moment.
Then I guess I’ll have to settle this with magic.
I stored the sword back in the ring and pulled out something else instead—a giant staff as tall as I was.
…I didn’t expect it to be this big.
“I’m going to have to give Lilith an earful later.”
She said she’d put in a decent staff as a bonus, but this was what she gave me?
Anyway.
I gripped the staff tightly and opened my mana circuits.
I tested it by launching a single Wind Blade.
Bang!
“Kyuiiiiiik!!”
One of the Golden Slime’s tentacles exploded instantly. The Wind Blade spun like a boomerang, burst another tentacle, then vanished dramatically.
“…The performance is pretty good.”
The magic’s duration had increased significantly. Its destructive power had gone up too.
Most importantly, the mana consumption had dropped noticeably. It still used quite a bit, though.
But at this level, magic was definitely viable!
“Consider meeting me your misfortune, you beast.” “Kyu, kyuiiiik!!”
Maybe it sensed its life was in danger.
Dozens of tentacles sprouted from the slime’s body and shot toward me all at once.
But.
“Your head is held far too high for a mere beast.”
Domain Expansion!!
Blade Banquet!!!
I thrust the staff toward the slime and fired Wind Blades as well.
Boom! Ba-boom!!
The tentacles began exploding one after another.
Thanks to the staff, the number of blades I could launch had increased dramatically.
I should really get a good staff and engrave some runes on it.
I heard an S-rank staff with runes barely used any mana at all.
It should at least help replenish the mana that was currently being sucked out of me like cola through a straw.
How much time had passed like that?
Right before my mana was almost completely drained, the dust settled and I saw a drastically shrunken slime.
The area was covered in the exploded slime’s mucus.
Only then did I stop my indiscriminate magical barrage and approach the creature.
“Kyu, kyuuing!”
Even though it had shrunk, the slime still showed hostility toward me.
“If you submit to me, I will stop tormenting you.” “Kyu, kyuiiiing……” “I have no hobby of bullying the weak. Besides, I have no need for an item that doesn’t listen to me. Because I’m strong.” “Kyuuk!”
It was half a gamble, but the slime flinched in surprise and then rushed straight into my arms.
Even a monster apparently didn’t want to die.
It spent a moment searching for a place on my body, then climbed onto my hand and transformed into the shape of a ring.
Well, since it was a slime, it made sense that it could change its appearance freely.
◈ Can transform into any form.
◈ Cannot be used unless acknowledged as master.
Anyway.
“To think I got an S-rank item. I’m pretty lucky.”
I’d have to check its performance in detail later.
…But.
…It’s wet.
I looked down at myself.
Probably from the aftermath of exploding all those slimes—my body was covered in golden liquid.
…I needed to wash up quickly.
By the time I left the ruins, the sun was slowly rising.
It was still very early in the morning.
It didn’t take as long as I thought.
Subjectively it felt like I’d been in there forever, but apparently not.
Well, that was good. It reduced the chance of other people noticing my movements.
I followed the river downstream and first checked on my base.
Elena was still sound asleep, breathing softly.
She sleeps like a log in the morning.
Thinking that, I scanned the surroundings.
There were no signs of people. It seemed we hadn’t been attacked during the night.
Anyway.
I headed to the riverside and stripped off both my top and bottom.
Since I had the ring, combat wouldn’t be an issue even if I was naked.
I can’t exactly take my time washing, though.
There was no telling when we might get ambushed.
If I washed my clothes and showered separately, I might end up with a knife in my back. So I decided to handle both laundry and bathing at the same time.
I jumped into the river naked and washed off all the slime fluid clinging to my body.
Maybe because my clothes had blocked most of it, the slime on my skin came off easily.
But.
“I have no idea how to deal with this.”
My clothes were soaked with the thicker, stickier slime.
Just by looking at them, I could tell plain water wasn’t going to cut it.
Should I just fight naked?
I glanced down at myself.
This size was definitely enough to justify being arrogant, but…
Of course, I was joking.
At that moment—
“Chuu!”
The slime on my middle finger slipped off, then began to grow.
The Golden Slime swelled until it was about the size of my head.
It bounced over to my clothes and—
“Chubeeeeerup.”
It swallowed my clothes whole!
Well, “swallowed” might not be the right word. How do I even explain this?
It was more like it absorbed them into its body.
Anyway, the Golden Slime spun my clothes clockwise inside itself, then spat them back out.
“These… are clean.”
I touched the hem of the clothes with my hand.
All the slime was gone, and the fabric felt softer, like it had been treated with fabric softener.
It even has a laundry function? This is better than I expected.
“Well done. I shall personally bestow upon you the name Gold.” “Chuuu…”
The slime’s expression seemed to darken a little.
So what? If your owner calls you Gold, then you’re Gold.
Anyway, the moment I tried to put on the freshly laundered clothes—
“Kyaaak!”
A scream came from the direction of the base.
Judging by the tone, it was Elena.
Did something happen?
I pulled the sword out of the ring and was about to run over when I spotted Elena in the distance, hiding behind a tree with both hands covering her eyes.
…What?
It didn’t look like a combat situation, so I stored the sword again and walked over to her.
“What’s the matter?” “W-well… when I woke up, I couldn’t see you, so I came out to look for you…” “Keep explaining.” “Y-you… weren’t wearing any clothes……”
Ah.
So that’s what it was.
Elena’s face was flushed bright red—probably the reddest it had ever been—as she covered her eyes with both hands.
Seeing her like that made me want to tease her, but given the situation, I decided to hold back for now.
“There. I’m dressed now. Is that better?” “Y-yeah……”
Only then did Elena lower her hands.
But.
Her gaze seems to be lingering a bit lower than usual.
…Must be my imagination.