Queen Slime (Part 2)
A group of people whose identity was unclear - whether they were bandits or mercenaries.
I hid my presence and calmly observed them.
Since the Ian Trio was among them, it was too early to jump to conclusions.
Those four dead ones might have been the bandits, while the six including Ian might have been mercenaries.
Their cheerful looting of the corpses wasn't incomprehensible either.
Though I didn't show it outwardly, I too had always happily collected spoils from bandits.
"Hey, Ian! Did you finish searching over there?"
"Yeah. Let's start moving them now."
Having apparently emptied all pockets, they began getting up one by one.
Their next action was to pick up the four corpses and load them onto a cart.
I didn't know why they were bothering to collect the corpses, but I kept watching quietly for now.
The sword could be swung once I was certain - it wouldn't be too late then.
"Did we get everything without missing anything? Alright, let's head back."
Where were they going back to? They wouldn't be returning to a village or city.
I carefully followed behind them as they pulled the cart and moved.
"Hey, right. I heard you met some woman yesterday. Was her name Rune or something? Was she pretty?"
Hearing my name unexpectedly, I pricked up my ears even more.
One of the Ian Trio shrugged his shoulders as he answered.
"Don't even get me started. She was fucking gorgeous. With that haughty, cold face - if I could just get my longsword inside her once, I'd have no regrets."
"Longsword my ass. Even a dagger would be wasted on her."
Maintaining distance, I continued eavesdropping on their worthless conversation.
Longswords, daggers - it was just laughable.
They seemed quite close to be able to share such vulgar talk so casually.
"After we finish dividing the loot, let's all go to the brothel in Rivaid. That bitch Lune is just a whore who'd spread her legs for three silver coins anyway."
"Hiss. But isn't three Arshen for one fuck a bit excessive? No matter how pretty she is, she's a whore so her pussy's probably loose."
The conversation continued with rather crude words, as expected of rough mercenary men.
They would never dream that the very "whore bitch" was following behind them.
I quietly moved forward, a bastard sword in one hand and Agony's Ecstasy in the other.
"Hey, wait a minute. Now that I think about it, that woman might still be in these wetlands."
"What, if we meet her, you gonna offer her silver coins and ask for a round?"
"No. If all of us rush her, we should be able to subdue that bitch, right? We could capture her and fuck her rotten until we're sick of her. If she gets broken, we can just sell her to some pimp."
Listening to this, my brow furrowed involuntarily.
Sexual harassment was one thing, but this kind of malicious plotting changed the equation.
I fiddled with Agony's Ecstasy in my left hand.
It was just unfortunate that it wasn't yet time to spill blood. I made sure to remember his face clearly.
"Stop it. That bitch was wandering around here alone yesterday without any fear. Even if she's a woman, she's an aura user. We might be able to kill her by surprise, but capturing her alive is absolutely impossible."
A voice as sweet as a minstrel's dissuaded the man. It was Ian.
In front of me, he flattered me as a beautiful swordswoman, but behind my back he called me "that bitch."
Now their identity was clear.
A trashy mob of scum who hunted slimes while incidentally committing robbery.
They were low-quality vermin who shouldn't be left alive.
They had acted submissively toward me yesterday probably because there were only three of them.
Knowing clearly the difference in level between Bronze and Silver Badges, they hadn't dared to bare their fangs.
"I'm thinking of visiting the Grace of Roses after we finish this job too. For just three silver coins, you can use the pussy of a woman who killed a dire wolf however you want. I heard that bitch even lets you raw dog her without any contraception."
"What? Really? Definitely worth the money."
"Use her pussy however you want," "raw dog her" - such grandiose words.
But Ian's bold plan would remain nothing but a fantasy.
Their ugly true faces had already been exposed to my eyes.
"Whew, we're finally here."
After some travel, we reached a makeshift campsite with even tents set up.
Was this their hideout?
Apparently guarding the supplies, I saw four more men besides the six I had been following.
That made a total headcount of ten.
Being Bronze Badge mercenaries, they would fight better than ordinary bandit scum.
In the past, before receiving instruction from Sir Balcan, my chances would have been slim.
Fortunately, that wasn't a problem now.
Still, taking out two or three with a surprise attack would make the fight much easier.
I waited quietly, watching for the optimal opportunity.
"Alright, let's start the work."
The men unloaded the four corpses from the cart and began removing the deceased's shoes and clothing.
Soon they threw the corpses, now stripped down to their underwear, into some pit.
"Alright, it's feeding time for our little slimes."
Could they really have dug a pit and placed slimes there to dispose of corpses?
Their ingenious yet disgusting idea made me frown.
"They must be thirsty - let me give them some special drink too."
The bandit mercenaries, who had even urinated into the pit, returned to the center of the campsite.
They seemed to be discussing something while gathered together.
Moving closer to listen, they appeared to be arguing about dividing the spoils.
Thanks to that, their perimeter vigilance was almost completely neglected.
I couldn't wait until nightfall - now was the right time.
After exhaling a small breath, I launched my body like lightning.
The back of the bandit mercenaries' heads rapidly approached.
A horizontal slash containing the essence of coordination immediately severed one man's neck.
"Huh? Sh-shit! Ambush!"
The cleanly separated head painted the air red along with blood spray.
As the mercenaries turned around in shock at the sight, a vertical slash split another's skull.
Following that, I slammed Agony's Ecstasy in my left hand into the forehead of a man trying to flee.
It was the thug who had been talking about capturing and fucking me.
"Guh, gguuuk...!"
I had slaughtered three in mere seconds. With that, the advantage of surprise was over.
The remaining seven mercenaries hastily backed away and aimed their weapons at me.
"L-Lune-ssi? Why are you doing this!"
Ian shouted brazenly. There was no need to even respond.
Momentum was important in one-against-many battles.
I charged at the closest mercenary, unleashing killing intent without restraint.
"You fucking bitch! Why me!"
The terrified man swung his mace wildly.
There was no way such a desperate attack would work on me.
I seized an opening and thrust my sword in instantly.
The bastard sword mercilessly pierced through the man's belly.
Twisting it sideways to tear through him before pulling it out, I felt the sensation of certain death transmit through my hand.
"Die, you fucking bitch!"
An iron flail struck my back and a thrown spear embedded itself in my shoulder.
As expected, against this many Bronze Badge mercenaries, I couldn't avoid everything.
Wrapping myself in healing, I cut down the one who had stabbed me with the spear.
The flail came flying again, but I wouldn't take it twice.
This time I blocked with my arm and counter-thrust Agony's Ecstasy into his heart.
Now only four mercenaries remained alive.
Having witnessed my berserker-like martial prowess, they all seemed to have lost their will to fight.
"Ru-run!"
Without anyone taking the lead, they attempted to flee.
Their scattered attempts to survive by any means were just laughable.
Escaping from me was impossible anyway.
I stabbed my sword into the back of the slowest mercenary.
I threw Agony's Ecstasy at one man fleeing toward open ground.
I threw it partly for practice, but it struck perfectly in the back of his head. This was undoubtedly instant death.
Summoning Agony's Ecstasy back to my hand, I shot it like a cannon at one of the remaining two.
Unfortunately, this time it hit his back.
Approaching the man writhing in pain, I cut his throat with a single stroke.
"D-don't come! Don't come!"
The final surviving member was a familiar face.
Ian, having discarded his weapon, was frantically trying to flee.
In his panic, he tripped over a tree root and fell.
"Ah, no! Spare me! Please spare meee!"
As he lay struggling, adding insult to injury, some slime came rushing at him.
Being melted to death while submerged in acidic slime would be among the most horrific ways to die.
But I couldn't let him die just yet.
"This is getting troublesome."
Grabbing Ian by the scruff of his neck and pulling him out, I crushed the slime's core underfoot.
It wasn't out of mercy. He still had uses to me.
Carrying Ian, whose skin had turned red from melting, I returned to the campsite.
It looked gruesome but didn't seem to be a fatal wound.
"P-please spare me! I'll beg, I'll beg like this!"
"I'll spare you if you answer well. Do you know why there are so many slimes in these wetlands?"
The wetland's ecology I'd observed over these two days was clearly abnormal.
Not only were common birds absent, but amphibians and reptiles were completely missing too.
Only slimes existed in such numbers that you could kick them with every step.
Even considering the special nature of monster habitats, this was too strange.
Wasn't this essentially a complete collapse of the ecosystem?
When I asked this question, Ian answered while checking my reaction.
"S-spring is almost over and summer is coming, right? Slimes normally proliferate explosively around this time. It's been like this every year."
So it was because it was peak breeding season.
But I still wasn't convinced.
"Even considering that, the population seems too high. And it's not normal that not a single bird flies in the sky either."
"Uh... now that you mention it, that is a bit strange..."
Apparently finding it strange himself, Ian trailed off and tilted his head.
Something seemed to have indeed gone wrong with these wetlands.
Of course, even so, I had no intention of solving this mystery.
Having eliminated the murderous bandits, I should return to the city and unleash the power of Greed.
When I indifferently raised Agony's Ecstasy, Ian panicked and screamed.
"W-wait! There's one more thing I know!"
"What do you know?"
I didn't have high expectations but waited anyway.
He then shouted, spittle flying.
"Over there! In that direction, there's something incredibly dangerous! Several of our party went that way and never returned! And they were the strongest among us!"
Ian pointed in one direction with his finger while desperately ranting.
Some incredibly dangerous entity of unknown identity.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but become curious.
"A-and also! Aren't you curious how we managed to camp out here? It's thanks to that lime powder over there! It has acid-neutralizing properties - if you sprinkle it around, slimes avoid approaching!"
Lime powder that neutralizes acid.
This wasn't particularly nutritious information.
I'd extracted all I could, and it was a waste of time to listen to more nonsense.
I thrust Agony's Ecstasy into him, sending him straight to the afterlife.
Afterward, I went around searching the bandit mercenaries' corpses.
As usual, there were only about twenty silver coins and cheap jewelry.
For the collective wealth of 10 men, this was disappointing. Had they really planned to fuck me with such meager finances?
The loot they had gathered so diligently was also nothing but junk.
I might get scrap metal value for it, but I wasn't that desperate.
The effort to carry it wouldn't be worth the meager earnings.
The only thing worth taking was a mace that had been one dead mercenary's weapon.
The weight was appropriate and the craftsmanship looked good - clearly made by a skilled blacksmith.
Using this, I could smash slimes more easily than with a sword.
Hanging the mace at my waist, I continued searching.
Looking around further, there wasn't anything else money-worthy except for a sack containing slime cores.
Roughly about a hundred, I estimated. I poured them into my leather pouch and kept them.
Now it was time to decide whether to return or not.
I looked in the direction Ian had pointed. That was probably the deepest part of the wetlands.
After brief consideration, I made my decision. I'd just check it out once.
If it seemed dangerous, I could still withdraw then - it wouldn't be too late.
Before departing, I hid the core pouch inside the campsite.
Even though they were only fingernail-sized, there were about 300 of them. The volume was becoming burdensome to carry around.
I also left my belongings including the mercenary badge and cash next to the pouch.
My clothes could melt and it would be fine, but these would be problematic if lost.
Having lightened my load, I headed toward the wetland's heart with only a sword and mace in my hands.
Ian's words weren't exaggerated - the atmosphere was definitely different from the very entrance.
A strange eeriness seemed to emanate from all directions.
The frequency of slime appearances had also increased significantly.
Almost two or three attacked with every step. Effectively, they were swarming without rest.
Accepting that my clothes would become rags, I continuously burst and slashed through the slimes.
In just a few minutes, I felt I'd already killed over fifty.
Though regretting leaving the pouch behind, there hadn't even been time to collect cores.
If I let my guard down even briefly, my entire body would be covered in acid.
Like a bee colony heating wasps to death, the slimes fiercely threw their lives at me.
By this point, I could be certain of one thing: there was definitely something ahead.
Unyielding against their numerical onslaught, I continued moving forward.
It was only after moving for what must have been over 30 minutes that a change occurred.
The fiercely swarming slime forces had noticeably diminished.
The intense battle from before was gone, reduced to seeing maybe one slime every ten steps.
Had I passed through the dangerous area?
This was exactly when I shouldn't relax my vigilance.
I continued advancing while paying attention to my surroundings.
The place I eventually reached was a desolate clearing without a single blade of grass remaining on the ground.
As I wondered if such barren land could exist in wetlands and raised my head,
An overwhelming sight unfolded before my eyes.
Acidic liquid of deep green extending endlessly left and right, up and down.
A monstrous slime of unimaginable size pulsated and squirmed here.