Me? Slime Raid Chaos
The raid party plunged into chaos with the emergence of various variant slimes. Their formation crumbled under the armored slimes, and they were getting utterly wrecked by the new variants with no way to fight back.
There were fewer than ten variant slimes in total, but each one had traits completely unlike regular slimes.
"Didn't see this coming...!!"
"Watch out for that green slime!!! Its bodily fluids are acidic, so take it down with ranged attacks!!!"
In the East, slimes were a beginner's best friend, but in the West, they were notoriously tricky monsters. Reflecting that, the Acid Slime came with acidic secretions.
"Be careful of that furry slime!!! It looks creepy!!!"
"...But up close, it kinda looks like a cute fluff ball...."
Of course, there were slimes that were just visually unique with no special abilities.
But the ones with powers all had attack patterns wildly different from standard slimes, giving the explorers hell trying to deal with them.
"Keep your distance from the toothed slime!!! It's super agile and its bite force is insane!!! My shield got shredded in one go!!!"
"Damn, these guys only used to body-slam....!!"
"Why the hell does that slime have a woman's upper body...!!"
"...Honestly, it looks doable...."
"Damn it!! Snap out of it, Henji!!! Listen up, everyone!!! That female-type slime seems to have a seduction ability!!!"
"Or maybe that guy's just a total perv?"
Info on the variant slimes spread quickly, but once the formation was shattered and it devolved into a total melee, it was all meaningless...
One unexpected twist after another kept piling up, pushing the raid party back relentlessly until they failed the raid.
*
The veteran Padak stepped in, deeming it a raid failure, and cleaned things up.
He swiftly burst the variant slimes and crushed the Giant Slime, now half its size in phase 3.
"Tsk tsk... Sloppy preparation. That fancy formation they prepped was really just for PvP, not monsters... Explorers these days are pathetic."
Dragon Mask Padak clicked his tongue at the scattered raid party.
Raid leader Bram had nothing to say.
They'd been way too complacent... Instead of just posing with a formation for show, if they'd set traps beforehand and altered the terrain to their advantage... Hell, if they'd taken slimes seriously from the start and prepped more, they could've taken it down.
The armored slime that wrecked their formation? If they'd made a hill for the ranged DPS to fire from before the raid started, they could've blunted its charge momentum big time.
Underestimating an unknown prey came at a brutal cost. Looking around, raid members lay tattered and strewn everywhere like rags.
"......We blew it."
Where the Giant Slime had been pulverized, a mountain of golden tickets gleamed. The sweet reward they'd have claimed on clear. But the party members only eyed it greedily—no one dared approach.
*
"Never thought they'd fail this..."
The first raid broadcast ended just like that.
*
A while later,
The official Giant Slime Raid Dungeon opened, and the Raid Management Office was established.
Thanks to the Golden Ticket rewards, explorers endlessly critiqued the failed raid footage, and solid strategies now flooded the gallery.
Isekai Survival Gallery
Raid dungeon tickets weren't sold on the market—they were distributed via the Management Office.
Explorers who got tickets applied to raids, and leaders decided whether to accept them.
For loot distribution, explorers registered at the Raid Management Office and got ranks based on active layers and skill: Mid Layer Gold, Mid-Lower Silver, Low Layer Bronze, Lowest Layer Iron.
Mages, essential for raids, quickly got a culture of +1 rank leniency. You had to sweeten the pot to lure rare talent to your party.
Raids had quotas too, so you couldn't stack all high-tiers. That birthed another custom...
"Why do martial artists get ranked one down?!"
"...Martial artists suck, duh."
Jobs got a hierarchy.
Solo play meant no one cared about others' classes, and gallery jabs were just jokes. But raids tied everyone's rewards, so class discrimination was inevitable.
"Raaagh! Martial artists ain't shit-tier jobs!!!!!"
Of course... This humiliation later sparked new combat styles for martial artists. They became dedicated armored slime DPS with piercing spears, creating demand.
Everyone honed themselves for better rewards and higher ranks.
*
"Kuhhh... How long's it been since a soak like this... Feels damn good...."
"Haa... So nice...."
"This is the shit...."
"Pardon?"
Yeomje and I were the first to enjoy the newly built Hot Spring Dungeon.
I'd scouted terrain and planned on and off, piped up the hot spring water, started construction—and now it was done.
(I'd revealed my face to Yeomje. He'd already grasped my info via his domain-sensing ability at our first meet.)
He sensed what I felt merged with the dungeon through his domain.
Anyway, we chatted in the springs about recent stuff: the new mid-layer dungeon, park, raid dungeon.
Earth Reclamation Army came up too.
"You talked to the Earth Reclamation Army, huh..."
"Yeah, do you know them, Yeomje-nim? The commander's adjutant I chatted with seemed off his rocker."
"Well... Face-wise, acquaintances. His abilities are war-specialized, so we've crossed paths often."
Yeomje's long merc career meant ties to the military.
"Dungeon Master, you can't wrap your head around them?"
"Obviously? Potions alone could save tons—huge help to the Reclamation Army too. But they spout nonsense excuses and refuse... It's maddening...."
Yeomje tilted his head back, gazing skyward.
"Sigh, they have their reasons. Don't hate 'em too much. They're barely clinging to life as is..."
"...Hard to swallow."
Potions could heal flame monster victims suffering now, aid explorers fighting dungeon mobs.
Reclamation Army claimed their self-made healing magic, but it was holy magic's inferior knockoff—not true recovery.
Unlike holy magic, it prepaid the recipient's life force for wounds... Basically equivalent exchange with lifespan.
"If Reclamation Army won't help, sourcing potion mats seems impossible. Any ideas...?"
"...With your powers, start your own Reclamation Army? Or a Reclamation Management Office...? Offer perks, and folks might bite despite surface risks."
"Actually, asked Joodak-hyung already..."
This guy's... maybe it's my imagination, but he keeps slyly pushing me toward the surface....
Running my own Reclamation Army still seemed impossible.
"Hmm... Doesn't look easy."
"Oh... Is that so?"
Yeomje seemed the live-and-let-live type—didn't care about surface reclamation as long as he was good.
*
After the soak, heading home—
Bang bang—
— Baek Soo-chan open the damn door—!!!!
I opened up, and Elise thrust out two tickets.
"You, raid with me!"
"...Me?"