Strength Control Failure
After the raid went public, the gallery was often buzzing with these kinds of rumors.
Just popped into my head, but could raid monsters have variants too?
Logically, I know Giant Slimes probably don't have variants...
But if they did, could mid-layer explorers clear it?
Even regular Giant Slimes can kill someone if you're unlucky.
If you don't prep the terrain or set traps ahead, even clears are a nightmare...
But variants usually get stronger the deeper you go, right?
If we treat Giant Slimes as regular mobs, they'd be at least upper-layer level at minimum. Wonder what chaos an variant would cause lol.
Since the Raid Management Office was established, dozens of raids had been run. There were 10 raid channels, with raids happening 10 times a day.
No raid party had ever encountered a variant while hunting regular Giant Slimes.
That bait about whether variants even existed in the gallery...
Finally made its appearance.
"...We'll keep pushing the clear."
At the raid leader's words, a good number of explorers looked uneasy.
"You wanna take that thing down...?"
"Wouldn't it be safer to just hold out and bail...?"
They'd all seen via broadcast what happens when you face a Giant Slime blind. They knew.
Of course, the broadcast failure wasn't just lack of info—it was underestimating the foe. So maybe this was different.
"Raid leader, can we really handle it...? Safety first here...?"
The archer team's leader voiced his anxiety to the raid leader. He'd run raids four times already—a vet by rights—but even he figured an unknown variant was too much.
"We've cleared regular Giant Slimes plenty. A variant can't be that bad, right? And aren't you curious what rewards that beast drops? Just selling its materials to the Magic Tower would net a fortune."
But the warrior team's leader thought passing this up was a waste and voted with the raid leader to push.
"...I'm for pushing too. Our raid party's level can handle it."
The mage team's leader glanced at Elise as he spoke.
3:1
"It's decided."
The raid leader knew the risks but judged it doable.
After about five minutes tweaking strategy lightly, the clear began.
"Elia, if you would."
The mage team leader asked Elise for max firepower.
Key to Giant Slimes: Dump enough DPS to skip phase 1.
No variant could tank a completed-hierarchy mage's attack.
Especially if imagery specialized in offense—the power was unimaginable.
'Might end it in one shot.'
Elise stepped forward at the mage leader's request, brushing back her hair.
"Fine. Good timing—got someone to show off to."
She shot a glare toward the rear where Soo-chan was, then prepped her spell.
Eyes closed, drawing up imagery, focusing.
No chant, no gestures. No need—her solid, completed imagery was already rooted inside her.
Twin stars appeared beside her.
Stars of opposing energies orbited her, density ramping up.
Gulp.
Obvious at a glance.
Mages around swallowed hard at the unnatural power condensing.
Stars at critical, ready to burst—Elise casually flicked her hand, sending them at the variant.
The pair spiraled in, burning the jelly surface, plunging effortlessly to the core.
Orbits meshed perfectly at center, merging...
Opposing energies annihilated in a massive explosion.
KABOOOOOM-!!!!!!!
The blast from hundreds of meters away still slammed the raid party with shockwaves.
"Gahhh!!!"
"How is the power this insane...!!!"
Kurrrung-
Iron explorers at the rear felt massive vibrations and shockwaves through their skin.
"H-Huh...?"
"This is insane...!!! Is that really magic?"
They sensed it.
The raid was over with that one hit.
"You... alright? Like you said, ended without a hitch! Whew..."
"...Not over yet."
"What do you mean...? Look, the slime's blown to bits!"
True—Elise's strike had shredded the dozens-of-meters body, jelly blasting everywhere from the explosion.
But
'...Core's still alive.'
The Giant Slime's core was intact.
It wasn't inside the slime to begin with—buried deep underground.
Right after spawning, the variant had shuddered briefly to bury its core deep.
The massive surface slime's base connected to the deep core via jelly veins like blood vessels.
So the buried core survived the blast.
I knew the whole process via dungeon-synced senses.
Proving it: From the crater center, thin jelly threads extended, linking to the scattered slime jelly.
Jelly scattered across the dungeon started converging on the crater.
One meaning only.
"Wh-What the hell!!!"
"It took that and survived...?"
Raid party panicked at the unbelievable sight.
Elise bit her lip, analyzing.
'...Shredded that bad and still active? Two possibilities: Immortal from the start... or some trick.'
Her mind raced.
Slime never left sight post-regen. Size made hiding impossible.
Only blind spot: Where slime met ground.
Slime structure: Simple—jelly, digestive organs, core.
Damage anywhere else? Survives if core intact.
Then flashed: Regular Giant Slimes morphing body into tentacles.
"...Underground. Core's probably buried."
"What do you mean, Elia?"
"Look close at crater center. Thin jelly threads extending, absorbing other jelly. No time—kill it fast."
Even she couldn't spam that power. Delay, and it'd get messy.
'Tch... but no way to hit the underground core...'
Before follow-up, jelly reformed impossibly fast into Giant Slime—phase 2 began.
Fully incinerated parts gone, but still huge variant.
Loss about half—yet bigger than regular Giant Slime.
It swelled again, spewing variant slimes.
"Damn...!!! Variants are variants too!!!"
"Urgh...!!! Mass-produced ones are way buffed...!!"
Already red comet-fast mass-pro slimes were even faster. Shielders screamed as they rocketed like shells.
Bang-! / Kabang-!
"Gaaaahhh!!!"
Good terrain work mitigated for shielders and ranged DPS...
But frontline warriors struggled.
Regular slimes swarming from all sides.
Pits dug ahead slowed the horde, but each was strong—felt like mid-lower layer mobs.
"Team leader, can't hold!!!"
"Hold a bit longer-!!! Buy time for upper to clear variants!!"
"...B-But team leader, where'd the variants go...? Can't see 'em..."
"?"
Clearly... Armor slime jetted back like a booster, steam from shell gaps.
Jaw slime followed...
Too fast to track, but... other slimes?
Female slime sniped on spawn.
Furry slime useless anyway—ignored.
Acid slime marked by magic, archers pierced cores with enchanted arrows.
But other variants? Vanished.
All buffed, should've been hell—yet only mass-pro around.
Far behind even mages.
Priests and Iron explorers clustered at absolute rear.
One explorer, Denver, trembled at the sight, disbelieving.
"Y-You... what the..."
Just moments ago, sudden variant slimes from nowhere had rear in full panic.
Jaw slime more vicious, armor slime charging with massive steam—Denver sensed death.
Priests... Irons... Froze, no response.
"Ah... Ahh... God..."
"Why are those... here...?"
What the front doing letting these reach back?
Family flashed by—Denver closed eyes.
But boom-!!
Not pain—eerie silence.
Raid noise still roared ahead, but here like another world.
"......?"
Denver slowly opened eyes at the sudden quiet, looked around.
Priests and explorers stared at variant approach direction like ghosts.
Denver followed gaze...
One young man stood facing that way...
Before him: Radial shockwave scars, shattered shell and jelly fragments scattered.
"...Strength control failed."