85. Squishy Squishy
"3rd phase starts now!!! Everyone, attack!!! Don't stop!!!"
Even as the raid leader announced the start of phase 3, Elise couldn't focus, her attention fixed on the very back of the group.
"What happened to the slimes that went to the rear...?"
She had no idea what went down back there, but phase 3 starting meant all the variant slimes had been taken out.
Of course, the Giant Slime variant might have different patterns from the regular ones.
'But those fragments...'
No matter how she looked at it, those were pieces from the armor slimes that had poured out earlier.
"So the rear is safe, then...?"
"Everyone, stop the slimes from merging with the Giant!!!"
The remaining slimes started gathering toward the Giant Slime again.
The warriors blocked the regular slimes from being absorbed into the Giant, doing their best to thin their numbers.
But unlike regular Giant Slimes, the variant could extend its body to recover scattered jelly fragments on its own.
"It's pulling out tentacles!! Cut them off!!!"
While the warriors up front blocked the merges as best they could, the mages in the rear relentlessly hurled fireballs at the Giant Slime's main body, piling on the damage.
A regular Giant Slime's phase 3 had its size shrink to less than half while gaining mobility to fight with its massive bulk.
The variant's pattern was probably similar, with the main body moving directly. They needed to hit it hard here to gain an edge later, but Elise had held off attacking for a while, entering a state of deep focus instead.
Just before phase 3 kicked off, with nearly all the jelly absorbed...
"Hoo... Prep's done. I've got something to check, so we'll skip phase 3 quick."
Mana surged around Elise in waves.
"Elia...?"
"This is...!"
The surrounding mages sensed the ominous aura and stopped casting, staring at her.
"Star Creation."
Enormous stars began floating up around Elise one by one.
"Comet."
As she chanted the activation word, countless stars started spinning around her, trailing tails, then shot up toward the sky.
The stars she created were visible even in broad daylight, asserting their presence...
"Meteor Shower."
With her additional incantation, the comets rained down one by one toward the Giant Slime.
The daytime meteors streaked light trails as they fell.
BOOM-!!
They plunged nearly vertically into the Giant Slime's center, exploding on impact.
Weaker than the spell she'd used right at the raid's start, but with countless stars still floating and striking the same spot in sequence...
BOOM-!! BOOM-!!! BOOM-!!!!
"Insane..."
"Is this what a hierarchy-completing mage can do...!!!"
Hammering the exact same point over and over, they pierced straight through the Giant Slime's core and even bored into the ground below.
Like bunker busters drilling underground, the comets finally hit the variant Giant Slime's nucleus, and the main body on the surface went limp and floppy.
"Still had about half the spell left, but it's already over? The core wasn't that deep after all?"
"...You ended it just like that?"
The entire raid party gawked at her in disbelief.
"Mages are such a broken class."
"...Elia's on another level."
Confirming the Giant Slime variant had gone completely still, Elise bolted toward the rear.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
...She's coming from way back there. Those meteors must've been her magic.
'That opening spell at the start was nuts too... she's seriously strong.'
"Baek Soo-chan! You... okay? The variants went your way..."
"Yeah... Dungeon Disaster hit right on them and they just burst."
"...Both of them?"
"...Got lucky."
Lame excuse, sure, but she didn't see it herself, and there were witnesses to back me up.
I shot a look at the folks who'd come with me, and they chimed in.
"Th-that lady? Just like the young man said! The armor slime and jaw slime coming at us just went boom outta nowhere!"
"Yeah...!! We thought we were goners, but it was a miracle...!"
"...Surely the Lord's grace watching over us."
They all pitched in, but even with their testimony, Elise still looked dubious.
"Hmmm... Something's off... Eh, whatever. You're safe, that's what matters."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Elise and the Iron explorers joined us as we headed to where the Giant Slime had fallen.
They'd already pulled the spoils from the variant's core.
"This... what the hell is it?"
"It's a variant inner core, but... the size is huge."
The reward from downing the Giant Slime variant.
Besides the golden inner core that spat out the usual Golden Ticket, there was also a red one proving its variant status.
Just way bigger than normal.
Inner cores varied in size based on monster strength anyway, but this one from the Giant Slime variant was bigger than a person.
Made sense given the massive size.
"Sugar in this one too?"
"...That'd be a letdown."
"What're we doing with it, raid leader?"
The new Giant series inner core.
The Magic Tower would pay top coin for it, even if it was just sugar—especially as the first one.
Tower researchers were knowledge junkies who couldn't resist the new and unexplained. They'd drool over this.
But to get full price, we'd have to sell it unopened—no peeking inside.
They wanted the mystery random box, not a spoiled one.
"What kinda dumb question is that? We're cracking it open right here! We're the first raid to take down a Giant Slime variant!"
But the raid leader chose glory over gold... and the others were all for it.
"Knew you'd say that, boss!"
"Now that's a leader with romance."
"Won't complain even if it's sugar!"
"Speak for yourself—I will."
"Kuhahaha!!"
With all 500 watching, the raid leader started the unboxing.
"Alright! Let's crack it open!!!"
"Wooo!!!"
"Smash it in one go!!!"
The moment he swung the borrowed massive hammer down on the red inner core...
Red jelly burst out, flying toward the crowd.
"Whoa!!"
"Damn it, ambush-!!!"
"Hey, Baek Soo-chan, duck!!!"
"Can't dodge th—"
The sudden jelly splatter hit Elise and me before we could react...
Splat-
We got coated.
I knew it wasn't harmful, so I didn't even try to dodge.
"Eek-!! What is this, sticky... Huh?"
The red jelly that hit people soaked right into their gear, dyeing it variant-red like the slime.
"...!! Everyone okay!!?"
"All good!!"
"What the hell just...?"
They spent a bit checking themselves over, but no issues with their bodies.
"Seems fine bodily."
"Hrm... Then the red gear?"
"Only change is the dyed equipment..."
Then someone noticed something off about their gear.
"Huh? Guys!! The scratches on my gear are gone!!"
"What're you on about?"
"My armguard here's beat to hell from years of use, tons of scratches and wear—look!"
The armguard he showed was pristine, like brand new.
"...Like it's fresh off the forge."
Others started showing theirs too.
"...My shield's dented spot seems to be smoothing out over time..."
"My breastplate's puncture is gone without a trace!"
"No way...? Lemme borrow that shield a sec!"
Catching on, the raid leader grabbed a member's shield, set it down, and smashed it with the hammer.
"Aaaah-!!"
The lender yelped, but...
Squish-
Red jelly oozed from the shield's surface, absorbing the full impact.
The party realized what the inner core's reward was.
"No freaking way...!!"
"Ha... Don't tell me the variant inner core reward is..."
"Permanent gear enhancement...!!!"
"Whoa... what!!"
"Hang on, it only stuck to armor!!!"
The whole raid dungeon erupted in excitement.
Explorers were picky about their life-saving gear.
"Whoa... Came for the Golden Ticket and see something wild...? Hey Baek Soo-chan, what got enhanced on you? My robe I wore turned red..."
Elise's blue robe was now red.
I had zero gear—just came bare.
Looking around, the slime jelly seemed to prioritize soaking into old, beat-up stuff with damage.
The most worn-out thing on me was...
"......My panties."
"?"
My panties felt all squishy now.