Slime Hunting Frenzy and Meeting the Protagonist
Taiga, and Sassischwiik-! At exactly midnight, the night streets of Emoshita City were steeped in a bizarre atmosphere. A fog of strange light filled the air everywhere. This was clear proof that the mid-sized city was beginning to fuse with the Other Side.
"...This is."
Only then did Taiga look up at something hovering above her head.
A big, bold 'Level: 1' was written above Taiga's head. It seemed she couldn't handle the full status window yet, but she could roughly gauge her own level and the enemies' levels.
Soon, Taiga silently eyed the clear proof of strength shining above my head.
"You're surprisingly strong!!! Topless dude!!!" Taiga immediately threw shade.
"What's with 'topless dude'!! Topless dude!!" How obsessed was this girl with my bare chest?
"Anyway, you feel it? My power." I struck a pose flexing my muscles right away.
"It kinda hurts my pride.... That I'm weaker than a guy like this." Taiga muttered, looking pissed.
"Heh. Jealousy.... The privilege of the weak. Enjoy it while you can." I swept my hair back dramatically.
"Ughaaah!! Annoying!! This is basically like a game, right? You level up by killing a ton of stuff."
Taiga's face turned fierce in no time.
"Let's go hunt already!! Hunt!!" Taiga shouted.
Her enthusiasm was a good sign. I grinned and picked up my steel pipe.
What.... Was I hogging our protagonist Sassis's golden opportunity? A twinge of unease hit me.
'Eh.... But who cares?'
It was just a matter of order. If fate played out normally, Taiga would end up as Sassis's companion anyway. I could just think of this as pre-leveling her up.
"Gerrrrk!!"
"Geruk!!!"
The site of the first murder victim was definitely a monster hotspot. Slimes popped out from everywhere.
Slimes again.... I could complain like that, but this was the early game. Like the first hour of playtime. The only trash mobs were slimes.
"Gerrrrk!!!"
The slimes were fiercer than usual. And all that hatred was aimed straight at me.
"Ahh.... They 'hate' me, huh." I murmured with my eyes closed.
It made sense. I'd killed their hero, Gerruk. No wonder his minions hated my guts.
"I get how you feel. But.... If you're warriors too, clash with me head-on. Turn that hate into power!!!"
I shouted that and charged straight at the slimes.
"Kkieeeek!!!!"
I swung my steel pipe and burst one slime instantly.
Kwaaaang-!!
The slime's body exploded pitifully in one hit. Slimes were one-shots for me now.
I'd taken another life. This sinful existence....
Taiga was giving me the side-eye.
"Do you have to fight like such a drama queen?"
She looked at me like I was some pitiful creature.
No. Drama queen.... Couldn't she feel this burning passion that only men understand?
Anyway, a horde of slimes surrounded us.
"Uryaaah!! Die!!!"
Taiga swung her baseball bat with wild abandon, smashing slimes left and right.
"Kihahahaha!!! Beating 'em with a bat feels so good!!! Uryaaah!! Headshot!!!"
Taiga seemed totally in her element, unleashing her destructive instincts. Er.... Seeing it up close was kinda scary.
Level 1 or not, her ex-delinquent experience shone through. She fought really well.
Well.... She was a high-performer in the game too. The protagonist's party member buff kicked in immediately.
ding-!ding ding-!
Thanks to our slime-sweeping hunting method, Taiga's level shot up at a ridiculous pace.
Yes. She was level 5 now. Same as me.
'All my spring break grind....'
Thud-!!
I collapsed to the ground on the spot.
Honestly, it hit me hard. Memories of my spring break days flashed by.
Morning to night hardcore kendo dojo training, dragging my heavy body through murderous slime-hunting routines for three whole weeks, barely scraping level 4. Then risking my life to take down Gerruk, my overwhelming benchmark boss, to finally hit 5.
All that hard-earned progress, and she caught up in one day.
'Ahh.... This is what they call main character energy?'
A jealousy I'd never felt even as a web novel author surged through me.
"Heh. Caught up, huh." Taiga said in a triumphant tone.
".......Numbers can't measure true strength." I desperately claimed mental victory.
My three weeks of effort weren't wasted!!!! No way they were!!!
"Oh yeah? But you rubbed your numbers in my face earlier. What's that about? Hmm?"
Taiga patted my head as she teased.
"Y-Your level 5 is just raw potential!!! My level 5 is battle-hardened muscle!! That's it!!"
I yelled that and charged at the slimes again.
"Kkieeeek!!!!! Let's see who kills more!!!!"
I tried to stay positive.
"You're on!!! Loser becomes my errand boy!!"
Taiga, loving the competition, swung her bat and dove in.
After the mad slime slaughter.
I looked up at Taiga's head.
My level was still 5. I'd hunted pretty hard, but it hadn't budged a single point.
She smirked sadistically at me.
"Cute."
Taiga patted my head and dropped that devastating line. Topped with a smug winner's grin.
Ah.... Right. So there was only one thing left for me to do?
"Taiga. Wanna take a break from slime hunting? Got something to do."
I said it in the most serene tone to Taiga.
"Huh? Suddenly?"
"Gonna go kill myself real quick."
Ah.... All will to live was gone. I felt like I could die without regrets right now.
"Hey!!! Don't make that calm face, it's scary!! Please!!! You look like you're actually going!!"
Taiga grabbed me immediately.
"Kkuuuh.... Kweeeh....!"
Tears started flowing from my eyes on their own.
"You're such a pain!!! Snap out of it!!"
Taiga said that, but wiped my tears anyway.
"Hweeeeng!!"
I buried my face in Taiga's chest. I just wanted some maternal healing, anything.
"W-Wait.... My boobs?! You perv...!"
Taiga's panicked voice rang out, but I had zero intention of moving from her chest.
I needed healing!!
"Fine. Fine. There. Good boy. Good boy."
In the end, Taiga gave up and stroked my head.
About five minutes later, I was fully healed.
"Phew.... Mental recovery complete."
Maternal power was truly great.
"You're way too quick to bounce back...."
Taiga muttered in disbelief.
"So, we just farming slimes till 2 AM today? I wanna fight some tougher stuff soon."
Taiga asked about the plan.
"Huh? Asking a level 5 worm like me? The level 7 boss Taiga should decide."
My inferiority complex reared its head again.
Damn. The more I thought, the more pissed I got.
"This guy's got some serious lingering resentment...."
Taiga snorted in exasperation.
That was when it happened.
"You guys.... You can see this too?"
A super cool, serious voice made me and Taiga turn around.
There stood our protagonist, Aiueo Sashitsuseso. Or Sassis for short.
He'd scavenged a battered wooden plank as a weapon somewhere. This guy.... Adapted fast. Protagonist material.
"Ahh.... Aiueo. You here to fight monsters too?"
I asked.
"Just call me Eo. It's a mouthful."
Our cool guy Sassis said coolly.
"Eo.... You cherry-picked the coolest part from the hiragana order Aiueo!! Genius!!!"
I couldn't help but admire it.
Eo. It had such vibe now. No one would guess the lazy original was Aiueo.
Sassis had pulled off peak cool from his cursed name. Massive achievement.
What to call it.... Like sprouting a seedling in a wasteland.
"Then I'll call you Sassis!!"
But I decided on Sassis anyway. Everyone did. Better to standardize nicknames.
"Why'd you land on that!!?"
Sassis snapped back, uncharacteristically heated.
Was the cool thing just a concept? I wondered.
"I.... Wanna call you Sassis."
I put on a pitiful pout automatically.
"Hmph.... Nicknames don't matter. Not important."
Finally acting cool again, our protagonist Sassis.
Though he seemed to care a bit.... But with bro code, I pretended not to notice.
I'd had my chuunibyou phase too. Yeah. Everyone grows through that. High schoolers weren't immune.
"Ooh. Another human who can see the monsters."
Taiga seemed intrigued.
"Ishimori Norio, found dead today. He was killed by a monster. People killed by monsters die of heart attacks. Not physical damage.... Seems like mental damage accumulates."
Sassis analyzed coldly.
So my job was simple. Hype up the protagonist.
".....Already knew that."
But Taiga, bad at reading the room, replied indifferently.
"........I see."
Sassis said coolly, but his voice trembled with embarrassment.
Sorry, Sassis. I apologized to him in my head.