Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: The Slime's Trap
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One of the important elements when fighting a strong enemy was how to make good use of the terrain and surroundings.
When I fought Bellamora before, I tried to find and destroy her power source to kill her, and when dealing with Memoriam, I almost fell into a trap and was defeated.
Now it was our turn to pay her back.
"Astal! I've taken out all the ones guarding the perimeter! Should we move into her territory now?"
"No, not yet."
I grabbed Anima's shoulder as she rejoiced at having completed one task, holding her back with a bright smile.
The reason we eliminated the clones that served as Memoriam's other ears and eyes first was to prevent her from knowing what we were planning to do next.
Considering the case of the fake Victoria, the main body and the clones shared senses, allowing her to know what we were doing and where we were.
"It's actually fortunate that Memoriam is underground. If she had disguised herself as a tree or grass blooming in the demon realm, she would have been much harder to find."
Since her location had been exposed to the fake Victoria, she could have dealt with it by setting up decoys and fleeing or moving elsewhere.
But rather, that aspect likely touched Memoriam's pride, so she probably didn't move.
"...Maybe she has an inferiority complex about her true self, wanting to be human more than anyone else."
A Green Slime, so weak it was not even looked down upon by children, receiving the lowest evaluation among monsters.
The reason Memoriam shows excessive obsession with others' memories and abilities likely stems from this.
Because she thinks she is nothing without relying on someone else's memories or abilities. Ultimately, because she thinks she is an inferior being.
The fake Victoria couldn't understand dying for our sake and flailed in her inferiority complex.
"If she had let go of just a little greed, if she had been just a bit more cautious, the result might have been different."
I signaled to Kyle with a gesture and put the next prepared plan into action.
*Crash—!*
Kyle thrust his holy sword into a hole Anima had prepared earlier, twisted the hilt, and poured flames into it.
Normally, in a damp, oxygen-poor underground, flames wouldn't spread, but Kyle's holy sword was different from ordinary ones.
The sacred flame that cuts through darkness and burns evil wouldn't stop until it latched onto a monster.
"Good. Found it."
Kyle closed his eyes briefly, concentrating, then opened them wide and smiled. Immediately, flames shot up from the ground, shaking the earth.
Dust, noise, and a massive being large enough to cast a shadow over us revealed itself.
"I, I am—Memoriam. I am Memoriam! I am the memory-eating slime who will kill you all and absorb all memories and abilities, Memoriam—!!"
Screaming through countless mouths and heads, wielding nearly every weapon diversely using multiple arms and legs.
She looked as if she couldn't withstand the personalities and abilities of others and had lost herself.
"Spare me, ah, at least the child.... Please.... The child.... Ah, ugh…."
Among the faces Memoriam possessed was that of a mother shedding tears, begging for her child's life.
"Fuck, my wedding was yesterday, you bastards! Let me out of here right now…!"
Some, perhaps unaware of their own death, cursed and swung swords to kill us.
"Ah, it's Lord Astal Caesarios. The continent's strongest mage…! Have you come to save us? I'm so happy! Everyone! We can all live now!"
Among them, some recognized me and wore faces of joy. She was probably using all the humans she had eaten so far all at once.
Memoriam already knew we had mostly succeeded in subjugating the Four Heavenly Kings and that other personalities' Ideals could wound her.
"Eww, what is that! It's gross!"
"It seems she's reached the limit of the memories and abilities she can control."
Anima and Taryon began attacking the heads together, combining their powers against Memoriam.
"Ah.... Aah…, it hurts, it hurts…! Why, why are you hitting meeeeee—!!"
"Spare us. Please, please!! We're still alive, damn it. Are you even a hero party doing this…?!"
Soon, the heads that had been crying pitifully towards us screamed horrifically and poured out curses.
Perhaps she judged that showing this would make us feel sympathy or hesitate to kill.
"Right, you are all people who have already been eaten and killed by Memoriam. I doubt she ever even considered taking hostages."
However, I had anticipated this and told my comrades in advance.
After sending messenger birds across the continent to check, we learned that all humans taken by Memoriam's clone slimes had died.
It was information my magic teacher, the Blue Tower Master Charlotte Snowrain, obtained by summoning a spirit medium she knew.
"There weren't any actual living humans in your museum or territory either. They were all imitations you created."
Even if there had been, judging by Memoriam's greedy obsession, she likely disposed of them all after a being like the fake Victoria, who could deny her own existence, appeared.
"……."
*Thud.*
The moment I spoke the truth, the faces composing Memoriam stared at me with expressionless faces, as if time had stopped.
"Ha—haha!"
"Hahahahahahat!"
"Uhahahahaha!"
And then, explosive laughter.
Memoriam's appearance, laughing even as arrows pierced her eyes or face and she was gnawed away by Ideals, was somehow chilling.
Memoriam writhed her enlarged body to its fullest and charged to crush us.
"I will kill you all and advance to become a more perfect being. That is my way of life."
The singing voice from countless heads speaking in unison was so sharp and chilling it felt like eardrums would burst.
*Bang, Kaga-ga-gang—!*
Her giant body floated into the air like a balloon once, and then attacks using countless weapons swirled towards us.
"Bullshit."
I sneered at her while activating a magic circle I had drawn on the back of my hand beforehand.
Berserker Rage.
A spell that momentarily stirs emotions, causing rage to boil over.
Since Dispel originally involves colliding inversely drawn magic circles, making it activate upon such 'contact' causes that space to disappear.
Using this, I spun another personality's Ideal in my hand, and the attacks composed of numerous weapons and techniques were being erased as if eaten away by insects.
"……!!!"
Seeing that she couldn't nullify another personality's Ideal, Memoriam showed signs of slight panic.
Of course she would.
To finish us off definitively, she had brought out her main body and was using all the abilities and memories of the humans she had eaten so far.
Unlike last time, she couldn't block magic or spirit summoning because she wasn't caught in a trap.
"Victoria, it's your turn now."
"Understood!"
Not missing the momentary opening, Victoria jumped up from behind me and swung her hammer at Memoriam.
*Kwaang—!*
The hammer swung with enough force to create a shockwave that burst the air attacked Memoriam's body over a wide area.
I used wind magic to levitate Victoria's body so she wouldn't be caught and eaten by Memoriam.
Dozens of arms stretched out to block Victoria, but my comrades and I combined our strength, firing ranged attacks to cut them down.
*Bang, bang, kwaang—!*
Only after several dull sounds echoed did Memoriam's body stagger greatly and slump down.
"Done! No matter how much she moves her core inside her body, she can't help but take shocks if we keep pounding her like this!"
Victoria smiled and nodded at me, seeing the plan's success.
Slimes originally have a core inside their bodies and are beings that don't die unless it's destroyed.
But conversely, the very fact of having a core is a limitation of being a slime.
I had deliberately used the hammer, whose attacks previously didn't work, for a continuous assault. If I had used an Ideal or a new technique, she might have been on guard.
"Ideal."
I now cast an Ideal infused with even Taryon's divine power against the temporarily incapacitated Memoriam.
I compressed space as thoroughly as possible, sucking in everything around to seal away Memoriam without leaving a trace.
*Kwaaaaaaa—!*
A fierce wind howled, and countless magic circles unfolded like threads, trapping Memoriam.
"……."
I suddenly felt something strange and watched her state.
Her reaction was oddly absent.
If it were the Memoriam I knew, she would have flailed and screamed that she didn't want to die when caught in such a plan.
"This bitch, was she deliberately enduring to steal my memories and abilities?"
"...Correct."
Only then did Memoriam tear her large mouth wide and state what she had aimed for.