Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Slime
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-Sssshhhh...
The moment the dungeon core touched Erzsebet's hand, it was engulfed in a brilliant light and vanished, just like before—its grotesque form dissolving away. And as if recalling something long forgotten, Erzsebet began to weep endlessly.
"Kuhhheuk... Heuk... M-Master... kill me..."
From behind her came the voice of Aleph, endlessly regenerating from the infinite blood supply while being torn apart mercilessly by the cursed vessels he himself had created. But Erzsebet paid no attention to the likes of him.
Instead, she focused on the memories that had surged up the instant she touched the core—and "that thing."
"Ahh... so that's how it..."
From the eyes of Erzsebet, whose body always ran red with blood, poured forth clear, transparent tears without end. After sobbing for a long while like that, she reached out and pressed her hand to her own head.
-Crunch!!
With a gruesome sound, she tore something out from inside her head. Feeling her consciousness fade bit by bit, Erzsebet murmured.
"If I... remember... still..."
She wiped away her tears completely. The three pairs of wings that had constantly sprouted from her back during the time she drew on her full power retracted into her body. Even the dress she wore shifted into casual clothes, and Aleph, suffering behind her, sank into the pool of blood and disappeared.
Once all traces around her had vanished and her appearance had reverted to almost exactly as it was when staying inside the ruins,
"...Huh?"
Erzsebet lifted her heavy eyelids.
"Yawn... I kept getting so sleepy... ended up dozing off for a bit after all."
Just like someone waking from a brief nap, she let out a deep yawn, then turned her body and flew back toward the ruins where her master awaited.
She had punished those alliance fools targeting her master... had she? Yeah. Right. She had definitely killed all three of them... killed them. Yeah.
With her task done, she could finally return to her master. She really needed some sleep. For some reason, she felt utterly exhausted... like she'd had a nightmare.
"...Erzsebet. What the hell are you doing?"
I clutched my head at the sudden appearance of the [Sub Quest] and muttered to myself.
The [Main Quest] that popped up after I transferred to this world had already been a headache, and now some unheard-of [Sub Quest] system had jumped out too.
Moreover, the quest description told me to collect and purify something, but it was glitched out like a broken system window—completely unreadable.
Current Progress: 3/72
...And for some reason, the progress that had been ticking up one by one stalled at 3 and spat out a whopping 30,000 points as a reward.
'Points are nice, but...'
It felt really off. Just in case, I checked if anyone else in the ruins had done something, but no one had taken any particularly special actions. That left only Erzsebet, out on her own, as the likely cause of this...
'The quest even said to make active use of employees.'
Of all times, the [Sub Quest] shows up while Erzsebet—registered as my [Employee]—is outside... This had to be something she did, no doubt.
And the progress is at 3... which matches exactly the number of dungeons she went off to punish. Could it be...
-Boom!
"Hm?!"
Just as a hypothesis flashed in my mind, while I paced anxiously near the ruins' entrance, I heard the sound of something crashing down. The slime that had been devouring scattered debris around the entrance heard it too and hurriedly crawled inside with a plop plop plop.
Sounds of several people rushing about followed soon after, and the elves patrolling the outer forest returned carrying a woman with a familiar silhouette on their backs.
"M-Master! Lady Erzsebet!"
"What happened? Is she hurt?!"
Seeing the elves dash in with an apparently unconscious Erzsebet slung over their backs, I felt a heavy stone thud into my chest and hurried over to her.
...N-No way, is she dead...
"Kuuu..."
"...?"
"N-No, sir. She fell from the sky for some reason, so we brought her inside... but she seems to just be sleeping. No visible injuries."
Hearing the elves, I checked the [Employee Management] window just in case. Her status showed only [Sleep].
[Sleep]
'...Phew. Gave me a scare.'
I let out a sigh of relief and patted my chest. Then, with some pointless annoyance, I poked Erzsebet's cheek.
"Making me worry for nothing."
I'd wanted to ask her a ton of things once she got back—like if she'd retrieved anything weird, what happened to the alliance she went to punish, if she was hurt anywhere... But looking at her sleeping so soundly, it all felt pointless now.
"Sh... Should we wake her, Master?"
"Nah, let her be... Instead, double the patrol numbers."
"Yes, sir!"
There was a chance she might have lost to the alliance and come back that way, so until she woke up, I decided to double the patrols outside the ruins. Scooping Erzsebet into my arms, I headed deeper inside.
Luckily, thanks to the fruit Dryad gave me, even my strength was enough to carry her comfortably all the way back to where I'd been sleeping.
"Ah... Nooo, Master..."
In the meantime, some strange noise leaked from Erzsebet's mouth—was she sleep-talking?
...What kind of dream is she having?
'Hm? Master?'
That's weird. She usually just calls me "Master" without the honorific. It almost sounded like she was calling someone else "Master"...
The slime, having had its moisture thoroughly sucked out by Dryad, was slurping up nearby liquids indiscriminately to restore its shrunken body.
-Gulp...
In particular, after devouring the [Insecticide] scattered to exterminate the influx of bugs, or the [Detergent] spread to clean the corridors Erzsebet often dirtied, the slime felt a strange urge welling up inside it.
-Gulp! Gulp!
It had always been good at gobbling up filth and grime, but now it obsessed even more over refuse, snatching up untouched muck that other slimes had left behind and beating the [Robot Vacuum] to scraps it had sensed and was heading for.
Was it the [Detergent] it swallowed that altered the slime's habits? Slimes naturally devoured all kinds of filth without discrimination, but this one fixating solely on grime seemed a bit off.
-Gulp! Gulp!
Then, sensing the ominous vibration from Erzsebet's crash near the entrance, the slimes gathered there fled urgently deeper into the ruins.
Slimes, lacking any real danger detection, simply had the instinct to flee from big vibrations.
As the slimes scattered plop plop plop inside the ruins once more, only the one that had taken on a faintly milky hue after swallowing the [Detergent] sensed something and ventured even deeper.
-Squish squish...
"Whirrr... So hungry..."
-Squish?!
In the midst of it, it spotted the monster that had mercilessly devoured it a few days ago and frantically fled from it. Worried about getting sucked dry again, the slime bolted headlong and squeezed through a passageway blocked by boulders to keep the ruins' inhabitants out.
-Squish!
And there—a new world unfolded.
Around the entrance, it had competed with other slimes and that weird "whirring" thing for scraps, but here filth was piled everywhere!
Ever since swallowing that strange liquid, the slime's appetite had flipped completely. Its nonexistent eyes rolled back as it lunged at the grime, devouring wildly.
-Blub blub...
The more filth it shoveled in indiscriminately, the bigger its body grew bit by bit—but lost in the tasty prey, the slime didn't even notice it was swelling up.
-Gurgle. Gurgle...
Climbing down stairs that hadn't been fully cleaned yet, the slime discovered a vast underground chamber still bearing traces of the undead and wriggled forth energetically.
And as its size increased, its ability to sense prey seemed to sharpen instinctively; it made a beeline for the filthiest spot in the chamber.
-Thud!
A small door. The space where a succubus had lived for over a month without washing.
Lilith had left it untouched and filthy when she departed, never cleaning it despite going out. The slime invaded that spot and, rejoicing (mouthless though it was), gorged on the revolting grime.
As it slurped up moss and black stains from the walls, sticking to one wall to devour the filth, that wall began to slowly give way.
-Groooan...
A rusted iron door, covered in such foul grime it blended seamlessly with the surrounding walls. Neither Eugene, who had come down to the basement, nor Lilith, long trapped in this space, had noticed it. Unable to bear the weight of the massively swollen slime plastered to it, the heavy door creaked open bit by bit.
-Squish?
Sensing its body tilt and the wall it clung to parting, the slime slowly slid inside.
And...
-Gulp! Gulp!
Seeing what lay within, it expressed joy with its entire body and plunged into its discovery.