Chapter 232
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: 66. Slime Paradise (4)
10.
“Pason, he’s dangerous.”
Helena issued the warning more strongly than ever when she heard that Pason was at the center of the adventurers targeting this time’s Fried brooch.
And everyone was shocked by that fact.
They were shocked for two reasons, to start with.
‘Lady Helena is going this far?’
Helena was an adventurer who had been active in the Maple World even before the Black Mage was sealed.
That meant she had experiences that made comparisons with the adventurers active now utterly laughable.
Naturally, she didn’t get worked up over most things.
Even events that others saw as gravely dangerous were just mildly concerning to her standards.
For her to warn like this meant it was no ordinary matter.
“Isn’t Pason an exemplary adventurer?”
The second shock was that she viewed Pason negatively.
To adventurers, Pason was the model adventurer.
An adventurer who embodied an indomitable will that never yielded to any failure, even staking his own life for it!
Most would see it positively if such a man became the leader.
Helena knew that too.
So she said,
“Pason is under suspicion right now.”
“Suspicion?”
“The suspicion that he deliberately kills adventurers in his own party and takes their items.”
She explained why she was warning them.
But the gathered adventurers couldn’t easily believe Helena’s words.
Pason, an adventurer of Minar Forest—no less than the model adventurer—being no better than an outlaw?
“The Adventurers’ Association was suspicious and tracking him. And they had gathered quite a lot of evidence.”
But the moment the Adventurers’ Association was mentioned, the story changed.
“By the original plan, they should have captured Pason and his crew. The problem is… the sunglasses suddenly showed up.”
Everyone’s expressions hardened at the continued explanation.
At this point, it wasn’t mere suspicion—they had evidence and were ready to make an arrest!
That meant the adventurers who had entered there were no different from sheep walking into a pack of wolves.
It meant they were in extreme danger!
On the other hand, there was a question.
“How on earth did he hide his true nature for so long?”
Pason had been active not for a day or two, but for nearly ten years!
How had he concealed his fangs—those razor-sharp canines—for all that time?
Helena answered the question.
“That’s why he’s so scary. He knows better than anyone how to hide his teeth. Even in the best situations, he doesn’t recklessly bare them. Instead, he extends a hand.”
11.
“El Pam, you alright?”
At Pason’s words, El Pam, who had been moving alone, jumped in surprise and said to him,
“Don’t come any closer.”
At that reaction, Pason immediately raised both hands above his head.
Clearly showing he had no intent to attack.
“I don’t know what happened, but calm down first. There’s no benefit in us fighting each other here.”
Instead of answering, El Pam rolled his eyes at those words.
Relentlessly.
‘This guy.’
Pason instantly grasped the meaning of that reaction.
‘He got hit by an adventurer.’
That El Pam was alone not because of some slime, but because of another adventurer.
Pason knew that fact better than anyone.
And he didn’t find it particularly surprising.
‘Whoever they were.’
All the adventurers who came here looked like impressive experts on the surface, but who knew what dark thoughts lurked inside.
Pason himself wasn’t perfectly hiding his identity, after all.
It was entirely possible the other adventurers were hyenas hunting adventurers, just like him.
‘They targeted my prey first.’
Even if that wasn’t the decisive reason, from the other adventurers’ perspective, El Pam’s party was an incredibly tempting target.
They were extremely easy to hunt, to begin with.
Yet the level of their items was astonishing enough to shock even the adventurers gathered here.
Catching just El Pam’s party would mean a massive boost in power!
That was why.
Not a single one of the adventurers gathered there had opposed El Pam’s party entering.
It meant they all harbored dark intentions.
In any case, from Pason’s standpoint, it was as good as having his targeted prey stolen.
All the members except El Pam had clearly been hunted!
‘Perfect.’
But in this situation, rather than spewing anger, Pason smiled.
“Looks like someone targeted your party, El Pam. Who was it?”
It was only natural.
“I’ll get revenge for you.”
Now he had a legitimate chance to hunt adventurers right in his hands.
Of course, he didn’t plan to forget to deal with El Pam afterward.
El Pam still didn’t let his guard down at Pason’s actions.
It would be weirder if he easily dropped his caution after being betrayed by comrades.
Pason knew that too, so he didn’t approach rashly.
“Just tell me who it was. No need to cooperate with us.”
“Can I really trust you?”
Seeing Pason like that, El Pam lowered his guard, and Pason smiled and said,
“I won’t force you to trust me. And it doesn’t really matter to me anyway. What matters to me is that there’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing in our group right now, and I need to deal with it to keep my own life safe.”
That was the moment.
“Mr. Pason.”
El Pam spoke.
“Please save my comrades.”
Pason didn’t smile at those words.
Instead, he wore a very serious expression.
“Your comrades are captured?”
“Yes.”
“That’s odd. If they were after items, they would’ve killed them on the spot.”
It was a situation completely different from the norm.
Of course, that wasn’t why he looked so serious.
This was an act.
Pason knew the reason.
‘Bait is never a bad thing in greater numbers.’
On a stage like this, the value of bait surpassed items in some ways.
Pason did the same.
He didn’t always kill the adventurers he caught outright.
In Minar Forest, that dangerous stage, the value of bait was even higher.
In any case, it wasn’t surprising from Pason’s perspective.
‘The other side isn’t ordinary either.’
He had just learned that the ones who attacked El Pam’s party weren’t some item-grubbing mob, but hyenas like himself.
‘Can’t go in sloppily.’
That was why.
“Gather everyone.”
Pason told his comrade to call in all the comrades who had been lying low nearby.
At his order, his comrades gathered quickly.
The gathered comrades’ expressions weren’t good either.
‘Enough to call everyone together.’
Pason usually preferred not to travel in a pack but to position his comrades around him.
To prepare for any potential attacks or ambushes.
It was a crucial tactic.
Especially when facing adventurers instead of monsters, dispersing forces like this was vital.
Even from the attacker’s side, with all forces split, they couldn’t rashly order an assault.
Yet he was calling them all together?
It meant something big had happened.
Of course, the moment Pason’s order dropped, they gathered in under a minute.
No exceptions.
Everyone assembled, and they immediately asked,
“What’s going on?”
The answer didn’t come from Pason, but from El Pam’s mouth.
“Explosion.”
12.
Boom!
It was a sudden explosion.
A massive one at that.
“Argh!”
Pason’s party of some fifty members—most of them got caught in that blast, its range was that enormous.
And its power was tremendous.
That single explosion killed fourteen people on the spot.
‘W-what is this!’
Even Pason, who had been through all sorts of battles, panicked for that reason.
He had heard it.
‘Explosion?’
El Pam chanting the Explosion spell.
Actually, the moment he heard that spell, Pason’s emotion was more bewilderment than surprise.
He’d been tricked!
That kind of bewilderment.
But the moment he saw its power, Pason’s mind went blank.
‘This?’
The power on display refused comparison with the fire-attribute Explosion he knew.
‘Blue?’
The flames from the explosion were a clear blue.
A color he’d never seen before.
There was every reason to be shocked.
Of course, Pason was a seasoned adventurer—one who had adventured in Minar Forest, no less.
He shouted,
“Kill El Pam!”
Knowing there was no time for hesitation or deliberation here.
“Right now!”
It wasn’t just Pason.
The moment his order rang out, the survivors among his comrades caught in the explosion moved.
Especially the warriors and thieves—they sprang into action.
They had taken the least damage, to begin with.
And they had the most experience.
They were the ones most often exposed first to magic and all sorts of attacks.
Naturally, they knew.
‘Just close the distance, and it’s over.’
No matter what amazing ability El Pam displayed, the moment they closed in, it was done.
That was the moment.
“Poison Mist.”
With El Pam’s words, a poisonous fog began spreading around him.
Truthfully, it wasn’t all that surprising or threatening.
Poison Mist was powerful, but adventurers of this caliber all had at least one way to handle poison.
Some even had strong resistance to it.
From their perspective, ten seconds of exposure to Poison Mist wasn’t fatal.
And ten seconds was more than enough to carve El Pam into ten pieces.
It surely was.
‘Am I seeing this wrong?’
‘Is Poison Mist this thick?’
But the color of the Poison Mist spreading around El Pam was different from anything they’d seen before.
It wasn’t mere fog.
It was more like a curtain.
Even so, no one stopped. They were bullets fired from a gun.
Bullets that had to fly forward.
But their intentions crumbled immediately.
“Cough!”
The moment they were exposed to the poison—even those who inhaled just a bit—coughed and collapsed on the spot.
Those who held their breath weren’t much better off.
They didn’t spit blood or drop right away.
‘Damn it.’
But dizziness and nausea started surging up.
That was no small matter.
Even skin exposure alone affecting them this much meant this poison was beyond what they’d imagined.
Above all, this Poison Mist was intensely colored.
In their blurring vision from the dizziness, finding El Pam was practically impossible.
They could only hear.
“Fire Arrow.”
El Pam’s voice.
And that was the last voice they heard.
Whoosh!
The fire arrows El Pam conjured pierced through all the approaching warrior and thief adventurers.
‘W-what in the world.’
Pason, watching from a distance, saw his mind go blanker than ever.
He had considered the possibility of El Pam setting a trap.
But he’d never imagined one mage alone could make his comrades fall so helplessly.
At that point, only one thought came to Pason.
‘He… wasn’t a fraud…’
That El Pam’s party had achieved what they did through real skill, not scams or luck.
And that was his final thought.
“Smash Swing!”
Dibo, who had been hiding, appeared and shattered Pason’s skull with a single blow.
Starting with that, El Pam’s comrades eliminated Pason’s comrades.
“Boss.”
In an instant.
“It’s over.”
Dibo’s expression wasn’t great after finishing the job. It couldn’t be.
Pason, the model adventurer—no one had expected him to be a hyena hunting adventurers.
It was disheartening in every way.
“Boss, now…”
But that disappointment didn’t last long.
Everyone saw it.
Pew!
“Huh?”
The blue smoke signal spreading above the forest.
“It’s Guardian Angel Slime!”