Chapter 238
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 238
Chapter Title: 67. Guardian Angel Slime (6)
14.
El Pam—his magic was overwhelming.
Even at the 6th Circle, its power showed no shortcomings whatsoever when compared to the 7th Circle!
Add El Pam’s telekinesis abilities on top of that, and its might was undoubtedly among the very best in the Maple World.
But El Pam could not be called superior to a 7th Circle mage.
El Pam was certainly strong.
The problem was that his ability to sustain that strength was utterly incomparable to a 7th Circle mage.
After all, the gap in mana between the 6th and 7th Circles wasn’t just a matter of a few multiples.
On the contrary, the more power El Pam unleashed on par with the 7th Circle, the more precipitously his mana consumption spiked.
That was why El Pam had staked his life on telekinesis techniques.
For him, the sustainability to endure long battles mattered far more than raw destructive power.
His companions knew that point all too well.
And that was why.
“Your mana is infinite?”
They were floored by the fact El Pam had just stated.
Granting near-infinite mana to El Pam was tantamount to turning him into an absurd monster.
“And for 30 minutes?”
Sure, there was a time limit, but that hardly mattered.
“You can only use it once, with a 24-hour cooldown.”
Even the fact that it could only be used once per day didn’t matter.
If El Pam unleashed every spell in his arsenal for those 30 minutes, the sheer firepower would rival what 7th Circle mages could pour out.
It was tremendous magic.
“My God.”
But right then, El Pam’s companions turned their heads.
Boom!
They gazed at the Guardian Angel Slime lumbering in search of prey from a distance—that colossal beast.
The instant they laid eyes on it, realization dawned.
‘Even so, it won’t be enough.’
El Pam would certainly unleash merciless firepower, but the stamina the Guardian Angel Slime had demonstrated defied all common sense.
The damage from the skills the adventurers here had dumped on it was hardly lacking compared to what dozens of 7th Circle mages might unleash.
Simply having El Pam hurl magic for 30 minutes wouldn’t be enough to bring it down.
“This alone isn’t sufficient.”
El Pam knew it too.
He knew that no amount of relentless assault alone could ever fell it.
“Instead, it makes that possible—for 30 minutes.”
Yet the reason El Pam said this anyway was simple.
“That?”
It was because it existed.
“Surgery.”
15.
“Give El Pam a chance?”
The adventurers rebelled as a matter of course upon hearing that abrupt proposal.
But the explanation that followed changed everyone’s minds.
Not that they accepted El Pam’s proposal, of course.
“No matter what, this is too much. What if that guy screws up the whole operation?”
“The operation’s already screwed. No matter how hard we try on our own, we can’t take down that monster!”
“So we just give up like this? That’s absurd!”
“We’ve got to try something!”
Debate over that point remained fierce.
“More importantly, though.”
Instead, they all harbored the exact same question.
“Why the hell would El Pam’s party make a proposal like this?”
No matter how they racked their brains, they couldn’t fathom why El Pam’s party wasn’t joining forces but instead demanding a solo hunting opportunity.
Of course, there was one thing they all agreed on.
“They’re not seriously trying to kill it.”
El Pam’s party couldn’t possibly aim to take down the Guardian Angel Slime.
No matter how they sliced it, it looked impossible for a mere five of them to do so.
Forget killing it—surviving even a few minutes seemed out of the question in reality.
Under normal circumstances, they’d have just dismissed El Pam’s party as a bunch of weirdos pulling some stunt.
“But they found Fried’s brooch—the one everyone thought was inside the Guardian Angel Slime.”
Yet El Pam’s party had retrieved Fried’s brooch, which everyone had assumed was stashed inside the Guardian Angel Slime.
A sign they’d uncovered something special here on the 5th floor.
“Maybe the Guardian Angel Slime isn’t a monster meant to be hunted.”
By now, some adventurers were entertaining the possibility of another way out of this place.
“I hope that’s the case.”
More precisely, they hoped it was true.
They’d already admitted it, after all.
That slaying the Guardian Angel Slime was impossible.
From here on, all they could do was flail desperately until death—that was it.
“At least it’s certain there won’t be any fighting.”
Either way, no one anticipated actual combat from El Pam’s party.
No one could even imagine it.
They were simply convinced something else was coming.
“El Pam’s party is moving! Huh?”
And to those onlookers, El Pam’s party delivered.
“They’re... just fighting?”
16.
Adventurers facing a colossal monster needed to keep just one thing in mind.
“Conquer your fear. Do that, and it’s not as tough as you’d think.”
Free yourself from terror, and battling a giant monster becomes far easier than imagined.
“It’s the difference between an ant and a human. If the ant plays it smart, it can easily slip away from a human. Especially in dense foliage.”
Naturally, the advice came with that context.
“The problem is, conquering that fear is next to impossible.”
It wasn’t exactly helpful counsel.
That was what facing a giant entity entailed.
Its sheer, otherworldly scale rendered all your skills and experience worthless in an instant.
The Guardian Angel Slime was no different.
Archers, pirates, and mages firing from range could never comprehend.
“Getting that close to it is pure madness.”
They had no idea the sheer terror gripping the warriors and thieves forced to confront the Guardian Angel Slime up close.
In truth, among all adventurer classes, the ones suffering most weren’t the ranged dealers spamming skills nonstop.
It was the warriors and thieves aggroing it relentlessly from point-blank range.
They couldn’t even fight continuously.
“Ten minutes feels like ten days, I’m telling you.”
Rotations every 10 minutes, followed by over an hour of rest.
It was an existence that defied reason on every level.
Only survivable because hundreds were tackling it together.
“Come at me!”
Yet now, El Pam’s five-man party charged straight at that very Guardian Angel Slime.
To be precise, not even all five.
“Dibo, acknowledged by the polearm hero herself, stands here!”
Only Dibo and Kiri rushed toward the Guardian Angel Slime.
It scarcely qualified as an attack.
Like moths hurtling into roaring flames—no one would call that attacking the fire.
“Are they insane?”
The adventurers watching from afar burst into incredulous laughter.
It was far too pointless.
That was why some ventured.
“That’s just aggro bait.”
“Yeah. No way they plan to actually attack like that.”
There had to be some other motive.
“Charging in that confidently—they’ve definitely found some special method.”
“As expected of El Pam’s party.”
Others, precisely because it seemed so ludicrous, read even deeper meaning into it.
So they all watched.
And that was when they saw it.
“Smash Swing!”
“Celestial Vision!”
Dibo and Kiri unleashing skills without pause.
“Rapid Fire!”
Minel yanking the trigger relentlessly from afar.
“Fire Arrow.”
El Pam casting spell after spell.
“No need to worry about injuries, everyone! I’ve got both eyes peeled! Ah, there’s a magic stone here.”
Even Ralph, biding his time for his moment amid it all.
Every one of them gave their all from their positions.
And they fought damn well.
Just five of them, yet they steadily chipped away at damage against the impossibly massive Guardian Angel Slime.
Better than anything the adventurers had managed so far.
But no one marveled at the fact.
“Are they seriously trying to take it down like that?”
El Pam’s party’s grand method was... ordinary hunting?
No one wore a disbelieving expression at the realization.
Instead, their faces grew grim.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘These lunatics.’
You frown at someone hollering on the street, but your face hardens when someone douses themselves in oil and strikes a match.
That was exactly what El Pam’s party was doing.
Beyond defying common sense—it was suicide.
Of course, they all knew.
‘They’re good.’
El Pam’s party members each boasted skills at the pinnacle among the adventurers present.
Far from falling short of renowned veterans, they surpassed them.
These were the real deal—genuine elites, no frauds.
But against the Guardian Angel Slime, none of it mattered a whit.
‘Teleport aside, fine.’
They had a counter for that.
‘But the Slime Wave?’
The Slime Wave—an avalanche of slimes birthed from the Guardian Angel Slime’s body, surging like tidal waves.
Put differently, the instant the Slime Wave kicked off, it was a death sentence for El Pam’s party.
And that instant arrived.
Light began pouring from the Guardian Angel Slime’s body.
“It’s coming!”
Those spectating from afar shouted in unison.
“Slime Wave!”
“Everyone, run!”
The words had barely left their lips before every adventurer bolted at full tilt from the Guardian Angel Slime.
It went without saying.
“Even a graze means death!”
No one in the Maple World knew the Slime Wave’s terror better.
Dying here, above all, would be pathetic—a mutt’s end.
Not in honorable combat, but gawking at El Pam’s party’s folly? Even clearing this place afterward would force retirement in shame.
Amid the fleeing adventurers, some muttered.
“We’d best pray for El Pam’s party’s souls.”
They were moments from death, after all.
That was all.
From then on, no one spared El Pam’s party a second thought.
Naturally, they had no clue.
“Kiri!”
“Got it.”
Dibo, Kiri, and the rest—they’d all been waiting for precisely this moment.
The onset of the Slime Wave.
“The boss is commencing surgery.”
El Pam spoke.
Surgery on the Guardian Angel Slime—zeroing in on one spot of its body to strike at its core.
Undeniably insane.
It wasn’t as if the other adventurers had overlooked the tactic.
For a behemoth like the Guardian Angel Slime—not some lesser slime—burrowing into its bulk to hit the nucleus was akin to sniping a shark’s heart fathoms deep in the ocean with a pistol.
“Not easy.”
El Pam knew as much.
Which was why he’d laid down the condition.
“So we must halt the Guardian Angel Slime.”
The key requirement for this operation.
“And the Guardian Angel Slime doesn’t move while activating Slime Wave.”
In short, El Pam’s party had to bait the Slime Wave the instant it began.
Not merely evade the crashing waves, but keep them perpetually in pursuit.
Sheer madness.
Taunting a natural disaster!
Yet when El Pam outlined the plan, no one recoiled in shock or dismay.
No objections, no gripes.
“30 minutes.”
They trusted him.
“In 30 minutes, the boss will wrap it up.”
Faith that El Pam would deliver!
And El Pam repaid that faith in spades.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The Slime Wave erupted.
“Over here! Come this way!”
The instant Dibo drew it in, El Pam—who’d been poised at a distance—sprang into motion.
He channeled his mana into the brooch dangling at his chest.
His irises flashed blue.
Surgery had begun.