Chapter 137. Mutant Slime.
Chapter 137. Mutant Slime.
— Whooooosh!
The thing lashed out with its tentacles, tearing the air apart with a terrible sound. Watching me survive that colossal explosion must have convinced it to switch tactics to raw physical force.
"If it survived that blast, you'd think it would run... but I guess it's still a slime in the end."
A normal slime would have dodged or shielded itself once it sensed danger. This one was different.
Even after taking several of my attacks head-on, it showed no sign of retreat or defense. If anything, it seemed to have lost all reason—constantly regenerating its body while maintaining an aggressive posture.
Adjusting my strength, I swung my blade, aiming directly for its core.
— Crrk!
I swung at a speed it couldn't react to or evade, and a crack formed across the core as Origin Essence slowly seeped out.
The moment its core was hit, it went berserk and lunged forward. Its massive body hammered me with a barrage of vicious blows, but there was no strategy or technique behind any of it—none.
Just as I expected, striking its core kept weakening its regeneration, and the energy it had been spewing gradually dwindled.
— Chaos Swordsmanship: Destruction
— Boom!
A massive hole, wide enough to see through to the other side, opened up right where its core had been. The core shattered into dust and vanished in an instant, and its tentacles went still. I sheathed my sword and was about to leave when—
—a strange vibration pulsed through the creature's body.
"...?"
It clearly wasn't attacking anymore. It just sat there, completely motionless. But then an intense light began to spread from inside its body, and the air around it churned as if it were about to splinter.
"This is definitely..."
Energy far greater than the earlier nuclear blast was condensing inside the thing's body. Its enormous mass split and crackled open, and a dark light oozed out from within.
"So this is your last desperate stand?"
I could feel a fierce, final will: it meant to blow itself up and take me down with it.
At last, its body ruptured, and a blinding flash erupted from its center along with the explosion.
— ...
A tremendous shockwave rippled outward in every direction, but all sound vanished, and the light consumed my vision.
— KWA-BAAAAANG!!!!
A heartbeat later, the sound hit. Everything in the vicinity instantaneously turned to dust, and the ground shattered into splinters. Flames and shockwaves swept forward like a tide, devouring everything in their path indiscriminately.
I wrapped my body in mana and stabbed my sword into the earth to anchor myself against the wind.
When the monstrous thermal storm finally passed, all that remained of the creature were black fragments that looked like parts of its body. The sheering force of the blast scattered those fragments so far that I could spot them even at an extreme distance.
— Squelch... squirm...
"I obliterated the Origin Essence along with the entire core, and it's still moving?"
There was no sign of regeneration, but I caught faint, intermittent twitches. Moments later, though, they shriveled up and went still.
I looked around the battlefield. A staggering crater scarred the earth, the kind you'd expect if a meteor had struck the planet.
"Wait—"
— Fweeeeeee?!
I whistled to call Kkamangi, but he must have been quite far away—it took him a while to get back.
"Glad you were far away..."
A blast that powerful would have enough destructive force to injure or even kill most gods. I moved back to the spot where I'd first gotten off the plane. There was nothing there.
"Huh...?"
I deliberately got off at a good distance to avoid direct blast damage, so I expected the plane to still be there. But there was no sign of it, and I had no idea where it had gone.
"Don't tell me I got abandoned?"
When I reached the landing site, I found a small bag waiting there. I opened it to find a walkie-talkie and a little note.
— We have temporarily evacuated to get clear of the blast radius. If you see this note, please radio us on this channel...
Yeah... the plane wasn't directly hit, but after feeling that massive shockwave, it made sense they'd pull back to safety.
— Krzhh...
"Representative!?"
"Yes. I contacted you after reading the note inside the bag."
"Good heavens! Anyway, I'll explain everything when we meet!"
The captain said that and added he'd head straight here, leaving me with nothing but curiosity about what exactly he needed to explain. They must have moved quite a distance—about an hour later, the plane touched down where I was waiting.
The door opened and the captain scrambled out, breathless.
"Did something happen...?"
"Well, about that..."
He said the thermal storm hit like an EMP—radio communications with the White House had gone dead.
"The White House confirmed the enormous nuclear-sized blast, but right now, they have no idea what happened afterwards."
"Did they see it directly?"
"Yes, they would have watched it via live feed from a long way off. And most likely, the White House and Korea were watching it together..."
I understood immediately. No matter how overwhelming my martial strength was, anyone who saw a nuclear-scale explosion like that with their own eyes would assume something terrible had happened to me.
"I explicitly told them not to worry..."
The captain shook his head briskly and gestured with his chin toward the site behind me.
"Everyone probably understood that in their heads, but their own eyes saw an explosion of that magnitude..."
He cautiously voiced his own assessment—that it was very possible both the White House and Korea had gone into emergency mode. Then he suggested we head straight to Korea first.
"I don't mind, but..."
"I'll explain everything thoroughly to the White House."
I nodded in acknowledgment of his consideration and boarded the plane. Another long flight later, I arrived in Gimpo. On the way, I sent a quick radio message to my concerned people: I'm safe, don't worry, I'm heading to Korea right now.
When I reached Gimpo, the group had already dispatched a helicopter, so I returned to the village without delay. My people, who had been worrying despite my earlier radio message that I was fine, were waiting at the landing zone.
"I told you I'm fine..."
"Hoo, we actually watched the situation live ourselves. Even telling ourselves, 'If it's you, Representative, you'll be fine,' we still worried."
Back at the Assembly Hall, the President had played the video for everyone. The footage showed something made of black slime exploding, and even though it was shot from a significant distance, the blast wave shook the camera violently.
When the picture stabilized, the view showed a landscape dominated by a staggering crater.
"..."
"..."
"Ahem... you really did have good reason to worry."
After I explained the full situation to the group, their expressions looked more confused than anything.
"Representative, maybe this is just a preconception, but a slime is supposed to be the weakest—"
"You're right. I also have no idea why it turned into that after eating nuclear waste..."
At that moment, Galrand, who had been mulling something over with a thoughtful expression, raised his hand and spoke.
"Benefactor, I can't say this with certainty, but—slimes are known to be able to absorb and assimilate targets. Is it possible that this one was exposed to radioactive waste for a long time, and the radioactive material integrated into its body?"
"Does that even make sense?"
"Occasionally on Titan, there are variant slimes with strange colors that cause a great deal of harm."
"Then this slime fusing with nuclear waste—should we chalk that up to coincidence?"
"As for that, I couldn't say..."
Both Galrand and the research director Edwin looked faintly regretful. They explained that if we had collected tissue cells from the slime for study, it would have greatly aided their research into fusing mana and nuclei.
'By the time we go back, those fragments are probably all gone...'
I also told Galrand and Edwin about the radiation suppression devices.
"Still, they held up much better than expected..."
"So they are sufficiently usable?"
"If we operate cautiously, without excessive activity, they should be more than enough."
The biggest risk factor was already eliminated. If no major unforeseen variables popped up, there wouldn't even be any reason for combat. That meant the devices could easily last within the operational limits Galrand mentioned.
"We'll depart in one week."
The threat of another nuclear explosion was gone, and the personnel taking part in the operation still needed to fully master operating the suppression devices.
* * * * * * * *
Around that time, on Titan.
The Queen was receiving a report in her office.
"Your Majesty, the mercenary company you previously instructed us to watch has vanished without a trace."
"Not a single one of them?"
"Well, that is..."
"It's all right. Speak freely."
"The entire mercenary company building is gone..."
The Queen, who rarely showed much emotion, felt her eyes widen a little and her pupils tremble.
"So in the end, they left ahead of us..."
The person who had entered to deliver the report had an unusual feature—her ears were long, unlike a human's. The Queen rose from her seat after hearing the report and walked to the window, gazing down at the city spread below.
"How are the people?"
"Yes. The chaos has largely subsided, and they are preparing thoroughly."
"In your view, is this situation a blessing? Or a misfortune?"
"I think it is a blessing..."
Though she had called it a blessing, the Queen turned around with a questioning look.
"When that person disappeared, the balance of power broke. The humans have always shown desire toward us, and now we are even seeing signs that they intend to act soon."
"..."
"And is it not a blessing that Your Majesty may finally have a consort?"
Normally, no one would say something like that to the Queen. But Dana Grace—she was someone who had watched over the Queen since childhood, and she was one of the few people who had personally seen Cheon Sihu.
"I, too, wish to see him soon..."
"If..."
"If?"
"If I am ever able to go to his homeland, no matter what happens, I will find him. Without fail."
"Hehe. That's something that only works if he sees me as a woman, isn't it?"
The Queen spoke with confidence, but in truth, she was deeply worried. She couldn't stop thinking: what if he didn't see her as a woman, and instead only looked at her the way he had back then—as a child?
Dana, meanwhile, looked at the Queen with sheer disbelief. If someone failed to see her as a woman—a high elf bloodline among a race literally called the tribe of beauty—then the problem was far more likely a functional issue with the man in question.
"Your Majesty, please do not say things like that around other people..."
"If that person doesn't think of me as a woman, then isn't it all meaningless?"
"..."
"I'm joking. What is the next report?"
The Queen sat back down in her chair, reviewing various documents and listening to Dana's reports. How much did the nation have in reserve? How were taxes being used? Was the children's education proceeding well?
But anyone watching could see her mind was somewhere else entirely.
'I wonder if the mercenaries have met Sihu already...?'