Katsu got back on his feet, staggering. Specs of dirt covered his shoulders, as well as the top of his helmet.

"I... prepared for this." He put his fists up, taking a bold fighting stance. A chant left his lips, "Make my body as hard as steel. Let no opponent stand against me. Enhancement: Iron Fist."

His entire body lit up in a silver haze. As he swung a powerful jab at the slime in front of him, it dodged by bouncing to the side.

Boing! Boing! Boing!

The way it moved was faster than most other monsters I've seen. The slime

bounced from side to side, till it found an opening. With a strong leap, it slammed its body against Katsu's face.

BOING!

Unlike anything I witnessed, the force threw him back nearly twenty meters. But he was eventually able to regain his footing.

"...I... I prepared for that too."

"Did you though?" I muttered.

I wasn't one to doubt him, but Katsu didn't seem even the slightest prepared for this situation.

Left and right, he tried to keep up with the slime, but it just bounced around andslammed into him. Over and over.

The rest of the slimes were heading right toward us, at a fast pace.

"Here they come!" Lily drew her sword and charged at the slimes, "Aha!"

She danced around, slashing with her blade, cutting the slimes apart. It almost looked like a job well done, but...things just got worse. There were once eight slimes, now there were sixteen.

"Whaaa?? Are you dumb or something?!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Oh..hehe...right. I forgot slashing attacks won't work." Lily nervously scratched the back of her head.

BOING!

One after another, the slimed bashed against Liliy's chest, launching her body in my direction. I was going to be crushed! My reflexes kicked in and I ducked

underneath. By a hair, Lily flew over the top of my head, crashing into the back of the carriage.

Crackle!!

Her legs were sticking into the air, while the rest of her body was covered by the sacks of equipment. She was down for the count.

Dang! These slimes are really something.

Now that Lily was out of the way, those sixteen slimes set their sights on me. Each of them bounced my way.

Whether I was ready or not, it was time to fight.

"It's fine...I can do this..." Hopefully.

A deep breath filled my lungs, holding it for moment. Then all at once, my lips

released the air.

"Fffff." My right clenched tightly to form a fist, while my left hand remained open, showing my palm. I evenly positioned my legs in a firm stance. this way, it would b hard for anything to knock me off balance.

[Analyze]

[Slimes: Difficulty: A-rank]

[Warning: slimes regenerate all hp within 5 seconds.]

[Warning: Slimes multiply when damaged with slashing attacks]

Taking the information in, there was a solid solution. I needed to deal a lot of

damage to the slimes in under five seconds. That's how the slimes could be

defeated.

But how the heck was I supposed to do that???

There was no time to think of a solution. One of the slimes jumped at me.

Quickly, I knocked it away with a palm strike, its body jiggled against the force.

There wasn't even a second before the other slimes attacked. From the sides, they leaped at me.

This almost caught me off guard, they were attacking from different spots. These slimes were actually pretty smart.

In a single swoop, I spun around, using the back of my knuckles to smack them away.

Then, one of the got me from behind.

A jiggly ball of slime slammed into my back. The air was knocked out of me, my body tumbled across the grass. By the time I got up, another slime slammed against the side of my skull. Then right after, another one slammed into my ribcage. When I was able to see clearly, yet another blow hit my shoulder.

Crackle!

When my back hit the floor, I knew my shoulder was dislocated. I couldn't move. There was nothing I could do. These slimes were a whole different kind of dangerous.

"Aw...I just got owned by slimes...." Of all things.

Even worse, my body was nearing its limit already.

Dang it!! This is so lame! Why do I always get my butt kicked??

I was far stronger than I used to be, but it still wasn't enough for this world. There were lots of things still stronger than me. These slimes were more than enough. If there was only one or two, it might be a fair fight. That wasn't the case here, there were sixteen of them.

At this rate, I was going to die. Death by slimes. That was the route we were

heading down. My heart should've been pounding with fear, but it wasn't.

Instead, I didn't really feel anything in particular.

I just laid on the grass, waiting for my death, with a smile on my face.

"Welp...this is it." Time and time again, I've come face to face with death. This time, it was the dumbest danger I've been in. Slimes. Who would've guessed that they were this strong.

Boing!

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Above my face, a slime jumped into the air. Its round body came falling down, ready to smash my face in.

Frick.

A silver fist struck the slime, hurling it away. That's when Katsu's helmet was came into my view. He stood over me, looking down.

It felt like time was slowed in that moment. I could see it all clearly, the sweat

trickling down Katsu’s neck, the slime ball bouncing towards us, the flock of birds flying through the sky. All of it was clear.

Katsu reached out, lifting me by the shirt.

"We're retreating."

He carried me over his shoulder. And despite my weight, he moved faster than any car could. His hand tossed me like a bag of potatoes, into the back of the carriage. Katus jumped in the driver seat and set the horses into motion.

"Enhancement: Haste!" he shouted.

The horses started to glow with a yellow light. They sped off, pulling us with

them. When I looked behind, nothing but dirt covered my view. It was only when I squinted, that I could see the shape of the slimes, left in the dust, far behind. Eventually, they vanished from sight. The slimes were no longer a threat.

The adrenaline kept me up, but now that my body had the chance to calm down, the pain in my shoulder became apparent. I fell back, against the sacks of equipment. An incredibly sore pain filled my left shoulder.

"Ngh...Ughh." I couldn't even move my left arm, it felt stiff and extremely painful.

Emi came to my side, "Amaya. Are you okay??" she asked as she saw the pain that I was in. Her eyebrows raised, the muscles in her face went stiff, forming a worried expression.

"My shoulder...it's just a little dislocated... No biggie." I replied, sure to keep a broad smile on my face.

A groan came from mouth of Lily who laid unconscious beside me. Then out of nowhere, she sprung to her feet.

"D-don't worry guys! Here i come!!" she pulled a spare dagger from her boot, but froze once she realized we weren't fighting the slimes anymore.

Lily first looked at Katsu in the driver seat, then she turned her eyes to me.

"Umm...did we win?" she asked, a wide grin formed on her face. She crossed her arms and smugly looked away, "Figures. We must've given them quite the beating. Am I right?"

Wha? She must have hit her head pretty hard. Did she forget that the slimes

trampled all over her.

"You're joking. Right?" I asked.

"What do you mean? We did win, right?" Lily tilted her head, "...right?"

Yep, that was the face of amnesia. We lost against those slimes so horribly; I wish I could forget as well.

In order to spare Lily from the unfortunate truth, I lied, nodding with a smile.

"Of course we won. You know, we're super strong...and whatnot."

Lily clenched her fist and raised in in the air. Her eyebrows drew together, and a brave smiled formed on her lips.

"Yes. Victory!"

____________

The silver moon shined in the center of the night sky; surrounded by trillions of sparkling stars. Aside from the sky, there was no light here on land. We traveled through the grassy plains, nothing but a dim view all around. As our carriage came to the top of the hill, of that changed.

A gorgeous sight brightened our gazes. Hundreds of lights shined from a distance, hundreds of buildings were sprawled across this land mass, almost further than I could see. All of the lights combined were enough to brighten the surrounding area.

This was the capitol city of Therngo. Protected by a single, large gate.

When squinting, you could make out a giant palace, all the way at the edge of the

city, surrounded by a great wall of stone.

"Yeahhh! We finally made it." My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I quivered with joy; butterflies entered my stomach.

"We sure did." said Katsu.

"Ah. Home sweet home." The city lights caused Lily's eyes to gleam.

Just like a beacon.

Her mouth kept open in awe at the sight before us, "It's been so long. Eight months exactly. Now, I'm finally back."

The only one not awake to witness the city was Emi. She was deep asleep, her head resting on a sack of equipment, drool pouring out of her mouth.

When we got through the city gates, it was time for us to let Lily go.

"You're free to go now." said Katsu. His voice sounded cold and rude. I know he didn't mean it that way, but he sounded mean.

"Ah. Right." As Lily stood up, she bowed then gave us all a smile, "Again. Thank you, guys, so much for the ride. If you think about it, you sort of save my life from those slimes."

I mean, it was the least we could do. The whole reason she encountered the slime was because Katsu kicked in in that direction. Be that as it may, everything turned out well. Nobody died so this was technically a win.

"By the way." Lily went on to ask a question, "Are you guys' adventurers?" she gazed at all the sacks of equipment, "Or, are you merchants? Sorry, i can't tell. You have lots of equipment, but at the same time, your auras look dangerous."

she glanced at Katsu in particular.

"Yeah, we're adventurers." I nodded, "I'm nothing special. Being perfectly honest here, I'm only B-rank."

Katsu, however, was two whole ranks above me. Sitting a Rank S. He made me look like a joke, which I was.

"What about it?" Katsu asked.

"Ah." Lily explained, "Since your adventurers, you must've come here for the bigger quests, like everyone else does."

"Your point is?"

"You guy's must be looking for an Inn to stay at. However, most of them are completely booked because of all the other's just like you. If you guys are lucky, you might be able to geta room at one of the run-down Inns. But those ones don't have baths or anything like that."

In this world, it was already November. From what I heard from Katsu; everyone came to the capitol during this time of the year. For the holidays, and for the many quests, it was an attraction for tourists and adventurers alike.

Hands on her hips, Lily stuck her chest out proudly.

"But because you were kind enough to allow me a ride, I can offer you guys a place to stay. If you'd like."

"I'm fine with whatever." Katsu replied.

Me, on the other hand, I jumped up at her generosity.

"Really? Wow, that's so nice of you."

It was a good idea to take her up on the offer. Plus, it would be gross to stay in a

smelly run-down Inn. Gross.

"Don't mention it. I'm just repaying the kindness." said Lily.

"Awesome sauce! Thanks!" I cupped her hands with mine, "We'll take you up on the offer, then."