Somewhere within the depths of Ilpin Forest, a group of wolves abruptly raised their heads. Their chilly eyes stared off into the distance.

An earthquake. Although it was faint, thanks to their supernatural perception, they had still managed to pick up on it.

“Grr…” One of the wolves let out a low growl. It was a small black wolf with a white discoloration on its left ear. Despite its small frame, the black wolf commanded the crowd like a natural-born leader.

Of course, the wolf was none other than Wight.

She paced back and forth, often times stopping just to stare off into the distance. A perpetual furrow contorted her brow. It was an extremely human-like expression of concern. The other wolves showed a similar reaction, although they were not as antsy as Wight.

As for Ena, she leisurely sat on top of Plush’s head. Her eyes were closed, but all nine of her tails were stiff and raised. Despite her current lackadaisical appearance, she maintained a constant state of vigilance.

After Ellis had told them to leave, the group of super-powered animals did exactly that. They fled to a spot in the forest that was not too far, yet not too close from the Majin’s campsite. Like this, they were prepared to regroup at any moment.

While they still didn’t know why they ran, the wolves were not the type to pointlessly argue. Ellis was the strongest, their leader. His instructions came above all else.

Wight stared fixedly in the direction of the campsite for a long time. After a while, she couldn’t help but yawn. The early tension gradually disappeared, but it was replaced with a familiar sense of monotony.

Waiting like this was boring, especially when nothing happened. In order to alleviate their ever-increasing boredom, the wolves decided to kill the time by playing board games. Right now, the current game was Othello.

The wolves played amongst themselves. Umbra vs Cocoa, Cinder vs Cobalt, that sort of thing. Wight was matched with Plush, although in reality, it was more like a two versus one. Ena would occasionally step in and interfere with Plush’s decisions.

Despite the disadvantage, Wight was actually winning. After all, out of everyone within the group, she was the best at Othello. Still, it was a pretty close match.

After having a few too many of her advances continually blocked, Ena’s aloof façade started to crack. The frustration within her bubbled up like a soon-to-erupt geyser.

She opened one of her eyes and scrutinized the board. Just as she was about to move a black piece, a heavy aura swept through the area.

“!”

Ena recoiled in surprise. Wight’s shoulders trembled, while her head instinctively lowered. After a few seconds, the pressure subsided.

Wight did not recognize the aura. It was overbearing and dangerous. The strongest being that she knew of was her master, Ellis, but he did not really emit much of a pressure. His very presence was comparable to a ghost or maybe air. Unless you saw him in action, most people would have a hard time believing his true strength.

This was different. It was something that she had never experienced before. It was far, far worse than the time she first encountered a dragon. Just lifting her head up took a considerable amount of willpower. The other wolves had an even harder time managing. It felt as if their bodies were submerged in a sticky layer of tar.

Wild animals were far more sensitive to killing intent than most humans. Even against beast-men, the difference was apparent. Wight and the wolves faced a far greater mental suppression than the people within the campsite.

Still, she swallowed her fear and resisted against the pressure. Wight could vaguely make out the general direction of the aura. It was coming from the same place that her precious master had gone to!

Even if he was strong, everyone had their limits.

If there was even a 0.0000001% possibility that Ellis was in trouble… the little wolf shivered. Tears of frustration welled up within her almond-shaped eyes. Wight was prepared to throw her life away just for the uncertain possibility of saving her master!

By the time she mustered up the strength to free herself from the aura’s control, ten full minutes had passed. She briefly looked around her surroundings. To her surprise, a certain nine-tailed fox had long disappeared.

****

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Ellis arched across the air like a glorious rainbow. After a few seconds, he crashed through an already collapsed tent.

Tossed and flung around like some sort of broken ragdoll, for the first time in a long time, he felt utterly helpless.

Whenever he went on the attack, the creature’s body would transform to take on a water-like consistency. Punching it was meaningless and every time he tried, the only thing he’d get was a consolation prize in the form of an acid bath. On the other hand, whenever it attacked him, the creature’s appendages would harden. It reminded him of the time someone struck him in the back with a metal bat. He had been a child back then, and the resulting bruise did not go away for three weeks.

The creature’s tails were similar, except they hurt a hell of a lot more and came with added acid damage.

Ellis had a durable body, so it wasn’t like the damage was permanent, but… it was frustrating. He couldn’t do anything. He was stuck. He was stuck in an inescapable stalemate.

Despite his continued failure, Ellis was stubborn. He still wanted to fight.

He quickly picked himself up before he jumped back a couple of hundred meters away from the creature. Ellis did not recklessly attack like last before. This time, he decided to first observe the thing.

It kept it sights locked on him, but other than that, it made no attempt to attack. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. It had every intention of attacking, just that, it couldn’t be bothered.

The creature still moved towards him, but it moved at a lethargically slow pace. It was similar to a snail. In fact, after their initial exchange, the creature’s enthusiasm plummeted. It had no sense of urgency nor any motivation, almost as if it had long stopped seeing Ellis as a threat.

At this point, It was more akin to a natural force. A hurricane or a tornado. Something that brought on great destruction everywhere it visited.

Even if the main body did not do any work, the same could not be said about its tails. More than a thousand of them. At least, that was his estimate. He hadn’t actually counted. The tails moved like a violent wind. They tore through the place with ferocity, leaving small craters and acidic meat slush in their wake.

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“I need to find a way to hit this damn thing.” He muttered to himself. “Is this thing a slime? It kind of acts like one. If it is a slime, then does it have some sort of core within its body?” Ellis was almost certain that he was on the right track. “Is that it? Do I need to slice this thing open and check for myself?”

It was unfortunate, but unlike traditional slimes, this snake-like creature did not have transparent skin. If there really was a core, and if he really wanted to find that core, then he would have to dive straight into its jelly body and look for it himself.

Ellis was naturally hesitant to do so. After all, getting acid all over his face and eyes definitely wasn’t a good idea.

“… then, can I burn it? Will something like fire work?” As he kept theorizing, he noticed that all the noise and the carnage around him had significantly decreased.

At a glance, the reason was quite apparent; there were simply fewer people for the creature to kill.

By this point, nearly all of the Majins were dead. Those that were still alive had already fled into the forest a long time ago.

Just then, something moved within the corner of his eye. Looking around, it was a familiar person. The woman who originally chased Hal-Wrynn around in the Commerce Square. Farma-Wrynn. She was pretty strong.

Once again, the two locked eyes. The woman hesitated before she approached. Farma-Wrynn glanced warily at the beast. Luckily, it showed no particular interest in her. The creature’s eyes were solely locked onto Ellis. In fact, the entire battle was like that. The young man was its only target; everyone else was just collateral damage.

She walked towards him with trembling shoulders. During the ensuing chaos, she had somehow managed to hide beneath a collapsed tent. It had taken her a while to get over the creature’s natural suppression.

In that time, she had watched Ellis’s fight with rapt attention. Although the grey-haired youth’s efforts were all futile, she did have to admit… he looked cool.

“You are a commendable warrior.” Those were her first words to him.

Ellis tilted his head in confusion.

“Strong,” she whispered. “You are strong, far stronger than me, but that thing,” she pointed to the creature, “it is even stronger than you.”

Farma-Wrynn shook her head in dismay. “I cannot fight it. At my state, I would be no different from an insect. To think that such a thing existed underneath the water’s surface… how very frightening.”

She self-deprecatingly laughed at herself. “Even if I wanted to fight, I couldn’t. Look,” she showed him her hands. They were trembling. “Even after so long, I am still too afraid. For a warrior, fear is okay, but fear to the point of immobility… there is no greater shame.

“You are different. Even though you are clearly outmatched, you still kept trying. You are indeed a good warrior.”

Being met with such unbridled praise, all he could really do was nod. Still, inwardly Ellis couldn’t help but feel a little bit bitter. Why are you declaring that I’m already destined to lose? Are you hear to praise me or bring me down?

Just as she was about to say something else, something caught her eye. Farma-Wrynn turned towards the far corner of the ruined campsite. Ellis naturally followed her gaze.

He saw a squirrel with fair skin. She was small and skinny, if not a bit cute. He immediately recognized her. It was Lisbeth, the Tribal chief’s assistant.

Lisbeth frantically waved her hand at Farma-Wrynn from a distance.

Naturally, Farma-Wrynn ignored her. Instead, she turned towards another direction. This time, her eyes lit up.

“I’ve finally found you…” she mumbled to herself in an almost inaudible tone. Of course, Ellis had heard her loud and clear.

Just before she left, she turned back to him and stated, “As a fellow warrior, here is a word of advice: you cannot win against that thing.”

“…”

Ellis did not respond.

“I can see it in your eyes. The will to fight. It is not worth it. Don’t throw your life away for something so hopeless. You cannot fight against that thing. It is better to just run. After all, no amount of warrior spirit will help you today.” She bitterly shook her head. “There is no shame in running from a flood. Such an existence cannot be matched by mere men alone.”

With that, the purported second strongest squirrel in the village sprinted off towards a certain corner of the campsite.

It was then that Ellis caught sight of Grisella. She was coming from the same place that Farma-Wrynn was currently heading towards.

The solitary witch rode on her magic broom. She floated towards him and quickly grabbed his hand. She tugged. “Ells, let’s go. We can’t fight this thing.”

She had made a grave miscalculation. A calamity-class monster was already a terrible opponent to have, but this kind of monster was practically Ellis’s hard counter. She could not possibly imagine a single scenario in which he came out on top.

“Do you know what it is?” Ellis asked.

She hesitated for a moment before she nodded. “Yes… if I’m right, then it should be a variation of a slime.”

“A slime?” Ellis furrowed his brow. As expected, those blob-like beings exist within this world too.

“Slimes are a diverse race. They normally have an amorphous form, but some sub-species have the ability to mimic other shapes and organisms.” Grisella explained. “This thing is a sub-species that can transform into other living beings. I think that the form it has now is something similar. It was copied from somewhere.”

“Then, you’re saying that there’s actually something that looks like that?” Ellis was thoroughly shocked. A snake with a thousand tails was definitely not a very well-thought-out design. He could only shake his head at whatever deity thought up such a thing.

She nodded her head. “I actually recognize it. If I’m not mistaken, then that thing is a Petal Eel. It normally lives in the bottom of the river.” She paused for a moment. “Of course, the biggest ones only reach up to the size of a human. I’m afraid that its current size is completely the result of the slime itself.”

“I see…” Its size was indeed causing him a fair bit of trouble. “So, it’s a slime? A bit surprising, but it’s something that I already considered. More importantly, how do I kill it?”

“Are you still planning on fighting?” Grisella’s lips morphed into a frown.

Ellis simply nodded. He did not elaborate any further.

She shook her head and tugged on his hand even harder. “You can’t win! We need to leave now before it really starts getting serious.” She glanced back at the creature. The Slime’s hollow eyes languidly stared at them. It made no attempt to attack. It simply waited there, its tails occasionally flicking through the air like cracking whips.

“Enough already,” he broke free from her grasp and stared at her with a penetrating glare. “Just tell me how, I don’t care about anything else.”

“…” After a few seconds of silence, she breathed out a defeated sigh. “Slimes are impervious to physical damage. Unless you can completely smash its entire body into thousands upon thousands of small pieces, then physical attacks are completely and utterly useless. Even with your strength, you won’t be able to do such a thing. In the first place, it’s not a matter of strength, but rather, the size difference is simply too large.”

Ellis couldn’t help but nod his head. She was right. Even if he had limitless strength, the size of his fist was too small.

“You can also break its core.” Grisella abruptly added. “Normal slimes have transparent bodies, so breaking their core is easy, but unfortunately, this thing does not. If you want to break its core, you’ll need to find it first and in order to do that, you’ll have to go inside and look for it yourself. What’s more, a slime of this level definitely has the ability to move its core.”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid that finding the core itself is a near impossible task.”

Ellis’s eyes narrowed. “So, I really am out of options?”

Grisella hesitated. “… the other way is magic, but you don’t have that.”

“Magic?”

She nodded. “Yes. Fire, lightning, and ice magic are all effective on this thing.”

“…”

Right now, Ellis felt truly vexed. Magic was his one and only sore spot. No matter how much strength he possessed, it was impossible for him to sense mana, much less cast spells. Just as he was about to drown in his own despair, he suddenly heard a familiar cry. It originated from somewhere deep within the forest.

“Kyu!”

Ellis turned around. He watched as a certain nine-tailed fox broke through the tree-line and dashed towards them. He quietly noted that Wight and the wolves were not here.

Ena rushed forward and jumped up onto his shoulders. She looked back at the calamity-class monster with half curiosity and half fear.

After a few seconds, Ena turned towards him and let out a resolute bark. “Kyu! Kyu!”

Ellis shook his head. The prospect of Ena somehow getting hurt sapped away at a large portion of his earlier determination. “We have to go. It’s unfortunate, but I can’t beat this thing.” It was regrettable. It was truly regrettable! He hadn’t technically lost, but neither could he eke out a win. Nothing was more frustrating than a stalemate.

“Kyu!” Ena shook her head and barked out.

“What?” Ellis furrowed his brow. He motioned to shake his head again, but he was immediately interrupted.

“Kyu! Kyu!”

“Even then, that’s a bit…”

“Kyu!”

“Are you sure?”

“Kyu? Kyu kyu, kyu.”

“Still…”

“Kyu! Kyu!”

Such an exchange took place between the pair of homunculus and fox. Grisella could only watch in the sidelines, only really understanding about a fourth of the total exchange.

Eventually, a faint smile appeared on Ellis’s lips.

“Come to think of it, we’ve never really fought together before, have we?”

“Kyu!” Ena confirmed with a bark. She then jumped off his shoulders and hopped onto the crown of his head. Her tails glowed with a fiery brightness. For a moment, it was almost like a halo of light had appeared over Ellis’s head.

“You two…” Grisella did not bother to hide her unease. She could tell what the two of them were planning, and suffice to say, she did not like it.

Ellis did not bother to entertain her worries. Instead, his smile only deepened.

“Even if I can’t beat it, that doesn’t mean someone else can’t either.”