How? What was a [Level 70] monster doing in an area like this? Ryu remembered the Night Crawlers in Kodama Forest. They were higher-level creatures encroaching on lower-level territory. What was happening in the Wildlands that caused these creatures to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere?

Whatever the case, Ryu was woefully underprepared. All of his offensive skills were water-based except for [Combustion] and [Wood Reinforcement]. Appraising the giant monster, he was sure that neither of these attacks would put a dent in it. When he had scanned it with [Insight] a red diamond appeared next to its name, indicating that Ryu was too low of a level to inflict even a single point of damage.

Sylfie couldn’t touch it in her current state, leaving her fate in Ryu’s hands.

“W-we have to hurry, nya!” Aurora warned. “Otherwise he’ll eat her!”

Ryu grimaced; a million thoughts raced through his mind. What could he do outside of using his skills to slow the creature down? Could he call Agrius again? He stared at Sylfie’s pack, slung over both of her shoulders. Nope. There was no chance he would be able to reach it, especially when the Slime King held her high above its head.

The giant blob edged closer to him, dragging its body through the sand. A wide trail followed as it slowly slid towards Ryu. He didn’t have to worry about its body, but the tendrils that shot out of the slime swept the area at lightning-fast speeds.

Ryu raised his agility by activating [Swift Foot], dancing around the slime’s attacks with ease.

“It’s tanky and it’s big, but it’s still just a slime no matter how you look at it,” he stated.

“But how are we gonna save Sylfie, nya?”

“We don’t have to necessarily beat this thing to free her. We just need to get it to let go of her. From there, I can just carry us away with [Swift Foot] and Sylfie’s fast enough on her own,” he explained. “Maybe I could cast [Combustion] on just the tendril holding her in place.”

Aurora shook her head. “Look at that thing! It’s too thick for you to dry it with fire, nya!”

She was right; the tendrils were as thick as tree trunks. Ryu jumped out of the way of more oncoming tendrils, shuddering as they left deep gouge marks in the sand.

His attention was divided, half-focused on the monster and on a way to free Sylfie. Something Aurora had said stuck with him. Dry it with fire. Dry. The Slime King was simply a larger version of the slimes he had been killing all day. If [Combustion] wouldn’t work…

“Aurora, do you think you can fly me up there?”

“Up there?! We’ll be sitting geese, nya!”

“Ducks. And I have a plan. We won’t be able to free Sylfie from here. It seems to be using her as bait—”

Ryu paused for a moment. Don’t tell me it’s here for revenge! He shook his head, slapping himself; he had a goal to accomplish first: save Sylfie. Why this blob showed up to attack them could be discussed from the comforts of Hazel’s café. The other adventurers were bound to know something since they were always exploring the Wildlands. Perhaps Hazel herself could offer insight.

“We need to do this now! Before that thing starts dissolving her!” Ryu exclaimed.

“R-right!” Aurora flew out of Ryu’s shirt, biting the back of his collar. She jetted towards Sylfie, weaving through a nest of tendrils. “What’s the plan?” she asked in a muffled voice.

“This thing’s made of water! What better way to defeat it than drying it up?” Ryu grinned.

“[Combustion] won’t work, nya! It’s not strong enough!”

“I know, but this will! [Dehydrate]!”

Ryu placed his palm on the membranous layer of the tendril wrapped around Sylfie. She watched as Ryu sucked out all the moisture from the Slime King’s appendage. The brittle arm snapped under her weight, causing her to careen to the ground below. Aurora dove once again, this time letting Ryu catch Sylfie with an outstretched hand.

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The elf held onto his arm tightly as they descended. They sprinted into the forest at full speed the moment their feet hit the ground. Ryu looked back, witnessing a swarm of tendrils snake around trees and rocks. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the creeping feeling of déjà vu.

“The Slime King! How did he cross the barrier?!” Sylfie shouted.

“What barrier?! Do I look like a slime expert?! It came from the sea!” Ryu answered.

“That slime is from Demonia’s Lair! It shouldn’t be here! The cliff face wraps around her domain! The only way that thing could have escaped is if there was a breach in the rock formation!”

“The Night Crawlers! Something similar happened with them, too!”

Sylfie pursed her lips, deep in thought. “This can’t be a coincidence. Two isolated incidents happening within the span of a few days—something or someone is causing this.”

She dove at Ryu suddenly, pinning him to the ground as a tendril swept overhead, snapping tree trunks like they were twigs.

Ryu gulped; he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. They scrambled towards the edge of the Slime Forest, praying that they could reach the main road before the Slime King caught one of them with another tendril.

Aurora had settled back into Ryu’s shirt, still shivering. “T-that was t-terrifying, nya!” she exclaimed.

“We’re not out of the woods yet!” Ryu replied. “Literally!”

“I’m just glad it can’t jump,” she said.

Ryu furrowed his brow. “Jump? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, the little slimes always jumped around, right? I’m glad this big one can’t. Otherwise, it would probably catch up with us in no time, nya.”

Ryu’s stomach sank like a bag of rocks. He glanced over to Sylfie whose complexion had turned pale. Darkness enveloped the path in front of them, despite the rest of it being illuminated by the light of the moon.

They looked overhead as an enormous blob crashed into the earth in front of them. A crater formed where the Slime King had landed, the force of the impact causing them to fly back a few meters. Ryu landed on his back, catching a glimpse of a tendril as it came down on him. He rolled out of the way just in time, caked in dust as the tendril slammed into the ground.

Sylfie drew her bow, picking off as many arms as she could, although she couldn’t do any damage to the main body itself. It was the same as before: the Slime King’s level extended past her level threshold.

Ryu cast [Insight] on her to get a better read of their disparity.

[Adventurer card for seasoned hunters. This card signifies that the carrier in question is a professional in tracking, concealing, and executing targets in the Wildlands]

[Current level: 45]

Ryu bit his nail. The difference was too large for her to close on her own. There was only one member in their party that could seriously damage the Slime King and she was currently cowering inside Ryu’s shirt.

“Aurora, you said you could blow up the Hibiscus Stag last time, right?”

“Y-yeah, so? You’ll blow up too!” she stated.

“Not if we’re outside the blast radius,” Ryu said.

“Where do you suppose we can escape to, genius? That thing will just follow us! Aurora’s attack isn’t going to land if it moves!” Sylfie objected, flipping over a swipe from a tendril.

Ryu pointed up. “The sky, that’s where we’ll escape to. It may jump up or stretch its limbs, but it’ll stay in the same position.”

Sylfie shook her head. “This is insane.”

“You got a better idea?”

“No,” she sighed. “Aurora, can you do it?”

“O-of course I can! I’ll fly us up and blow this jelly boy to pieces, nya!”

The pair grabbed onto Aurora’s paws and they took to the clouds, soaring higher and higher as the Slime King chased them with more wriggling tendrils.

At the peak of their flight, Aurora invoked a spell in a language Ryu could not understand. A circle of runes appeared, parting the heavens. It shrouded the Slime King in a dark shadow. Aurora continued to speak in tongues, completing the incantation.

“[Ghost Fire],” she whispered, in a voice that wasn’t hers.

Ryu’s eyes widened as a pillar of fire, dark as the night itself, descended on the Slime King, obliterating it in a single move.

“Oof, you two need to lose weight,” Aurora chirped, seemingly back to her old self.

Ryu didn’t respond, staring at the kilometer-wide crater that had formed, still smoldering in some areas. Maybe adventuring isn’t for me. He’d had enough of this. Fighting these abominations wasn’t what he had signed up for. He just wanted to brew some coffee.

“I think when we get back, I’m going to find that apothecary and sell the hoof. That’ll set me up nicely at the café for a little while, and I can hire some of the adventurers there to gather any supplies I need,” he said, looking at Sylfie.

She too stared at the crater Aurora had created, nodding her head slowly. “Agreed. Until we get some more information about what’s going on, it wouldn’t be smart to venture into the Wildlands again.”

“My my, what’s this? I came here to check on my baby and see how he was doing, only to find some miscreants have killed him. Oh my poor Slimey,” a sultry voice came from behind them.

Aurora spun them around quickly. Sylfie pulled out her dagger while Ryu brandished a fist, feeling slightly out of place. His throat closed up at the sight before them. Two women had appeared, one on a broomstick and the other flapping enormous bat-like wings. A witch and a demon.