I halted my hand just before touching the reward.

A sudden realization hit me—I’d almost forgotten a crucial part of my plan.

"Almost forgot." I muttered to myself, scanning the room.

My face. If anyone outside saw me, everything could fall apart. My hand hovered in the air for a moment before I quickly pulled back.

I grabbed one of the nearby slimes and held it up to my face. "Alright, buddy," I said, feeling the cool, sticky substance in my hand. "I need you to make some holes—just enough so I can see and breathe. Got it?"

The slime wobbled slightly in my grip, then began to shift its form, molding around my head. It carefully left openings for my eyes, nose, and mouth.

"There we go." I said, adjusting the slime mask to make sure it was secure. "Now no one will know who I am."

I turned to Lila, who had been watching me. "Lila, it’s time. I’m going to need you to hide. The safest place for you is in my bag."

Lila blinked up at me. "You sure that’s safe?"

I nodded, opening my bag. "It’s the best place. You’ll be hidden, and if things go south, I’ll be able to protect you better if you’re close to me."

She hesitated for a moment, then climbed into the bag, fitting perfectly inside. "Alright," she said softly, her voice slightly muffled from within. "I’m ready."

"Good," I replied, securing the bag and giving it a light pat. "Stay put and keep quiet."

With Lila safely tucked away, I turned my attention to the rest of the slimes scattered around the room. "Alright, you guys." I called out, keeping my voice firm. "Spread out. Don’t stay in one spot."

The slimes responded immediately, oozing across the floor and dispersing throughout the room.

I watched them with a satisfied nod.

I didn’t give those orders without a reason. There was a purpose behind it.

"When you leave the reward room, everything inside gets ‘expelled.’ My slimes don’t need to be close to me or even touch me to make it out. They’ll all be ejected from the room and back into the grotto, exactly where I want them."

I took a deep breath, my mind racing through every detail one last time. This was it—the moment of truth. Everything hinged on these final preparations.

With my slimes in place and Lila hidden, I turned back to the reward. "Alright," I whispered, my hand steady now as I reached out once more. "Let’s do this."

The second my fingers closed around the item, that familiar sensation of being pulled surged through me.

The room around me began to blur, the walls dissolving as the teleportation magic activated. The final stage of my plan was now in motion.

The world around me spun as the teleportation kicked in, pulling me out of the reward room and thrusting me back to where it all began.

The moment my feet hit solid ground, I knew we were back. The damp, cold air of the grotto greeted me, but I wasn’t alone.

In an instant, a cacophony of shouts erupted around me.

“He’s back!”

“There he is!”

But it wasn’t just me who had returned.

Surrounding me, scattered across the grotto, were dozens of my slimes, their green, gelatinous forms gleaming in the dim light.

The chamber had exploded into chaos, and I could see the expressions of the looters twisting from smug anticipation to pure shock.

“What the hell—?” someone gasped.

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“They’re everywhere!” another voice shouted.

I quickly scanned my surroundings, and my eyes locked onto a man with a scarred face.

His twisted grin stretched across his features, teetering on the edge of madness. The sight of me seemed to push him right to the brink of losing control.

“There you are, you bastard!” he roared, his grip tightening on the axe in his hand. He took a step forward, the muscles in his neck bulging with barely contained rage. “I’ve been waiting for this!”

But as he began to charge, he hesitated. His eyes flicked from me to the slimes, then back again. For a moment, confusion crossed his features as he realized something was terribly wrong.

The slimes weren’t just a few scattered creatures. They were everywhere. Dozens—no, easily more than Sixty—of them had appeared with me, filling the grotto like an ocean of green. Their numbers easily doubled, if not tripled, the looters present.

“What... what the hell is this?!” one of the looters shouted as he backed away.

“They weren’t here before! Where did they all come from?”

Before they could react, I thrust my arm forward and shouted, “Now!”

The slimes sprang into action, launching themselves at the nearest looters. Streaks of green goo hurtling toward their targets.

The looters tried to defend themselves, but it was too late. The slimes were already on them.

“What the—!” one of the looters screamed as a slime latched onto his face, its gelatinous body wrapping around his head, cutting off his screams.

Another man staggered back, clawing at the slime that had attached itself to his throat, its viscous tendrils tightening around his neck.

The brute roared in anger, swinging his axe in wide arcs as he fend off the onslaught.

“You think this will stop me?!” he bellowed, hacking a slime in half with a single swing. But for every slime he cut down, two more took its place.

I watched the chaos unfold, my heart pounding in my chest. The tactic was simple: overwhelm them with numbers, smother them with the slimes. And it was working—at least, against the weaker looters.

“Crawl! Smother them!” I ordered, my voice echoing through the grotto. The slimes obeyed, slithering up the legs and torsos of their targets, covering their faces, their necks, their mouths.

The looters thrashed and struggled, but the slimes were relentless.

I remembered the first time I had used this tactic, back when I had saved Lila.

Back then, I had no mana, so I had relied on the slimes to slowly suffocate the enemy, blocking off every air passage until he was dead. But this time, things were different. I had mana to spare, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

“Shape-shift!” I commanded, my voice sharp with focus.

In an instant, the slimes changed, their once-gelatinous bodies hardening as they formed sharp spikes. The shift cost me only 2 mana not per slime but for all of them at once, the effect was devastating.

The spikes drove into the flesh of the weaker looters, piercing throats, eyes, and temples with sickening precision.

Screams filled the grotto as blood sprayed across the stone walls. Limbs convulsed and bodies dropped to the ground.

However, the slimes weren’t strong enough to penetrate everyone.

The spikes, while deadly to the low-level looters, shattered against the tougher skin of the veterans. The brute’s skin held firm, the spikes breaking against it like fragile glass.

“You think this is enough to stop me?!” the brute roared, his voice dripping with scorn as he shrugged off the slimes clinging to his body. “You’ll need more than these pathetic tricks!”

He wasn’t wrong. The veterans weren’t going down easily. But the slimes had served their purpose—disrupting, distracting, thinning the herd.

The brute’s eyes locked onto mine, his grin widening into a savage, bloodthirsty smile. “You’re dead, kid.” he snarled, his voice low and filled with murderous intent.

Suddenly, a fierce aura began to envelop the man, swirling around him with such intensity that it quickly took the shape of an armor resembling a raging bull.

"Bull Charge!" he roared, the power in his voice echoing through the grotto.

https://i.imgur.com/Qb4hOIs.png [https://i.imgur.com/Qb4hOIs.png]

[Bull Charge]

[Bull Charge allows the user to channel a fierce, raging aura that takes the form of an armored bull around their body. This aura significantly increases the user’s speed and physical power while active. Upon activation, the user charges forward with immense force, capable of shattering the ground beneath them and delivering a devastating impact to any target in their path. The aura also enhances the user’s resilience, reducing damage taken during the charge.]

[Usage: Primarily used for direct engagement, breaking through enemy lines, and delivering high-impact strikes to a single target. The skill is most effective when used in a straight line, maximizing momentum and damage potential.]

His already intimidating presence became even more threatening as the skill activated.

He barreled toward me with incredible speed, each step cracking the ground beneath him, his aura fully embodying the unstoppable force of a charging bull, intent on impaling me with its deadly horns.

But I wasn’t about to die here. Not now, not ever.

You Have Equipped Boots of Slimebound Step!