Chapter 4 Cores

“Where are you going,” Luci said in a high pitched voice. The iron grip she had on my arm tightened. I escaped from her grasp rather easily despite it.

“Why the hell are you following me?” I cursed. How did I not notice her following me? I see Tay running toward us. I can understand Luci being a rogue and all but I didn’t even notice Tay. My senses need some fine tuning. Tay is won’t reach us for at least 5 minutes. She is only a priest after all.

I want them to go back to school already. Why are they trying to stop me from getting stronger? I cannot believe that those basic monsters can even defeat me in greater numbers.

She scowled. She tried to grab me again but I move back out of her reach.

“What is wrong with you? First the reckless betting and now this,” Luci said in a low voice. She had her fists balled up.

“You really are insane.” She yelled. I can see her eyes start to fill up with tears. She drew closer.

“You will die at this rate.” She whispered.

“I was only going to look at their strength. It is no big deal. I can handle a few monsters with my eyes closed,” While talking I put my hands in front of my eyes. When I removed them I saw something unexpected. Two rough looking daggers pointed at my throat. I could almost felt the coldness of the steel.

“We are going back to school now,” Luci demanded. She pressed the daggers against my throat. Her teary eyes betrayed her. I knew she didn’t have the heart to actuality harm me. I slowly lifted my hands toward the daggers.

“Don’t move. I swear I will do it,” Luci threatened. Her threats fell on deaf ears. I slowly pulled the daggers away from my throat. My heart softened. I started to feel an unexplainable feeling toward Luci.

“I am going in. You can’t change my mind,” I stated. “I need to...”

“For what? Why? What good is strength if you are dead,” Luci complained while she moved her arms erratically up and down.

I walked toward the forest entrance. If I kept arguing with her I will be here all day.

“Fine if you are so set on it. Then I am coming with you,” Luci demanded. She started to walk ahead of me towards the entrance of the forest. I immediately ran ahead of her.

“Sure just stay behind me,” I ordered.

When I entered the forest Luci stood at the entrance. She must be too scared to follow me in.

“I think we are forgetting something,” Luci said. She put her hand on her head and rubbed it quickly a few times.

I start to think about it too. What could she mean? I do not have perfect memory but I am sure we aren’t forgetting anything.

After a few moments of thinking I heard an exhausted voice speak out.

“What are you guys doing,” Tay yelled out. She took a deep breath in between each word. She placed her hands on her knees while she was next to Luci. I walked back toward her.

“We are going to kill a few monsters,” I said casually. As I said that she straightened her back quickly. She stared at me with her eyes so wide open it looked like her eyes would fall out the sockets.

“And you are trying to take Luci along with you. No. Come on Luci. We are getting out of here now. If he wants to let him but I will not have you die along with him. No way,….” Tay was speaking incredibility fast. I could barely understand the first part. She is still rattling on but I can’t comprehend what she is saying. After 5 minutes of this fast talking Luci finally interrupts her.

“Tay, Please calm down,” Luci said as she grabbed one of Tay’s arms.

Tay stopped talking for a moment. I think she did that only to catch her breath again. After she took a few deep breaths she looked like she was going to complain again. Luci spoke first before she could start.

“I have to go with him Tay. I don’t agree either but.” Luci paused and took a quick glance at me. She had her burrows furrowed and her eyes focused on me. She stared at me silently. I could see her face turn a little red before she started to speak again.

“I won’t be able to sleep at night if I knew Lain was out there by himself,” Luci said in a low voice. After she said that Tay approached me with a twisted expression on her face. She got really close to me. She purses her lips before speaking.

“This is all your fault,” She said to me through her teeth.

“I swear if you get Luci hurt I won’t forgive you,” Tay whispered near my ear. I know she was trying to sound threatening but all I felt was a bit uncomfortable of how close she got toward my face. If she was any closer Luci might misunderstand.

I touched her shoulders and slowly push her out of my personal space.

“Luci won’t get hurt if she stays behind me,” I said in a low voice to Tay. She scowled as she tried to swipe my hands off of her shoulders. I saw that coming however and quickly removed them before she did.

With humph she returned to Luci’s side.

“Then I will be coming in too,” Tay announced.

Luci looked shocked but then she hugged Tay while saying ‘okay’.

How come Tay gets a pass to come automatically? I thought Luci would give her the trouble that she gave me when I said I wanted to come. Luci seemed to notice the weird look on my face so she came toward me.

“If Tay comes with us she can heal us,” Luci said.

She can only heal for 3 times a day now. How helpful will that be? Okay maybe I am being a little too harsh. Any amount of healing will help even if it is only 1. Plus if I can help increase her level a bit she might be able to heal more. I have to set some ground rules however.

“Okay you can come,” I surrendered.

“I was going to come anyways. I didn’t need your permission,” She said while sticking her tongue out at me. She crossed her arms and looked the other way. I got a little annoyed with her behavior. I must be the mature one. I increased the volume of my voice.

“We will need to be clear on one thing. I am the leader of this group. What I say goes. I will be in front at all times. You stay behind me unless you have my permission,” After I said the word permission I glared at Tay. When she saw me staring at her she looked away once more.

“Tay, you will have to stay directly behind me at least a few meters at all times. Luci you will be to be behind me only a meter. If you want to go in for the kill only do so after I had weakened the monster greatly,” I spoke. While I was speaking Luci was nodding her head.

“Okay. That is only if you can weaken it. What if you can’t?” Tay said.

“Then I will distract it long enough for you both. While I do that you must retreat. After you are away from the dangerous situation then I will be running away right behind you,” I explained.

“No, what if you get hurt,” Luci protested.

“I won’t get hurt then. It is that simple,” I said while chuckling. She playfully hit me on my arm. It didn’t hurt much but she always hits me in the same spot.

“You better not,” Luci laughed.

With that we finally departed into the entrance of the massive forest. Random screams rang out minutes after we entered. They seemed to be coming from the distance. These monsters never rest and battle each other when there are no challengers. Maybe they are stronger than before. I will be able to see soon. We finally hit a clearing. It was only after a few minutes of walking through a dense forest with lots of untamed green plants growing as they pleased. The clearing was massive. I couldn’t see toward the other side. Green slimes roamed about. As they rolled slowly on the ground they left a green trail. The green trail burned the ground slowly. It was short lasting as the ground only produced little smoke before the trail disappeared. Most of the slimes kept some distance from each other. However the ones that didn’t were obviously fighting. I saw two slimes trying to consume on another. I couldn’t tell who was winning because they both looked exactly the same shade of light green. It was clear one of them won after a few minutes. I could see one of the cores dissolve and the other grew larger. The core settled itself in the center of the newly larger mass of a body. These slimes were not small to begin with. They were about 5 feet and had a giant mass of slime as a ‘body’. I don’t clearly remember the first slime I fought but I can tell these are definitely bigger. This might be a little more challenging than I thought. A bigger slime isn’t much of a problem but my sword is short. If I want to reach the core of those massive slimes then I will have to reduce its mass. If I did it can waste a lot of time. They can pick up the pieces I chop off so it will be a drawn out battle. I want it to end as quickly as possible so we don’t get surrounded by the other slimes.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

They might be separate from one another but drawing the attention of different slime before finishing the first will be a challenge. They are also not the only monsters in the clearing either. I could see naked green bodies beyond them. They were guarding a wooden gate. The wooden gate was connected to large wooden walls. They were poorly made. Even those poorly made walls were effective at keeping out the slimes from it. I would assume there is a small goblin village inside. The naked green men were goblins but they were extremely ripped. The muscles on their small frames looked like they were going to burst out of their skin any moment. When the hell did goblins get so buff? They must have stolen my training regimen.

I will worry about them later for now I will focus on killing slimes. I spot one that is about a ½ a mile away from our position. It is not the closest slime to us but it is farther from the other slimes.

“We are going after that one first,” I said while pointing toward the lone slime.

Tay and Luci followed my lead. I ran cautiously carefully not to attract any attention.

We arrive a few meters away from the lone slime. I watched our surroundings. It was safe. I draw my short sword. I am getting a sick feeling in my stomach. I grin. I am excited to finally be able to battle again. I must not be reckless and rush in. I know even with its larger body I could probably kill it solo.

If I am careless then I might be the one to be consumed. I approached slowly. The slime didn’t move much. I found this weird. They other slimes were rolling and even the ones that were staying in one place vibrated. This one however was almost completely still. It only vibrated once in the time I was watching it. Maybe fighting this one isn’t a good idea. Why is it over here alone in the first place?

I was only a meter away it before I started to back off. I was walking away slowly when it started to vibrate. The green color of the slime started to turn red. It suddenly came to life. I heard something coming toward me. I immediately turned and used the first step of the [3-step] skill.

A red tentacle crashed into my short sword. Some of the fluid from the red tentacle sprayed onto the arm that was holding the sword. I felt the fluid burning my arm. Instead of wiping it off I had to dodge quickly. I saw another red tentacle emerge from the blood red slime coming toward me. I barely kept up with its speed. I had to use the second step of my [3-step] technique. The two long tentacles finally withdrew back into the red slime. It started to vibrate more violently.

“Run Lain, We are retreating now,” Luci shouted.

“No it is fine; I will say when we retreat. Keep your distance for now. I can handle it,” I ordered. I glance back to see Tay already went a distance away even before I spoke. Luci however was still a meter behind me.

“I said back up Luci,” I yelled. Luci didn’t budge. She had a determined look on her face. She even came a bit closer to me.

I sigh loudly and focus my attention back toward the red slime. I saw multiple tentacles sprout out of its body. They weren’t as large as the first two but they were as long. I can see its plan now. It knows I can deal with two of its tentacles so now it is trying to overwhelm me with 12.

“Here it comes,” I warned. The tentacles shoot out. They were slower than the first two. It looks like this monster has trouble controlling more than 2 at once. I dodge the first 10 that approached me easily. As I side stepped them I charge it a bit closer. I saw the tentacles that I dodged loop around and try to hook me into the main body. Its attacks are completely focused on me. Maybe it isn’t attacking Luci yet because she is still out of its range.

 Seeing all of my exits blocked off by a thin wall of tentacles I had to cut them off or else be drawn into the main body. I used the third step of the [3-step] skill. My short sword sliced the wall of tentacles like they were paper. The left wall of tentacles fell to the ground. They were eroding the ground but since they were sliced off from the main body it can no longer control it. I run through the opening. As I did the rest of the tentacles retreated back into the red slime.

It started to vibrate again. I won’t give it a chance to send out more attacks. I am still not close enough to slice it with my sword. I still have one ranged attack up my sleeve. [Fireball] Up until now I haven’t got around to using it.

[Fireball]

As I chant the spell to the best of my ability a small ball of fire appears next to my sword less palm. It grew bigger until it was about the size of my palm. I kept on chanting and the longer I did the bigger it grew. It was about the size of a large melon before I stopped chanting. The slime has stopped vibrating. It released twice as many tentacles than before. They were smaller but I won’t underestimate the damage they can do. Varies tentacles rushed toward me from different directions. I wait until they were close. I am not sure how to aim this skill. I released it when they were in front of me. The massive fireball consumed the tentacles. They seemed to evaporate from the heat. The [Fireball] didn’t even stop after destroying most of the tentacles that went after me. It kept going and slammed into the red slime. It left a massive hole in it exposing its core.

Seeing this I ran forward as fast as I could. Luci was running behind me.

“Attack the core,” I ordered. If she is set on fighting with me then might as well attack the core together.

When we arrived at the gaping hole in the slime we slashed toward its core. The red slime was fully engrossed in repairing the damage it didn’t even try to attack us with the remaining tentacles. Instead it used to the remaining tentacles to form a thin membrane that covered the core. It was effective at blocking some of the damage our swords were causing. When I slashed at the membrane the speed and strength of my sword reduced greatly. Our swords still managed to do damage. I can see the core starting to crack.

When I saw that I started to continuously use the third step of the [3-step] skill. I was running low on mana from continuously using all of my skills. I can see my sword not losing as much strength when penetrating into the protective membrane. After a few minutes of relentlessly assaulting the core the red slime lost its form. It slump over into a pool of acidic red with the broken core floating in the middle.

Luci backed away in time not to get soaked in the acid. I wasn’t so lucky. I wanted to make sure it was dead so I stayed behind hitting the core until it fully collapsed. I felt my Hp go really low as the acid burned me every second. I retreated to find Tay. I could survive this damage without her but I didn’t want to walk back to home with all of these burns covering my skin.

I limped toward the direction Luci retreated. When I got a few meters away from the pool of acid I sat down. When I tried to sit I immediately stood back up. I could feel some burns on my backside. Some of the acid found its way into my robe. I placed my hand gently on it only to feel a burning sensation from the lightest touch. I winced in pain. I am tired but am forced to stand.

“Damn it,” I cursed. That slimes acid must be stronger than the others to burn me so badly. The green ones better not be as strong as this one. If they are I will have to find a way to navigate through them to a different area of the forest. Fighting slimes is a pain for most close combat types. I could use [Fireball] against them. When I used it before it only used 15% of my MP. If I go with this strategy I would need Luci to distract them while I channel. I don’t think I could risk her getting hurt. I will find someone to take the damage eventually.  After waiting for a moment the burns started to calm down a bit. They still were stinging me nonstop but the pain was less intense.

 I saw Luci run toward me with Tay. Tay immediately healed me. The white light was soothing as it covered my body. It wasn’t enough to heal the burns completely. They still were stinging me but it was more bearable. I took a seat where I stood. My ass was okay touching the ground. I can rest a bit. I took in a few deep breaths. The annoying burns were keeping me from completely relaxing.

“Thank you,” I said.

Tay looked at me with a frown. She was still examining my body. When she touched one of my burns on my arm I flinched. I endured the pain to the best of my ability. I gave her a sharp warning stare.

“Next time run away before it dies. Look at these wounds,” She said in a concerned voice. She ignored my stare and focused on my body.

“Let me worry about that next time. Glad you didn’t run away,” I said. I did tell her to back off but who knows. She could have run back to school thinking we were dead. I am glad she stayed back. She still needs to be careful when touching my wounds. Aren’t priests supposed to be gentle?

“I would only run away when Luci does. Who cares what happens to an idiot like you,” She insulted. However she still examined my body with a concerned look on her face.

“Hey, don’t joke around about things like that. You won’t really leave me to die would you,” I complained.

She stayed silent. I tried to look at her eyes but every time I caught them she looked the other way. I let it got for now. She must be only joking. She can’t be that heartless.

I turn my attention back to the slimes corpse. The acidic red pool of fluid was almost completely gone. Once it fully disappears I can check to see if it has dropped anything useful. The core of the slime is valuable. It can be used to make armors more resistant against acid. It can also enchant weapons with a weak acid buff. It could cause the enchanted sword to spray out acid after a certain amount of strikes. The only dangerous thing about enchanting swords with a monsters power is that it is not certain wither it will harm the user or not. Some enchantments don’t discriminate in who they harm when they active.

A dark red core the size of a pear sat in the middle of the blood red pool. The pool was almost completely gone after a few more minutes. I got up quickly. I want to see if it was worth it fighting this slime. I approached near the core spot when a figure passed by me.

“Luci, I should be the one to check first. I landed the killing blow,” I said. I pointed toward the loot she was collecting. She was completely engrossed in examining the dark red core. I could see there were a few pieces of equipment that dropped from the slime.

“Luci,” I yelled. She finally turned toward me. She ran with the dark red core in her hand. She pushed it into my face.

“Do you know what this is,” She said excitedly. She was shaking the core up and down.

“I don’t know,” I lied. Of course I know what it is.

“This is the core a red slime. We can get 3 silver for it if we sell in the mid district,” Luci informed me practically drooling. She was spinning around with it like it was the best thing in the world.

“I can’t believe we got one. We are going to be rich,” She bragged.

“It is only 3 silver, It can’t possibly be enough to be rich,” I said. I am not familiar with how much silver is worth.

“What do you mean not that much? We can buy a basic priest book for 30 silver. You got really lucky being able to kill such a monster,” Tay interrupted. She was looking at the core with a spark in her eyes. I don’t want to fight red slimes or any slime for that matter. It wasn’t easy taking on that red slime at such a low level.

“We could buy a new set of normal daggers for 8 silver, I thought I would have to save up for a year to get it,” Luci said with a greedy look in her eyes.

“How much can we get a broad sword for?” I asked curiously.

“Why would you want to get a broad sword? Didn’t you already win one,” Luci questioned. I looked toward the green slimes in the field. I can’t tell her that sword is useless in combat.

“It can up to 16 silver for a normal one,” Tay informed. Great it is only double the price daggers. Why is the price so unfair?

I was feeling fatigued after hearing the price of the broadswords. I decided it was time to head back. We can continue tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on fighting all day. They agreed. I put Luci in charge of collecting the loot since she was already doing it. After she was done we carefully ran back toward the forest entrance. I made sure we went the safest route. Afterward since school was still in section they went back in. I went home to rest. I wasn’t exhausted from the fight but I decided that going back to school covered in light burns wasn’t a good idea.