‘Grr…Get…off!!’

As of now, the staff was being pinned down by Diana, whose hand was placed straight onto its crystal, stubbornly trying to pull it out! What was with this girl?!

“Damniiittt!!!”

Turning the staff around, she began pummelling the crystal, hammering it down in hopes of shattering the damn thing. If she couldn’t break the crystal off, then let’s just break it with brute force!

Frantically, the staff tried to cast magic, but the constant pummelling from Diana splendidly interrupted the cast! The battle was stuck on a stalemate!

‘Oi! Admin! Save me already!!!’

The crystal called out into the void, its voice helplessly let out as the ‘Admin’ watched with dead eyes, not that it had any eyes. The scene of its patrons getting smashed and thrown around by a young girl was definitely not something it had expected to see, ever.

‘…Please hold out.’

‘What the hell?! Hey! Stop this girl already! Oi!! Listen to mee!!’

The crystal’s plead went unheard.

“HAAA!!!”

Diana, determined to win this, moved close to the wall and began to smash the crystal onto the wall! If the floor didn’t work, then let’s use the wall instead! Was what she thought as she smashed the crystal into the stone.

*Bak!*

Oi. Why did the wall just break? This thing ain’t a pickaxe! Ah, but this might lead to somewhere! A secret room perhaps?! With renewed vigour, she began to pave away at the stone wall, using the staff as a pickaxe.

If only she had some bombs…

The crystal’s cries continued to resound within the void, coming back unheard. The admin wasn’t even surprised anymore. Being surprised at her antics was surprisingly tiring. Vade only watched from behind with a sympathetic look.

*Bak!*

*Bruk!*

Not slowing down, Diana continued her assault at the wall, paving a bigger hole as time went by. Soon, the hole turned into an arch, and then a small tunnel, and so on.

5 minutes of constant physical trauma later, the end of the tunnel broke away, and light came in from the other side. To her surprise, she did find something at the other side!

“S-She actually found the unused trial…”

The admin only said so in a low voice and turned away, not wanting to look at her for any longer. Any more, and its sanity might drop from her dark magic!

“Woah.”

Within this new room, she saw a giant blue crystal, floating in the air. Doesn’t this crystal look like a core or something? Oh! Maybe the dungeon core?! Alright, time to break it!

“Oi, oi! Don’t put me in there!!”

Not wanting to lose its life, the crystal voiced its concerns, which took her by surprise. Which, in turn, caused her to lose grip of the staff, causing it to bump against the crystal!

And then, magic happened!

A surge of magic shot out from the black crystal, and began to disappear into the giant blue crystal! The black crystal was being sucked away! Clapping her hands together, she said her farewells, and walked back into the tunnel.

“Oi! Don’t leave me! Please!! I don’t want to die!!”

Without looking back, she stepped out from the tunnel and back into the cavern. A great sense of satisfaction welled up within her as she heard the voice of the crystal slowly disappear. The pleading voice of it, made her heart flutter a bit.

She wasn’t a sadist, okay?

*Boink!*

“Ah, thanks.”

Hopping over to her, Slimey dropped the apple it had been holding out, and rolled it towards her. Happily, Diana picked the apple up and took a bite. Ah~, the sweetness of this apple was al-

…Eh?

“…………EEEH?! S-S-Slimey?!”

What the?! Didn’t this little guy die just moments ago?! Did this guy transcend death and return back to her?!

*Boink!*

“Eh? You didn’t die? Then what happened?”

*Boink, boink, boink!*

“You did get hit, but all the magic you stored until then was instead drained to protect your core. With that, you gathered the scattered slime and, that’s it…Eh?! You can store magic?!”

*Boink!*

“You just knew too? As in you just gained a skill? Eh? What’re skills? Uh, I’ll explain later.”

The conversation just continued on, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Surely, if someone sane saw this scene, they would flip their sh*t! Well, this is a fantasy world, so anything’s possible.

That aside, from what Slimey seemed to express, all the magic she got from the food was used up to save its ‘Core’ from the magic blast. She wasn’t quite sure what a ‘Core’ was, but she didn’t question it. Also, Slimey looked smaller than before, so that’s that!

“Oi! Bastard! What the hell was that for?!”

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“Woah, it’s still alive?”

To her surprise, the staff was somehow still alive! What a twist! Hmm? The crystal looked a lot smaller than before. Was that because it lost some of its magic?

“Oi! Answer me!!”

“Ah. Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“Don’t play with me!!”

Oi. She’s trying to ask a serious question here. She really didn’t hear what it said, and she tried asking that as politely as she could. The staff seemed pissed though…

“Do you want to die?! I can still cast magic!”

Oho~, was the staff trying to threaten her? With all that pleading from earlier, most of the fear factor was mostly gone. Showing the smuggest face she could have, she looked at the staff, and spoke jokingly.

“Ah~, do you want to go back to that crystal?”

Although she said that mostly as a joke, the staff seemed to interpret that seriously, and backed away. The deadly words that spilled from her mouth sent shivers up its none-existent body.

“N-N-No ma’am.”

“Huh~? I didn’t hear you~”

“N-No ma’am!”

Aww~, being obedient now, isn’t it? Where did all that ‘Do you want to die?!’ stuff go? This didn’t even feel like a boss battle anymore!

On that note, what did she need to do to finish this trial? Did she need to fully destroy this staff, or was this enough? Hmm, if it was the latter, then the completion message should already be u-

[The 5th trial of the Crystal Caves has been cleared! 750 Experience Gained]

[Unique completion route achieved! 250 Experience gained]

[The Crystal Caves has been fully completed! 500 Experience gained]

[The title [Dungeon Crawler] has been acquired! 10 Skill Points gained]

[Congratulations! Slime Maestro has levelled up to Level 8! Your stats have improved]

[Congratulations! Slime Maestro has levelled up to Level 9! Your stats have improved]

[…Please spare her…]

Now that’s what she wanted! Man, look at all that Exp! That was huge!! She even jumped two levels in a row! Amazing! Ah, but what’s with that last message, hmm~? ‘Please spare her’ you say? Wonder who that might be referring to~?

Why does the thought of torturing this little thing bring her so much pleasure?

…She’s really not a sadist, okay?

Well then, status, open!

Name: Diana

Race: Human

Age: 17

Class: Slime Maestro Lv: 9/10 | Exp: -/-

HP: 60/66

MP: 53/60

SP: 41/60

[Strength]: 19

[Tenacity]: 16

[Agility]: 19

[Intelligence]: 18

[Dexterity]: 19

[Mentality]: 19

[Endurance]: 18

[Wisdom]: 18

[Longevity]: 4

[Skill Points]: 26

{Skills}: [Slime Valley: Lv 2/10], [Knife Mastery Lv 2/10], [Slime Magic Lv 3/10], [Assassination Lv 2/10], [Alleviation Lv 1/5], [Cooking Lv 2/10], [Internal Mana Manipulation Lv 1/10], [Bubble Magic Lv 5/10], [Slime Mend Lv 1/10], [Slime Army Lv 2/10], [Energy Burn Lv 1/10], [Danger Perception Lv 1/10], [Beast Taming Lv 1/10]

{Magic}: [Slime Magic Set]

{Titles}: [Slime Queen], [Conqueror of Slimes], [Soul Conqueror], [Dungeon Crawler]

Huh? Something’s odd. Why was she stuck at level 9? Her Exp counter seemed to have stopped functioning. Did she encounter a bug in the system? A glitch in the matrix perhaps? Blizzard, you better patch this before the fans get mad!

Hmm, maybe there was still some requirements she hadn’t met yet? Could it be that her skills were too low levelled? That wasn’t that far of a stretch.

Putting that aside for now, what should she do with this little girl? Ah, she’s calling the staff a girl now, since the admin did say ‘Please spare her’, implying that the staff was female. Explanations aside, what should her punishment be? Hmm~

“U-Umm…”

“Hmm~?”

“Eek?!”

Uwah, she’s totally scared. Did she go too far?

“Ufufu~, what should I do with you~?”

“Hii?!”

Unknowingly, her own thoughts seemed to have leaked out, causing the staff to retreat further back. She didn’t know what she might do, but whatever it is, she didn’t want to be a part of it! Not at all!!

Being honest, Diana really was getting ahead of herself. This was the final boss of this dungeon, so she should’ve had much more caution. But nope! Throw that sh*t out! She’s done it all, time to have fun in the extra stage!

Maybe the insanity this dungeon had induced to her had caused a new door to open within her. ‘Being dominant doesn’t feel all that bad…’ Was what she thought as she slowly approached the terrified staff, which had backed itself up against the corner. Sh*t!

Oh god, what’s happening to her?

From the void, the admin simply watched silently, watching as Diana slowly cornered the staff, whose pleads had come back unanswered. It wanted to help, but…

Vade was in a similar position, watching with a sympathetic look towards a comrade in arms. Not implying that these things had eyes, but moving on.

“Now, where’s that haughty attitude, huh?”

“I-I-I’m sorry for earlier!! P-Please forgive meee!!”

“Ho, really~?”

“Y-Y-Yes ma’am!”

“Hmm? Won’t you just stab me in the back later? Can’t I just deal with you now?”

“I-I won’t! I promise!”

Ah, why was she getting so happy at doing this? Hearing the terrified shrieks from this staff was making her heart flutter over and over. She hardly even noticed the mischievous smile she had on her own face.

“Just a promise isn’t enough, you know~?”

She made sure to deepen her tone there, just to further emphasize how serious she was. Of course, that was just her getting full of herself, but let’s not pop her bubble just yet.

“I-I’ll do anything!!”

“Hmm? Really? Anything?”

“Y-Yes!!”

Okay, now she really was getting ahead of herself. This is the final boss, you know~?

“Shut up.”

“E-Eh?”

Geez, what’s with her? Sneering into empty space like that? Either ways, why was the staff even being submissive to her?! Diana wasn’t even that strong!

“Oi.”

That aside, this could not go on for any longer! The admin was extremely worried for her, but the incredible presence of Diana kept it at bay. But really though, Diana was just a little p*ssy being conceited.

But, the life of its precious friend was about to be taken away, so it needed to help! Casting its fear aside, the admin warped and appeared before her.

“P-Please spare her, y-young adventurer”

“...Huh?”

‘What does it mean ‘Spare her’? She wasn’t even trying to kill it anymore! And why was it stuttering?’ Was what Diana thought as she heard its voice. She titled her head in confusion, but the admin seemed to take it as a threat.

“I-I’ll do anything, but p-please, s-spare her soul…”

Is the admin her dad or something? Because it really does sound like it! Can that staff even have parents? What are these things in the first place? First world questions…

Now, what should she ask? Treasure? Nah, that’s lame. A new skill maybe? But can the admin even give her skills? Muu, what should she pick…?

And then, her mind moved on to the next options, weapons! Obviously, every dungeon needed to have some type of reward at the end, and a weapon wouldn’t be all that bad! Ah, but let’s make this reward a bit ‘unique’, shall we?

“Then…Let me take her!”

“…!”

“A-Admin…”

She made sure to put a pause in between her words, just to further hammer in her desires. And it worked!

“……I-I see.”

“O-Oi, y-you can’t possibly…”

“Then…at least keep her safe.”

“Huh? O-Ou.”

Why did that sound so dramatic? She just wanted to take this staff with her, why did it make it sound like a dramatic scene from a movie?

Turning towards the staff, the admin spoke with a gentle voice.

“I’ll see you, crystal.”

“W-Wait a damn second! You’re just going to leave me?!”

“…Forgive me.”

Oi, oi. Was she doing something bad here? Was she getting herself in trouble here?!

“Goodbye, crystal.”

“Oi! A-Admin!!”

Slowly, the admin began to fade away, leaving behind a trail of light in its leaving. The staff called out, but it went unheard. Yeah…She did something bad, didn’t she?

And then, a surreal scene began to unfold before her! A burst of magic exploded out from the staff, enveloping the entire cavern in a purple shine.

And as the light faded away, the staff was no longer there. Instead, in the same place, stood a woman. Her height was about 165 cm, which was just slight above hers. Her raven black hair flowed out behind her, reaching down onto her back. Her sharp purple eyes met hers.

Ah…But she’s naked, leaving her two melons to hang freely.

“……”

“Oi, stop staring so much.”

And that was how their relationship began! From then on, they would surely go through many different adventures, and encounter many different people. But before that, let’s head through the exit first.

And before that, let’s get her some clothes.

“…Can you form clothes?”

“No. Give me some.”

…Well then.