“We’ve already used up almost all of plan C, so doing that wouldn’t buy any time at all! I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get him even if I did that!”
I truly was grateful that he’d come to save me, but it turned out that the pieces of slime dribbling down like green rain never even reached the young swordsman.
*Whoowhoowhoowhoowhhh!*
He swung his sword at speeds my eyes couldn’t follow, slicing apart every single droplet that fell towards him. They were finely sliced and diced before they could get even remotely close to him.
Jeez, how much of a prodigy can you be?! He wasn’t even being a little serious!
“Come on, don’t make me cut something so boring. You’re just a slime, but I’m starting to get miffed,” the young man grumbled while looking up at the ceiling.
Can I run? I’m pretty sure that’s why Slatarou is doing this.
However, I knew instinctively that it would be impossible. Though he’d stopped attacking me for the moment, if I were to try to run, he’d most likely simply focus on me again.
Even while he was occupied with the rain of slime, he never took his full attention off of me.
Slatarou’s body was getting smaller and smaller. Of course, the young swordsman hadn’t bothered to jump up and attack the ceiling. After all, he knew that Slatarou’s barrage would eventually have to stop.
Ahh, crap. I really hate this. I’m fine with sacrificing someone else, but I really hate having someone sacrifice themselves for me.
So I put power into my legs. My wounds were already beginning to heal. The hole that had been stabbed into my body in the first attack was now completely gone.
Oh, this might work! I see. It wasn’t just my imagination earlier after that fight with the macho man—I really do heal incredibly fast.
With that newfound knowledge, I decided to wait. I would use the time Slatarou was buying me to the fullest.
The young man probably thought that I was now immobile. That was why he was directing his effort towards dealing with Slatarou. And that was where my chance lay—I could surprise him by suddenly moving. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a surprise attack to land. Given his skill, he would be able to react to a surprise attack. So, I just had to take that into account!
“Take this! Mimic Missile!”
Yep! As long as I was prepared to get stabbed, I could aim to take him down with me! I figured I’d be able to close the gap while his sword ran me through and hit him with an Explosive Leg kick!
*Krsht!*
The young man used another sword in his off hand to pierce me.
As I thought.
“Explosive Le—huh?”
However, the swordsman’s blade hadn’t run me through. He had stabbed me, sure, but the wound was shallow. The sword had stopped mere centimeters into me, and I was left floundering in the air.
In short, my kick couldn’t reach him.
“Sorry, but I can control how far I stab into something.”
Seriously?! How much of a genius can you be at this age?! Damn, it didn’t work. I guess this is it. Ahhh, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel... Wait, why is that macho man waiting there?! Why do I have to see a jacked, half-naked weirdo at the hour of my demise?! I hate it! Why is that old mage and the sand lady coming out too?! Wait, sand? Ohhh, I see! The answer was so simple. Ah ha ha! How stupid am I?! Duh, Harumi!
“Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs!”
I kicked the air.
Why had I kicked empty space? I didn’t! I was actually kicking at the small bits of my senior, Slatarou!
I slipped off of the sword and landed on the floor. Then, I tensed up and jumped all the way to the ceiling.
“Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs!”
The young swordsman probably had no idea what I was trying to do. He didn’t know that my Explosive Legs could be used in this way, and that was why he was late in dealing with it.
*Bo-BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!*
Everything exploded at once. A storm of shock waves whipped up. Even if he managed to dodge one, the blasts would chain together. He was surrounded from all sides—explosive slime rained down, and the walls and ceilings themselves were bombs! There was no escape!
*Shwip!*
I landed and turned around. There was no trace of the young swordsman left.
Yes, I won!
I slumped to the ground, exhausted.
Oh man, I really thought I’d die this time.
I’d managed to remember the sand lady at the most critical moment. She’d spat out sand to counter my kicks, but they’d still exploded. If that was how my explosions worked, then I knew it would be possible to chain explosions off of the slime rain!
That just goes to show that everything is worth trying. Wait, I can’t afford to let my guard down yet.
I looked around. “There won’t be another surprising human, will there?”
I couldn’t sense anyone coming, though that wasn’t much solace—I hadn’t been able to sense that young swordsman until he was right next to me either.
Still, the strong adventurers really are amazing... Oh, right.
“Ptooey!” I opened up my lid and spat something out.
“I thought I was gonna die!” Slatarou cried.
“Aww, come on. Didn’t I tell you it would all work out?”
My senior was so small he was basically only his core. While I was the type to sacrifice others, I would still save them if possible. Before the explosions started, I’d managed to store him inside me.
“Hey, don’t let your guard down. We don’t know what’s around the—”
“Marinnie here! I’m here in Lord Aldora’s place to declare that season 389 is over! Good work, everyone! Everyone who survived, please wait where you are; the dungeon keeper will be coming to get you!”
“You hear that?”
And so, somehow, I managed to survive my first season.