Chapter 43

The squelching grew intermittent and then faded away entirely. Squeak grew quiet as well. A tense silence descended upon the swamp. The tension was unbearable. Someone inhaled sharply behind Yuuma, their breath like a gasp. Ten meters ahead of them, to the right of the small path, the surface of the water suddenly bulged into a massive spherical shape. There was a huge splashing sound as water cascaded off the shape, reveling the half-transparent, squirming gelatinous creature within. It was a slime—but an unbelievably large one. Just the portion of its body that was now visible above the surface of the water was at least two meters in height, and it was about the same size in diameter. An HP bar appeared above the slime. It read, Mouria the Greedy Blob. Like Oeben the Varanian Commander, the monster they’d fought in the dungeon beneath Calcina, this creature had a title attached to its name, meaning it had to be the swamp boss monster. It was going to take more than just proverbial button mashing to defeat this thing. “It’s the boss! Everyone, let’s show this thing what we can do!” Yuuma yelled, withdrawing his left hand. His party members shouted in response. The boss immediately began jiggling forward. It was slow-moving, but Yuuma’s party was just as limited in their footing. The massive slime was almost as wide as the entire path, so they couldn’t circle behind it without being forced into the water. The water may have only been ten centimeters deep, but they still couldn’t run through it like they could on land, and there was a serious danger of slipping and falling due to the mud. Quickly deciding on the best approach, Yuuma dispensed with manners and began firing off orders in rapid succession. “Kenk! Get in front of Kisanuki on defense! Hokari! Nushiro! Stick with ranged attacks but keep your eyes peeled for any adds. Sawa! Attack with fire magic! Nagi! Soga! Give us all the buffs you can!” The party responded affirmatively. The first to leap into action was the front liner Kenk. He swung the massive two-handed sword—its proper name was Forged Steel Greatsword—he had acquired from the treasure chest in the ancient castle. “I’ll grab aggro!” he yelled. A moment later he activated the weapon art known as Ground Wave. A shock wave emanated from his sword as he stuck the ground, rippling outward toward the approaching slime. The damage from the shock wave was 60 percent physical, but also 20 percent wind and 20 percent earth damage, ensuring it would still have some effect against slimes, which were resistant to physical damage. It was also a full-strength attack from Kenk, who was second only to Sawa in terms of raw firepower. Yuuma kept his eyes fixated on the boss’s HP bar. He was hoping the attack would reduce the enemy’s HP by 10 percent…or maybe 5 percent at least. The shock wave sped across the surface of the ground, making direct contact with the slime’s lower front half. The slimes in Actual Magic didn’t have a core, so damage would usually be the same no matter where a hit landed. The massive, semitransparent ball of slime jiggled, as concentric indentations rippled across its skin. But that was all. Its HP did not fall, not even by a hair. “Come on!” Kenk shouted in surprise. The slime glared at Kenk, or at least it seemed to. Several jets of transparent liquid began spurting upward, vertically, inside its gelatinous tissue. It must have been sucking up water from the swamp. It took about two seconds or so for the water to compress into a single spot near the top of the slime. Suddenly, a high-pressure stream of water squirted out of the slime like a hose, aimed straight for Kenk. “Yikes!” But Kenk was a true Warrior. He quickly lifted his two-handed sword into the air, guarding with the flat of the blade. Yuuma felt his blood curdle. For a brief moment, he pictured the thin, bluish-white laser beam of water cutting straight through Kenk’s sword, but fortunately, the spray scattered into seven or eight splashing bursts instead. Even after dissipating, however, the splashes apparently had ATK power. The spume that landed on Kenk’s head and stomach still shaved off about 5 percent of his HP. Yuuma tried not to think about how much damage the water beam might have done if it had hit Kenk directly. Nagi, however, immediately cast Healing Circle, which began to restore Kenk’s HP. Aoi cast Light Enhancement on Kenk’s breastplate, meanwhile, increasing its DEF value. Sawa finished chanting her own spell at the same moment, releasing a Flame Arrow. The crimson arrow shot forward with a flaming roar, colliding dead center with the boss. Yuuma smiled. This time there was no way the boss wouldn’t take damage. Yuuma lifted his left hand into the air, ready to follow up with his own attack. Unfortunately, with a muted plop, the Flame Arrow was likewise swallowed up in the slime boss’s gelatinous mass. The magical crimson light fizzled immediately, and the ripples that spread across the surface of the creature’s massive body quickly subsided. Its HP remained unchanged. “Wh-why aren’t we damaging it?!” Chinami shouted, venturing her own attack as well. Two yellow balls of light flew from her hand as she swung her arm in an overhand throw. It was a weapon art unique to the Thief class, known as Stone Throw. But the result was the same. Two small ripples appeared on the surface of the slime boss and then promptly disappeared. “You’re kidding me… What kind of monster is immune to both physical and fire damage?!” Kenk whined before lifting his sword to guard once more. The slime boss began sucking up more water from the swamp. This time, however, instead of concentrating into a single point, the water began to collect in five spots throughout the boss’s body. Yuuma flinched in horror, expecting the creature to shoot off five high-pressured streams at once. The slime, however, had other plans. With a sticky thwump, thwump, five blobs of water spurted free from the boss’s body. They flattened like pancakes as they hit the ground or the surface of the water and then quickly reformed into circular, jiggling shapes. HP bars appeared over their heads, each displaying the name Bouncy Blob. “It’s got minions!” Sawa shouted, but Yuuma was already casting. “Tenebris! Astrum…Ignis!” The purple orb that appeared before his hand contracted, forming a faintly glowing stone that darted forward. Both the casting and projectile speeds of the dark attack spell, Dim Star, were fast, and the projectile even came with a slight homing effect. It also had decent penetration and even split into a bursting attack upon impact, making it a great all-around damage spell. In Actual Magic, the five natural elements of water, fire, wind, earth, and lightning and the four spiritual elements of light, dark, holy, and curse each formed their own separate compasses of effect. But there were no interactions, either resistances or vulnerabilities, between the two groups. Yuuma figured that even if the slime boss was immune to all natural-element magic attacks and to non-elemental physical attacks, there was still a chance dark-element magic might do the trick. The purple stone traced a faint arc before piercing the slime boss on its left side. A ripple spread out from the point of impact and disappeared. Nothing else happened. Not even an explosion. “How can it be immune to all magical and physical attacks…?!” Sawa said with a groan. A moment later, the five smaller slimes contracted their jiggling bodies and then sprang high into the air like rubber balls. The jumps weren’t random. The slimes were each aiming to land on someone in the party. Although these slimes were much smaller than the boss, they were still almost fifty centimeters in diameter. Assuming they were the same relative density as water, each slime probably weighed over sixty kilograms. “We can’t block them! We have to evade!” Yuuma cried. Yuuma’s teammates dove out of the way. Kenk, Hokari, and Chinami wound up stepping into the water, but that couldn’t be helped. Heavy thuds and loud splashing filled the air. One of the slimes landed in front of Yuuma. Instinctively, Yuuma expected it to bounce straight up again, but instead, it splattered flat like a pancake. It seemed like these bouncing body blows were designed to knock them flat and then stick fast. With a quick glance around to make sure none of his friends had been hit, Yuuma swung his shortsword into the air. He struck at the Bouncy Blob while it was still trying to reinflate, but in the back of his mind, he was worried that the boss’s minions might be immune to damage, too. If so, they could be facing total party wipe. Yuuma felt a springy slorp as his sword made contact, but fortunately, the blade didn’t bounce back. Yuuma’s strike nearly bisected the elastic creature in two, dropping its HP by almost a third. “Physical attacks work against the minions! Everyone! Keep an eye out for the boss’s water laser but focus on removing the minions first…!” Yuuma shouted. Before he could say anything else, however… “Aiiieee…!” There was a high-pitched scream, followed by pounding footsteps. Yuuma glanced up, only to see Aoi running…no, fleeing. The sleeves of her beige cassock fluttered in the wind. Yuuma was suddenly racked with indecision, like his brain was being pulled in two. Just because the boss had appeared didn’t mean that all the other monsters in the area had vanished. If Aoi happened to run headfirst into a phantom, there was a chance she might be slaughtered. On the other hand, Yuuma couldn’t simply abandon the boss fight. They hadn’t even figured out their strategy yet. Losing two members of their raiding group now would put their battle lines into total disarray. Yuuma listened to Aoi’s footsteps, growing more distant by the second, with one ear. He was clenching his teeth so hard it was a wonder they didn’t break. “Yuu, go! If worse comes to worst, I’ll use my vires!” Sawa insisted. That was all Yuuma needed to hear. He exploded like a spring, sprinting as hard as he could the moment he spun around. Yuuma could just barely see a tiny human shadow weaving a path through the drifting fog ahead. He returned his trusty sword to its sheath and focused on chasing her, but he couldn’t seem to close the distance. Getting used to the virtual world takes time, Yuuma thought, annoyed. If Aoi could run this fast already, then surely she was made for fulldive. Just as Yuuma was about to call out for her to stop, he heard a tiny scream, which was soon lost in the sound of a loud splash. Aoi must have stumbled and fallen into the water. Praying that the noise hadn’t attracted monsters, Yuuma sprinted for another three seconds or so before slamming on the brakes. He skidded to a stop, sending a cloud of dust flying into the air, and then shouted toward the shadow that he could see lying on the ground, past the water’s edge, on the left. “Soga, are you okay?!” The fog cleared slightly, revealing Aoi. She was lying face down more than three meters away from the path, half submerged in water. She must have barged into the water at such speed that she had lurched all that way. Fortunately, Yuuma didn’t see any monsters nearby, but there was no telling when more might spawn. Aoi wasn’t moving. Yuuma waded into the water in order to help her up, stepping carefully so as not to fall over himself. He had taken about five or six cautious steps when Aoi suddenly sat up out of the water with a loud splash. “Ugh… Aghhh… Aggghhh…” A throat-rending sob escaped Aoi’s lips as she raised her right hand and slapped the surface of the water. She did it again. This time a spray of water splashed her in the face, mingling with the tears that were already dripping down her cheeks. There was no time for this. Yuuma needed to haul Aoi back to the boss fight as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t find the right words to say. He was pretty sure that Aoi had meant what she had said earlier at the shelter, about wanting to get stronger. However, when push came to shove, she couldn’t help but betray herself. Yuuma knew how awful that felt, whether he wanted to or not. In the nearly full day that had already passed since they had become trapped in Althea, Yuuma had wished to be stronger more times than he could count. But they couldn’t afford to waste more time right now. Yuuma steeled himself and approached Aoi. “Soga, we have to go back,” he said, bending down to help Aoi up. As he did so, something unexpected happened. One of the large volleyball-like floating weeds, which had drifted toward them along the surface water, was struck by Aoi’s palm as she continued to lash out at the water. A cloud of reddish smoke burst out of the weed with a strange poof. Apparently, the impact had caused some sort of powder stored inside the plant, probably spores, to burst into the air. Poison?! That was Yuuma’s first thought. He held his breath and grabbed Aoi by the arm, quickly pulling her to her feet. He tried to drag her away from the smoke, but for some reason, Aoi dug in her heels. “Yuu, that’s it!” “Huh…?” Yuuma was confused. Aoi shook off Yuuma’s hand and dove for the ball-shaped plant, picking it up with two hands. As she smooshed it between her palms, more smoke squirted out. A bloody crimson color, which could only be described as venomous in appearance— Yuuma suddenly remembered what Harlin had said back at the village. “Fire for red, ice for blue.” “…!” Yuuma gasped and frantically looked around. He spotted another ball plant just two meters away and dashed toward it, picking it up. He tapped it lightly, and this time deep blue smoke erupted with propulsive momentum from its tiny protruding orifice. The two glanced at each other and nodded in unison. Holding each of their plants firmly in their arms, they began racing back toward the others. Even by outside estimates, they were gone for less than two minutes. However, two minutes was more than enough time for the course of a battle to alter completely. Yuuma could tell from the HP bars displayed in the upper-left-hand corner of his field of vision that no one had died, but he had no way of knowing if their battle lines were still intact. For all he knew, the other six members of their party could be fleeing in separate directions. After about ten seconds of full sprinting, the individual HP bars of their teammates began to come into view through the shrouding fog. Nagi, Sawa, Chinami, Hokari…and then finally Kisanuki and Kenk. Even though their raiding group had been scratched together on the spot, the members had all stood their ground, maintaining formation even with two people were missing. However, nearly all their hit points were half gone. Yuuma redoubled his speed and shouted, completely forgetting to keep his voice down. “Everyone, we’re back!” he screamed, barreling straight into the middle of their ranks. The moment he entered the boss fight area, a white mist suddenly appeared. There were only two Bouncy Blob minions left. However, the slime boss ensconced in the middle of the battle area, Mouria the Greedy Blob, was still completely unharmed. “Yuu?!” Kenk shouted in surprise as Yuuma ran past him. Yuuma just nodded tersely before coming to a stop in front of the boss. Looking closer, he realized that the water in a ten-meter or so diameter around the boss was frozen solid white. Nagi must have used her ice magic to freeze it. Even if the ice couldn’t damage the boss, it could still prevent it from sucking up the swamp water it needed to shoot its high-pressure jets or create more minions. However, that wasn’t enough to disable all its attacks. The slime boss had sprouted several long tentacles from its massive body, which now flailed about in the air. With a slick splashing noise, the tip of one of these tentacles suddenly extended into a sharp point. “Yuu, watch out!” “Ah…!” Yuuma waited for the right timing and then leaped to the side. The tentacle pierced the spot where he had had been standing just a moment ago, boring deep into the ground. If the strike had hit Yuuma directly, it probably would have torn through his leather armor like paper. The speed of the blob’s attacks, however, was not that different from what Constable Oeben’s had been. Once Yuuma’s feet landed back on solid ground, he brandished the ball plant, which he held in his right hand, into the air. He flung it toward the boss, being careful not to throw so hard that the pod would be crushed. The slime boss completely ignored the plant as it traced a broad arc through the air. That plant was swallowed up with a splort as it connected with the creature’s semitransparent body. Just as before, the boss’s HP remained unaffected. A second later, however, a brilliant surge of color began to spread through the blob’s body, like a wave chasing after the ripples that danced across the surface of the creature. The boss’s body began to turn blue before their very eyes. “What the—?! Wh-what’s happening?!” Kenk shouted in surprise. But Yuuma still didn’t have time to answer. “Nagi! Cast ice magic on the boss!” Yuuma cried. “O-okay!” Nagi was probably confused as well, but she didn’t waste a single second. She lifted her crosier into the air and chanted a spell. “Glacies! Iaculum…Ignis!” The blue orb of light that appeared at the tip of her crosier transformed into a long, thin shaft of ice that began emitting a rigid hum. The shaft shot forward, leaving a trail of ice particles in its wake before striking the now-blue slime boss in the very center of its body—instead of being consumed, the projectile penetrated deep. This time, the boss’s HP finally decreased by about 5 percent. “Of course…! So that’s what Harlin’s words meant!” Sawa shouted. Yuuma nodded in response. The meaning of Harlin’s phrase was clear now. Fire worked against the slime once it had turned red, and ice worked against it once it turned blue… In which case, fire, ice, and iron should all work against the boss if they could turn it purple. “Soga was the one who figured it out. Soga! Use your plant, too!” Aoi screwed up her face in determination. “O-okay!” There were still two slime minions left, which Chinami and Hokari were currently dealing with, but Aoi weaved her way between them, racing straight toward the front. Solving the riddle all on her own like that must have given her the confidence and courage that she needed. Aoi stopped in front of the slime boss and tossed the plant she was holding. Although her throwing stance was a bit awkward, the orb reached the boss without issue and was swallowed up inside its gelatinous mass. Deep red accents began to bloom inside the slime’s previously blue form. A moment later the red mixed with the blue to create a purple hue that spread throughout the creature’s body. Now fire, ice, and physical attacks should all be effective. But it was unlikely that the effect would last forever. Yuuma barked out orders in quick succession. “Kisanuki and Aoi! Go collect more of those ball-shaped floating weeds and throw them at the boss the moment its color changes back to normal! Sawa, you attack with fire magic! Nagi, prioritize healing but still attack with ice magic when you have the chance! Hokari and Nushiro! Once you clear out the minions, start attacking the boss!” Kisanuki returned his Rock Slime to its card and raced off into the swamp without a moment’s hesitation. Aoi ran in the opposite direction. Yuuma watched them go before turning toward Kenk, who was standing diagonally behind him. “Kenk, you and me are up front! Are you ready?!” he shouted. “I was born ready!!” Kenk immediately sprang into action and dashed straight ahead. Not one to be left behind, Yuuma activated the shortsword battle art he had recently unlocked—Shadow Pursuit. The slime boss was hit with a double attack, first from Yuuma’s blade as he slashed diagonally upward, from the left, and then by the battle art’s phantom blade, which followed a moment later. Kenk bashed the boss with his two-handed sword art, Heavy Slugger, at almost the exact same time. Together, the combo shaved off more than 10 percent of the boss’s HP. Yuuma and Kenk were temporarily immobilized after firing off their techniques. The slime boss took this opportunity to aim at them with its tentacles. Before the boss could strike, however, a scarlet beam of light streaked forward like a bullet, piercing the boss’s body and exploding with fury from the inside. It was one of Sawa’s fire spells, Gemburst. It reduced the boss’s HP by another tenth. At that point, the purple color filling the slime boss’s body started to fade and then disappeared completely. The duration of the ball plant debuff was exactly ten seconds. Yuuma had expected it to last at least three times that long. He was just about to put distance between himself and the boss, which was now a milky semitransparent color again, but before he could— “Sorry for the wait!” Aoi shouted. A lush green bulb careened through the air and struck the slime boss on its right side. A moment later, a second ball, which Kisanuki must have thrown, hit the boss in almost the exact same spot. The red and blue mingled together immediately, spreading out into a vibrant purple color. Chinami and Hokari joined for the second attack phase, having already taken care of the Bouncy Blobs. The water around the boss was still frozen solid, so it was unable to fire off its high-pressure jets or to create more minions. The only means of attack it had left at its disposal now were stabs or sweeps with its six tentacles. So long as they kept their eyes peeled, however, it wasn’t hard to avoid, either. By repeating a cycle of striking the boss with a flurry of magical and physical attacks for the ten seconds during which it changed color and then moving back and healing once it returned to normal, Yuuma and the others were able to steadily reduce the creature’s hit points. Their biggest worry was whether Aoi and Kisanuki would find more color-changing debuffs in time, but Kisanuki, who was a veteran gamer, seemed to have figured out the trick to discovering the ball plants amid the fog. By the time the boss’s HP was down to around 30 percent, they were reapplying the color debuff with little to no delay. Despite being invincible at first, it wasn’t long before the boss’s HP had fallen below 20 percent and then to just 10. Yuuma was pretty sure they would be able to defeat it during the next attack phase. However… “I… I’m sorry!” a quavering voice shouted. The six attackers flinched, as if someone had just thrown cold water in their faces. The voice had come from Kisanuki, who was standing in the swamp, at a loss, about ten meters away. He gestured helplessly with empty hands. “We’ve already thrown all the ball plants in this area…!” he said. “Ngh… You’re kidding!” Hokari cried, frantically glancing around. Yuuma did the same, but there was nothing to see, just turbid swamp water. There wasn’t even a withered tree in sight, let alone any more of those ball-shaped plants. The slime boss had turned semitransparent once again. In its current state, there was no way for Yuuma and the others to damage it. Even if Sawa let Valac take over, which she could do only once per day, and if Valac used her ultimate fire spell, Infernal Spear, it probably wouldn’t even scratch the boss, which seemed to have total immunity to fire. “Where’s Soga?!” Yuuma shouted, scanning the area for some sign of her. Just then, Aoi raced forward, out of the fog. Unfortunately, her hands were empty as well. “Wh-what are we supposed to do now…?” Chinami groaned when she saw Aoi shake her head in panic. The slime boss began to move, almost as if it had heard her. Its more than two-meter-tall, massive domed body suddenly contracted like a pancake. This was new behavior from the boss, but it was the exact same motion its minions had carried out earlier. Yuuma had a feeling he knew what was coming next. He stared in horror, shouting at the others. “It’s gonna jump! Everyone, get ready to dodge!” In the next moment, the massive slime boss bounded into the air with a deafening bwong. Yuuma and the others crouched, ready to dash out of the way. But the boss was only aiming for Kisanuki, who was standing separate from the rest of the party. Although Yuuma and the others had taken off a full 90 percent of the boss’s HP, Kisanuki had apparently garnered the most aggro with all the ball plants he had thrown. “Run!!” Yuuma quickly shouted. Kisanuki, however, remained calm. Instead of flailing about blindly, Kisanuki kept his eyes fixed on the creature’s massive gelatinous body, which looked large enough to instantly crush him to death. He watched the boss’s trajectory until the very last moment and then chose the shortest route to evade. As the slime boss collided with the water, it emitted a tremendous shock wave, sending massive sprays of water into the air and creating a dense fog. The boss was completely lost from view, but its HP bar was still visible, so they would know immediately if it began to move again. Kisanuki must have been soaked, but he hadn’t suffered damage, either. However, the situation was still at a standstill. If Kisanuki and Aoi expanded their search they would probably find more plants, but who knew how many minutes it would take before they returned. Meanwhile, the other six would have to keep staving off the now invulnerable slime boss’s attacks. Maybe they should just retreat for now and try again once all the ball plants in the boss arena had regenerated, but its HP was already down to 10 percent. If they could apply the debuff just one more time they could probably—no, almost definitely—finish it off. Yuuma gritted his teeth, still trying to decide whether to push forward or to retreat, when a strange sound reached his ears. It was a glugging noise, like when large volumes of water spilled out of a wide-mouthed pipe. Yuuma’s teammates glanced at one another uneasily. “Y-Yuu…?” Just as Kenk started to speak, a tepid breeze finally blew away the steam that had risen after the slime boss had slammed into the ground. When the party caught sight of the boss emerging from the mist, they all cried out in shock. It had grown even more massive than before. It was now easily over three meters tall, a veritable gelatinous mound. The reason for this increase immediately became clear. Pockets of water, which even now continued to swell in size, had formed in at least ten spots throughout its semitransparent body. The glugging noise wasn’t the sound of water spilling; it was the sound of water rapidly being sucked up into the boss’s body. Yuuma inhaled sharply, preparing to give the order to retreat. Before he could open his mouth, however, clusters of water spouted from the slime boss’s body in quick succession, jiggling and bouncing as they plopped into the swamp. The boss had created more Bouncy Blob minions—twelve this time in total. To make matters even worse, the boss immediately began sucking up more water. It was probably planning to shoot its water laser next. The best thing to do now would be to retreat, but if the boss shot at their backs while they ran away, there would be no way for Yuuma and the others to dodge. “I’ll grab aggro from the boss and minions. Everyone else run!” Yuuma ordered. “But—!” Nagi started to shout until Yuuma spoke over her. “I can avoid the lasers using Quick Action! It’s fine; I’ll be right behind you! Just go!” “…!” Sawa gritted her teeth but then spun around swiftly on her heel. She, too, must have known that it would be pointless to change places with Valac right now. The other five party members, along with Aoi, who had just rejoined them, began to run toward the south. However, Kisanuki, who was still near the boss, didn’t move. “Kisanuki!” Yuuma shouted. Kisanuki ignored him. Instead, he pointed at the slime boss and shouted, “Rock! Self-Destruct!” It was a command for Kisanuki’s familiar. The Rock Slime at Kisanuki’s feet—he must have resummoned it at some point—charged toward the boss, fearlessly throwing itself at the massive creature, even though the boss had to be several dozen times the Rock Slime’s size. True to its nickname—Greedy—the boss spread its stunted tentacles wide, like a mouth, as if to swallow the Rock Slime whole. In that moment, the Rock Slime exploded with a blam. The numerous fragments of stone that covered the surface of its body scattering like buckshot, most of them striking the slime boss’s body. The Rock Slime’s, meanwhile, disappeared, its HP dropping to zero. Despite supposedly being immune to magical and physical damage, this last-ditch suicide attack was apparently still effective because the boss’s HP decreased slightly, by just about 1 percent. In addition to the damage, however, the water that the creature had been storing up to fire off its laser began to leak out of the holes left behind by the stone shards. The damage was enough to make Kisanuki, whose aggro was already high to begin with, the boss’s target once again. After spitting out the minions, the boss was back to normal size, but it was still huge enough as it was. It began lurching in Kisanuki’s direction, wiggling and jiggling as it moved. Once he saw that the boss was on the move, Kisanuki glanced toward Yuuma and shouted in a much louder voice than Yuuma thought Kisanuki was capable of.