◈ 203. [STAGE 8]
Among the heroic characters who were attacked by Slime Emperor at the front of the scale, there were some new ones who joined the front line this time.
“hmm? Mmm?! Big! profit!”
Elise grabbed the tonfa she had taken out of her swordsman in both hands, and managed to remove the tentacles while spitting out strange sounds that she wouldn’t normally make.
She had been fed up with human beings, but she had no chance to deal with a monster of this type.
Even more so with such a gigantic monster.
‘It’s a lot harder than I thought… … ?!’
The monster’s attacks are completely different from those of humans.
Humans have limitations in height, limits in the range of motion of joints, and limitations in the length of arms and weapons.
But the monster had none of that.
The tentacles stretched out as if they were infinite, and the path of the attack drew a terrible trajectory. Besides, the power is
bang!
It’s like throwing a battering ram.
Elise gritted her teeth and was pushed back. After successfully blocking the attack, my arm was about to lose feeling.
‘Does this level of monsters keep coming in and stopping them again…? … ?’
Elise stood directly on top of the castle wall to more accurately grasp the situation on the front here.
And her conclusion was:
‘What madness is this… … ?!’
bang-!
A flying tentacle smashed one of Elise’s tonfas. Tentacles rained down in succession in front of Elise, who was flustered.
‘Did I-?!’
At that time, Quylan rushed in front of Elise.
phut! phut! Fain!
Quylan slapped the tentacles with fists and feet. Tentacles flew out with the sound of air bursting.
“You’re having a hard time, prosecutor sister! Looking at it, it looks like you’re also a newcomer to the Great Monster!”
Quilan, who had tidied up his red braided hair, smiled at Elise.
“Is it necessary to risk your life so hard? Be a little rougher~”
“… .”
Elise narrowed her ultramarine blue eyes.
On this battlefield where everyone was fighting for their lives, Quylan and his party members were noticeably inactive.
From a distance, it would look like everyone was working hard to fend off the monster, but up close it was clear.
The Quylan party put their shields on the floor pretending to block the tentacles and rolled on the floor noisily, but they pretended to fight without any stalling.
“Thank you for saving me, but you… Is there a reason you fight so casually?”
“haha! What difference does fighting hard make? Would you give me a medal as a patriot who defended the empire diligently?”
Quylan grinned as he swung his legs and roughly kicked out the tentacles.
“Because we are a punishment unit that replaces punishment with service. They are a group of criminals and bandits who are not even proper citizens of the empire.”
“… .”
“I get the same salary no matter how hard I work, but why do I have to risk my life to protect someone else’s territory? It’s enough to put it on top of it.”
It was nasty, but on the other hand, Elise thought it was an expected reaction.
In the first place, they are not regular soldiers or even mercenaries who fight for money.
Aren’t they bandits who robbed others to save themselves?
It seems that Prince Ashe appointed them based only on their fighting ability, but that was a hasty decision.
You may not have expected pride or loyalty from them in the first place, but more decisively than that – they lack a ‘reason’.
The reason to fight with all your heart here on the monster front.
“I don’t think he belongs here either. There’s no reason to fight so hard, is there? Let’s stay dry together~!”
Quylan giggled and wiggled his leg roughly.
The strongest attack was blocked anyway by the two knights at the forefront, so he was going to just pretend to fight moderately.
In fact, time passed and the attacks towards Quylan and the party members gradually decreased.
The Quylan party grew more and more.
and.
In the battle against the monster, the complacent mindset such as ‘moderately’ and ‘in a casual way’, in other words, carelessness, is
“Huh?”
directly related to death
Whirly Rick!
Cuilan stood with only his left foot on the ground as he kicked with his right foot.
However, a tentacle approached secretly and wrapped around the ankle of the left foot.
“uh? uh huh?”
And – pull.
slap! Kudangtangtang!
“Wow!”
Cuilan, who fell into a riot, screamed. His huge body caught in the tentacles was being dragged helplessly toward the body of the slime.
“Leader?!”
“Save this crazy captain-”
As expected, Quylan’s party members, who were pretending to wield blunt weapons, were frightened and tried to save him, but
Whirik! Whirly Rick!
“Hey! Let go of this!”
“Hang up! Cut this off! hurry!”
The party members who ran to Quylan’s side were also entangled in other tentacles and dragged along.
Embarrassed, Elise tried to save her by swinging her tonfa, but the tentacles were continuously wrapped around her, and she was helpless.
blah blah
A huge hole opened in the middle of Slime Emperor’s torso. It was like a mouth.
The tentacles were pulling the Quylan party towards that very hole.
In the end,
“Wow, wow… … !”
“People live… !”
Leaving only echoing screams, the 5 members of the Quylan party were dragged away by the Slime Emperor-
Gulp!
swallowed
“… .”
“… .”
The rest of the heroes and soldiers who fought while being bloody just watched this scene in a daze.
***
“Whoa… .”
I clutched my aching head and was lost in thought.
I somehow appeased ordinary bandits from the penal unit and sent them back to the front, but fighting is still a mess. Morale also seems low.
– I don’t want to die from monsters like that on the front lines in other countries!
‘A stranger’s country… … .’
All of the hero characters recruited so far belonged to the Empire. But they are different.
Fundamentally, he is an outsider who harbors ill feelings toward the Empire. And this is the southern front of the empire.
There is no choice but to feel repulsive about fighting for one’s life here.
For these people, a simple guarantee of salary or exemption from punishment cannot elicit true loyalty.
One more step.
A deeper understanding and encouragement is needed. I just realized that.
‘I must be immature.’
In the future, I plan to rally the countless people the Empire has alienated under my command.
And all of them cannot be fused into one group here with simple material examples.
Loyalty from the heart requires more active engagement.
‘It’s difficult, Commander’s job.’
Realizing it again, I rubbed my forehead.
‘In the game, if you just give me money, everyone knows how to be loyal! Give me an annual salary and sometimes throw away gift items!’
Reality is far more complex than that of games.
Then I’m thinking about what to do to make these bandits truly loyal to the front here.
“Wow!”
Cuilan’s scream was heard.
Frightened, I looked ahead and saw the 5 members of the Quylan party being dragged away by the Slime Emperor’s tentacles. no what?!
‘The grab pattern of a boss-level slime object?!’
Grab & Swallow.
This is one of the common patterns of boss-level slimes.
If you wait for more than 3 turns without making a clear attack or defense within the slime’s melee range, the slime will judge that the character is preparing a threatening method and will grab it with the highest priority and swallow it inside the body.
‘No, that’s why I sent only melee characters to use blunt weapons and shields to block them! What’s wrong with that pattern! All I have to do is defend hard!’
3 turns in the game is 10 minutes in real life. If you don’t attack or defend properly for 10 minutes, you’ll be the target of that grab pattern… … .
‘I don’t think these bastards… … .’
Did you just pretend to fight and goof around in front of the Slime Emperor?!
Taang! Taang-!
Damian hurriedly fired a sniping shot to stop the tentacles, but other tentacles soon got entangled and dragged the Quylan party away.
In the end,
“Wow, wow… … !”
“People live… !”
gulp!
All five were swallowed… … .
“… I’m going crazy, really.”
I put my forehead on my forehead and let out a groan. What to do with those babies… … ?
Slime Emperor, who swallowed the Quylan party, reaped the tentacles he had been wielding all at once.
At the same time, his streamlined body, like a drop of water, began to harden.
Having swallowed a victim, it is attempting to switch to ‘extinguishing mode’.
It takes 3 turns to extinguish.
After 10 minutes, Quylan and his party will not be able to find a single bone, and it will melt cleanly and become the nutrition of the Slime Emperor.
“Junior! [Element Dismantling] How much preparation do you have left?”
When I shouted at the question, Junior, who was surrounded by wizards and was preparing for his ultimate, answered.
“Ten minutes to go, Your Highness!”
… Coincidentally, Junior’s ultimate can also be used after 10 minutes.
“Lord.”
Lucas, running in front of me, spat out succinctly.
“Leave me alone.”
“what?”
“I mean let those bandits just be digested by the slime.”
Lucas glanced at the Slime Emperor, whose entire body hardened.
“I have heard that slimes do not attack when digesting their food. In fact, I still feel like that.”
“… .”
“It will take at least 10 minutes to extinguish, so if you use Junior and Sir Reina’s magic at that time, you can clean up the boss monster.”
“There’s a person in there, Lucas.”
“They’re bandits who don’t even have the will to fight.”
Lucas showed me the injuries all over his body. There is no place where the acidic liquid splashes out.
“They pretended to fight while others around them fought and vomited blood. Even if you save it, will it change in the future? If you leave it here on the front lines, it will continue to cause trouble.”
“… .”
“You said we should give you one last chance, sir? It seems to me that they already blew that opportunity themselves.”
There was nothing to refute.
Even if I had only defended hard, that grab pattern would not have come out.
It was Quylan Party himself who drove himself to death.
“If we let those 5 digest, we can easily finish this defensive battle. You don’t have to do more damage.”
“… .”
“Lord.”
I saw soldiers on the defensive line.
There were no soldiers who were not injured from holding back the giant slime with their bodies.
Even Evangeline, the most defensive of us, sits on her knees gasping for breath.
If you let the Quylan party digest like this, the other soldiers can finish without getting killed or injured.
Five bandits who dug their own graves, who were resentful of the battle lines here where they did not fight properly even though they gave them a chance.
“… .”
I turned my head and saw ordinary bandits from the penal unit.
They are staring at me, frozen, their faces as tired as paper sheets.
When all the other soldiers fought valiantly in the lead, the raggedy guys were the first to get out of the way.
If you have to use discards, these are them.
The weight of life on the front line is not the same. As a frontline commander, I have to carefully weigh that weight and judge it.
I know that from past gaming experience.
“… good.”
The worry didn’t last long. I opened my mouth.
“I’m still looking for it.”
A bright relief flashed across the bandits’ faces. Lucas’ face crumpled.
“Why is it, my lord? You are making an irrational judgment.”
After sighing and spitting out,
I reluctantly replied.
“That bastard, Kuylan, was swallowed with two new Tsaltems… .”
These ungrateful basterds😡😡😡😡