I stared down the hand made of acid.

Sure its shape may have changed but if that’s all there’s not much difference besides size.

Still, I can’t just make baseless assumptions.

To do so would be gambling my life on a guess. I have to be cautious.

I take a few steps back and it doesn’t move at all. It’s blocking the way I came.

It’s intelligent enough to know that. If it isn’t worried about me running the other way, well it means there’s a high chance of a threat thereof equal or greater power.

So it’s best to tackle what’s in front of me. Can I just slice the cores and win that way?

Even if that’s the case, the cores are moving around a bit inside of the liquid.

Also, if it’s some weird regenerative bullshit where I have to destroy all cores in rapid succession or at the same time? Nah. I ain’t going to have much success with that.

So far the acidic properties of the slimes haven’t been anything that could endanger me.

That could have changed with this but no matter what, the biggest threat the slimes have is to suffocate me. I cannot allow that to happen.

What about casting a spell to vaporize it? I’d be losing around twenty slime cores.

Of course, my life is more valuable than money but taking such a loss is not something to be hastily decided. It’s giving me time to think. It’s either cautious or waiting for backup.

If it’s the former then I’m alright. If it’s the latter I am wasting valuable time.

I probably can’t use a bolting blast again.

It’d be very inaccurate if I tried to shoot it now.

I could use my right hand instead and forsake my sword and offset the penalty that way but would it be enough to wipe out the entire thing?

I’d been holding back on using the three elements of spellcasting to conserve mana and have less stress on my body so if I used a full power spell… but I was running low already.

I only had one good spell left in me. It wouldn’t be at full power either.

Failure would lead to death almost instantly and painfully.

My body wasn’t as physically tired as it was mana deprived.

So maybe I should give the destruction of cores a shot first… it’s worth testing what this thing is capable of first.

If I let out everything straight away without reserve I’d be acting no different from a cornered rat.

I take a deep breath and focus my eyes on the cores.

Since I came here I’ve felt healthier and stronger than ever in my 30 years of life.

My eyesight felt perfect compared to before. I had ruined it with sleepless nights and long days in the office.

I slowly approach the hand of slime with my blade pointing outwards.

I exhale and swing swiftly at a single red core inside of one of the fingers and I jump backward at the same time I launch my attack, not bothering to wait for confirmation of the attack connecting. That would be incredibly stupid.

I am proven right because the moment I attack it performs a swiping motion, as if it was the claw of a lion.

It missed me completely and only met the retracting blade that I was pulling back with all my strength.

A hissing sound filled my ears. One much louder than any I had heard in this cave before.

It was coming from my sword.

I landed on the ground with my two feet and the slime pulled back to its previous stance.

I stared at the sword in my hand. It was giving off a thin layer of smoke.

I grimace as I realise that the concentrated slime body was, in fact, more acidic than any singular slime.

The sword was already a bit beat up but now… well, it could probably do a few more good swings but I’d need a replacement soon.

More importantly, I had to confirm something.

I looked towards the mass of slime.

The core I had sliced through… was fixing itself as I had feared.

It was a near baseless assumption but for it to be true is quite depressing.

So my only option is to destroy all the cores at once.

I tighten my grip.

There are about twenty cores.

They are spread out but the general size of the slime hand isn’t that big.

I won’t need twenty cuts.

I’d need only about four or five if I wait for them to line up in a certain way.

My dao isn’t particularly long.

So once I commit to attacking it I’ll only have one chance.

Fucking this up is not an option.

Focus.

Wait for the image to line up in your head.

When those red cores are in a position where four simple but powerful cuts would tear them asunder....!

I launch my body forward by kicking off the ground.

I’d need to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

“Haaarrrgggggghhhhhh!”

Do.

Not.

Hesitate.

ONE!

TWO!

THREE!

FOUR!

FIVE…!

My eyesight became five flashes of metal, I swung my sword and just before the kinetic energy of the first attack was about to peter out, I push and redirect it to form a second attack.

I repeat the motion three additional times almost effortlessly.

I saw it. My blade slicing right through all the cores one by one until… the last one.

It fails to fully pass through the last core in the midsection of the monster.

The blade eroded before it could finish the job.

The acid within had eaten the blade almost entirely.

I was left with a hilt and what could barely be called metal.

Most certainly not a blade.

The hand wraps its fingers around my torso and began to climb across my body until it submerged me within itself. I could feel my body sting. That was bad.

I had become nearly immune to the pain from a normal slime.

If this was going to hurt my flesh then it could sap what little strength I had left.

Don’t panic.

You cannot panic.

Show a brave face no matter what weight is thrown on you.

Even if a coworker or boss demands way too much, grin and bear it.

If death wants your life, find a way to cheat it for one more day.

There’s only one last resort.

Better to do it than do nothing.

I close my eyes.

Lightning.

Electricity.

A charge that can fry something to cinders or fuel the wonders of technology.

The wrath of God. It smites all it touches.

The roar of the heavens piercing a black sky.

Unbelievably fast. The speed of light. Death to touch.

To me it is… efficiency. Success. Power. One stab ends it all.

It is infectious. A single defiant cry within an ocean of bureaucratic nonsense.

It is the breaking of my chains and the culmination of my rage.

The shot heard around the world.

The mask of politeness cracks and then all that is left behind is fear.

That moment of inspiration. A strike of purity.

Destroy everything holding me back!

That is the emotion within my heart that resonates with lightning!

I open my eyes.

My voice breaks through the acid.

“BOLTING BLAST: DISCHARGE!”

My entire body feels like it’s on fire.

Electricity expels from my body and dances wildly.

Then it forms a tornado of blinding golden light.

My body is shaken and stirred from the blast forcing itself out of every pore.

The slime that dared to attempt to smother me slowly begins to fall apart.

Its body melts like candle wax exposed to a furnace.

Until nothing is left.

Not even the cores. They had melted into red puddles smeared into the ground.

I curse. I lost. I collapse onto the floor like a beaten dog.

I grit my teeth and begin to crawl back the way I came using my right arm.

I can’t die. I can’t fight. If another set of slimes found me now…

My body was almost entirely deprived of strength with that last outburst.

My right side feels less fatigued so I can at least move a few inches with each swiping motion to shuffle my weight forward. If I can get back to the first hot spring, I’ll be in the absolute safe zone.

I didn’t even level up from that encounter.

All I got was-

You have obtained a spell variation.

Bolting Blast: Discharge.

It’s a long road ahead...