One man had fallen, but that wasn’t enough to make the other raiders turn tail. This was a boss fight. Against such a powerful monster, it would have been more surprising to see everyone survive. Even so, because Nora had been the one to organize it, most of them had entertained that naïve dream. The coalition of teams continued to fight, but morale was low.

Meanwhile, the person who had caused this incident continued to wreak havoc.

“DON’T THINK YOU’LL LEAVE HERE ALIVE!” Yale’s unhinged voice boomed across the jungle. “BOTH OF YOU WILL DIE!”

Under normal circumstances, Theo’s group might have already subdued the enraged raider. But everything had happened so suddenly and at the worst possible time. Yale used his overwhelming physical advantage to keep Theo on the ropes. Every time the outlaw tried to break away, he received another injury for his trouble.

Theo’s arm trembled as he blocked Yale’s saber with his vambraces. The young master raised his other sword, but he was forced to turn and parry an attack from Mavis. Stepping forward, Mavis channeled mana into the Blade of Dismissal and pushed Yale’s sword away. Rather than falter, Yale stepped forward as well. He traded a gash on his side for the chance to plunge his saber into Mavis’s chest.

Such an injury was no concern for the slime. Mavis swung its sword again, cutting deep into Yale’s favored arm. Dropping his saber, Yale leapt back to disengage. Blood flowed freely down his limp right arm, but his expression was disturbingly cheerful.

“He was right…” Yale finally lowered his voice. “You’re…”

Mavis hastily removed the weapon from its chest, but several people had already noticed. It was difficult to tell what had happened through the rain, and a simple slash could have been downplayed. Unfortunately, a stab through the chest was different.

“She didn’t even flinch?”

“What the hell?”

Just about the only one who didn’t care about Mavis’s injury was the hydra. Once again, it took advantage of this opportunity to take another life. A terrified scream was followed by an even more terrifying crunch as the hydra bit down on a raider. The woman in question was flung into the air and then swallowed whole. Her teammates began to fall back, but a few other heads turned towards them.

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

For hydras, every head had its own brain and could function autonomously. However, they were still part of the same body. These heads were closer than brothers and they could share information to some degree. When one spotted a weakness, the others wouldn’t fail to act.

A volley of water bullets hit the retreating team.

The Torrent Guardian’s bullets could fell trees and shatter rocks. The only reason why Yale had survived so many hits was because of his powerful defensive enchantments. These people were not so lucky. Two of them died outright while the final member was left crippled. The nearest head quickly snapped him up, and just like that, one of the five teams had been wiped out.

Now, it was just Nora, Linderman, and the two remaining teams they had recruited against six heads. Theo’s group wasn’t in any position to help.

“Damn it!” Nora yelled as she finished off one of her two heads. “Don’t run away!”

Her words were seemingly lost beneath the curtain of rain. Panic spread through the raiders like wildfire. They lowered their weapons and began to back away. Some even broke into a sprint.

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

Now that the tables had turned, the Torrent Guardian seemed to have found its second wind. It fired as many projectiles as it could muster. As the bullets hit their mark, the fleeing raiders were knocked around like ragdolls.

*Boom*

A third head fell as Linderman fired another beam from his arm. The Torrent Guardian hissed as it backed off, but the damage had been done. Of the four teams that had been recruited by Nora, only Theo’s group remained. The rest were either dead or unconscious.

“You idiots…” Nora muttered regretfully. “What did you think was going to happen?”

Nora and Linderman were scowling, but neither of them seemed ready to quit. The two rising stars had seen plenty of raiders die before. They weren’t going to abandon their prize because of one failed plan. If the Torrent Guardian got away, then it would recover quickly. Now was their only chance to finish it off.

But first, there was something they needed to take care of.

“Linderman, distract it for a while!”

“Ok.”

At this point in their relationship, Nora didn’t need to explain herself. Linderman channeled a substantial amount of mana into his crackling left arm. The platinum-tier treasure began to grow again, but this time it was vibrating intensely. As the crackling grew louder, it seemed that Linderman was preparing to fire his most devastating attack yet.

Having been burned twice already, the Torrent Guardian focused all of its attention towards him. It arched its necks while Linderman continued to charge up power.

While those two were locked in a standoff, Nora nocked an arrow and aimed towards Yale. As she chanted in a low tone, Nora regretted not killing him when they first met. Ultimately, she’d underestimated him.

*Shunk*

Just before she could fire, a transparent dagger buried itself in her abdomen. Nora faltered, and the arrow flew harmlessly over Yale’s head. She frantically scanned the jungle as she fell, but there was no sign of an intruder. The dagger had clearly been thrown, but she couldn’t glean any information on her assailant.

Linderman’s eyes widened as he saw Nora fall to her knees. The ephemeral dagger faded even further until it vanished from existence. With the obstruction removed, a sickening amount of blood flowed out of her wound. Linderman roared as he channeled mana into his arm. An earth-shaking boom rang out, followed by a beam of energy that tore into the hydra.

The Torrent Guardian held its ground for a moment, but it was quickly thrown off balance. While it crashed into a nearby tree, Linderman was already rushing to Nora’s side. His left arm was twitching violently and crackling louder than ever, but he ignored it. Linderman grabbed her trembling hands and thrust them over her wound.

“Don’t go into shock.”

His half order half plea was answered by a wry grin. Nora forced her mouth to move as she chanted a healing spell. Slowly but surely, her wound began to close. Linderman looked around vigilantly as she worked. Any interruption could break her concentration and cause a backlash.

This scene hadn’t been missed by a certain slime’s perception. It also hadn’t missed the sight of over a dozen raiders being slaughtered by the Torrent Guardian. As it looked at the wounds on Theo’s body, Mavis felt something new.

Regret.

Why hadn’t it stolen Yale’s equipment when it had the chance? It could have killed him as well, but Mavis had ignored those options. Why? Because stealing was wrong? Because it didn’t want to hurt anyone?

Mavis’s hair began to lengthen as it reflected on the real reason. It had been complacent. As a creature that had been human and aspired to live with humans, Mavis didn’t want to break their laws. At that time, it had felt that the hydra would handle things, and so it let Yale be. It had left such an important thing to chance.

The slime’s hair suddenly changed from black to teal.

Mavis hadn’t felt like this when it killed Galt. Even though it had taken a life, Mavis couldn’t regret protecting itself. Right now, it had done the opposite. Its careless choice had put everyone in danger.

Yale stopped attacking. He stared at the slime with a strange grin.

“Are you going to stop playing around?”

“…Yes.” Mavis replied as it formed three long tentacles.

While it did, Yale carefully retrieved his saber. His arm seemed well enough to hold it again.

The slime frowned as it focused its magical vision on Yale’s wounds. They were closing up at an astonishing speed. Mavis could sense an incredibly powerful enchantment on Yale’s person. Or, rather…inside his body. The slime couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but the enchantment’s potency was like nothing it had ever seen.

Subduing him was not an option.

Theo glanced at Nora and Linderman. If Mavis went all out, then it would be exposed as a monster. There was no telling how the pair would react. On top of that, the hydra clearly wasn’t done with them. Linderman’s attack had bought them a few minutes, but what would happen after that? If nothing changed, all five of them would be killed by either Yale or the Torrent Guardian.

“Vivian, go heal Nora.” Theo barked.

“Ok!”

Vivian replied quickly but she wore an unsightly expression. Once Yale had entered the fight, Vivian felt like she’d been completely useless. She rushed towards Nora but Linderman raised his arm, forcing her to keep her distance.

“Linderman!” Theo shouted. “What do you think will happen when the Torrent Guardian gets back up?”

“Nora can stabilize her wound before then. Once she does, we’ll escape.”

“Nora’s going to be exhausted and your arm isn’t functioning properly, is it? Plus, there’s some unknown enemy hiding nearby. Do you think you can run in this situation?”

Linderman grit his teeth while Theo continued.

“Mavis can handle Yale, and with the five of us, we can finish off the boss as well.”

“Do you really think I’ll believe that?”

“If you waste time doubting me, then we’ll run out of options! Right now, you just have to trust us.”

Linderman’s crackling arm trembled. He could tell that Theo wasn’t just talking about accepting Vivian’s help. To get through this, he would have to take a leap of faith. Linderman cursed as he lowered his platinum-tier weapon. Nora didn’t even look at Vivian as she approached. The two mages concentrated on their work and nothing else.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Yale let this exchange happen. Instead, he hadn’t even noticed it. The young master stood transfixed as Mavis’s tentacles began to glow. He realized that the slime was channeling mana through its body, almost as if it was a living enchantment.

This action wasn’t unheard of. In fact, many monsters could do something similar. Monsters grew up with magical cores in their body and those cores obviously weren’t for using equipment. In the lowest levels of any dungeon, most monsters utilized some form of race-specific magic.

As a cave slime, Mavis could only use mana to sense the world around it. Now, things were different.

Yale showed uncharacteristic caution as Mavis rushed forward. He channeled mana into his saber and sent out a lightning-fast swipe. This was meant to force Mavis back, but the slime didn’t retreat. Part of its body deformed to dodge the attack while one of its three tentacles wrapped around Yale’s wrist. Yale immediately tried to sever the tentacle with his second sword, but Mavis blocked him with its own weapon.

Yale’s eyes shone with a fierce light. They had clashed like this several times before, and he had never lost. The superhuman strength from his enchantments put him leagues ahead of a muscle-less slime.

The same scene played out again. Mavis’s sword was pushed back under the weight of Yale’s swing, but only to a point. Yale felt a chill when he realized that he couldn’t push any further. At first, it seemed that Mavis had suddenly become his equal in strength, but that was only half true. While the slime had definitely gotten stronger, Yale could tell that he had grown weaker.

As Yale’s eyes flickered towards the tentacle on his wrist, a question sprung into his mind.

Had that tentacle always been glowing so brightly?

Panicking, Yale channeled even more mana into his strength enhancing enchantments. This burst of power allowed him to sever the tentacle, but Mavis wouldn’t back off. Swords and tentacles clashed as they exchanged several more blows.

Yale’s mind was reeling. Any damage he did would instantly become irrelevant. Even though he could heal quickly for a human, he had nothing on the slime’s fluid body. On top of that, every time a tentacle touched him, Yale felt more of his strength drain away. Mavis’s blows were becoming heavier as well.

During their battle, Yale took nothing while his opponent took everything. That was the kind of fight he’d been dragged into.

After a certain point, one of Mavis’s tentacles began to emit a high-pitched thrumming.

“Ah…” The slime exclaimed.

Ignoring Yale’s attacks, Mavis wrapped the tentacle around the young master’s waist and then severed it. The slime clashed with Yale one more time and won out. It thrust the Blade of Dismissal into his chest and activated the enchantment. Yale was blasted backwards, then he hit the wet ground and skidded for a while. Just before he stopped, the severed tentacle’s pitch hit a new high.

Then, it exploded.

Several gallons of rain were displaced as an enormous amount of energy rippled out. By the time the water settled, an eerie silence had fallen over the battlefield. Linderman watched in disbelief as Mavis turned away from Yale.

The young master wasn’t getting back up.