“Fifth time’s the charm,” Zen told himself and eyed the slimes gathered near the red fir tree.

He didn’t know what slimes these were, but they were orange and made strange clinking noises when they bounced. Honestly, Zen only chose to test the different effects of herbs he gathered around the orange slimes because they bounced the slowest. It didn’t make the experience less terrifying, but Zen reassured himself that this was his highest chance at success.

Zen tested the buttercup-looking flower, the white three-petaled flower and the droopy blue flower’s effects earlier. None of those worked, and he moved on to grass types. Thanks to his excellent observation skills, Zen gathered a total of thirteen plant types from that meadow.

The long grass did nothing, so Zen decided to try the dewy grass. The grass fibre felt sticky in his hand, and Zen didn’t know what sort of effect this grass had. It should be a medicinal grass, but Zen didn’t know anything about it. Heck, he wasn’t sure if real-world knowledge applied to this VR game!

Liu Feng wasn’t back yet, and Zen braced himself to test this sticky dew grass. The fifth time has to be the charm!

Zen placed the other herbs by the rock and covered them with his discarded shirt so that the wind wouldn’t blow them away. He learned his lesson after the first time. It was so inconvenient without an in-game item box or inventory. He had to ask Liu Feng about NPC traders. If they existed in the game, Zen wanted to check them out asap.

He approached the orange slimes slowly so as not to alert them too quickly. Zen felt his heart pounding nervously. If this was real, he would be covered in sweat by now. The orange slimes didn’t seem to notice him even when Zen passed the safe area’s estimated border. This made Zen slightly puzzled, but he didn’t question it further.

Snap!

The sound of a dried twig under his right foot made Zen flinch as the orange slimes turned their focus to him. He intended to run back to safety when the strangest thing happened.

The orange slimes didn’t advance. Instead, they huddled closer to each other despite the hostile energy. Zen stood rooted to the spot, observing their reactions. They don’t seem to be actively hostile and out for his life. If anything, they appeared threatened.

Zen looked at the sticky grass in his hand. Could it be?

With more courage than before, Zen took another step forward towards the orange slimes. The slimes tensed and vibrated in a strange cluster. Zen smirked. This might be it.

Without hesitating, Zen ran forward with nothing but the sticky dew grass in his hand, and as expected, the slimes were afraid. They didn’t attack or retreat. Instead, they huddled even closer together. Zen noticed how some of them were squished to death by their comrades. How awful!

Zen didn’t stop there. He ran closer and closer to the orange slime group with a crazy grin on his face. This was it! He could defeat the slimes easily just by using a repellent herb! If they couldn’t attack him and couldn’t run, Zen would easily defeat them. Although it felt like bullying, he couldn’t help it. The weak had to be shameless to survive!

Gurgle! Gurgle!

The orange slimes started to fuse into one another when Zen was less than ten steps away. Zen halted and stared at the unique event happening before his eyes with a slackened jaw.

[Armoured Slime Area Boss requirements have been met. The first birth of the Armoured Slime Boss is commencing.]

The game system announcement appeared on everyone’s screens, and almost everywhere, there was an uproar. Most people in the dungeon tried to hurry to the spot, while others who were not in the game rushed to find out what was happening.

Zen looked at the huge orange slime that towered over him. The Armoured Slime Boss was birthed after over ten orange slimes fused together. He stared at the dewy grass in his hand. Did the slime repellent work on boss slimes too?

His question was soon answered when the aggroed Armoured Slime Boss released its first area attack.

[Armoured Slime Boss used “Heavy Bounce”! All participating raid players have 20% reduced speed. Armoured Slime Boss has increased its defence by 20%.]

Although the first wave of attack did not hurt, Zen was still sent flying by the shockwaves. In addition, he could feel his body getting heavier as if he just finished running a mile.

Zen didn’t need to think before he started running. He couldn’t defeat regular slimes. How was he going to defeat an Area Boss? Liu Feng didn’t tell him anything about this!

“Help!” Zen yelled to whoever might be in the area. At the same time, he sent messages to everyone who accepted his friend request, hoping to get reinforcements.

The Armoured Slime Boss did not stop even as Zen crossed the safe area border, and Zen wanted to cry. At this rate, the Area Boss would kill him before he made it back to the spawn town.

[The Godfather is impressed by your in-game discovery. You have been awarded 100 credits.]

When he saw the notification, Zen wanted to cry. Was this a sponsor for his revival fees? Liu Feng didn’t say anything about death penalties on the first dungeon floor, but if it applies to every floor, Zen didn’t know how many 100 credits he had to spend to defeat this area boss if nobody came to his rescue.

Just when he thought he couldn’t run any further, a familiar voice yelled for him to dodge. Zen didn’t question his instincts and dropped to the ground just as the huge shadow of the slime boss loomed over his head.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots. The slime boss monster screamed in pain at taking damage, and Zen looked up. From a distance, he spotted Sasha and teared up in relief. The battle was far from over, and the slime’s defences were too strong for her weak in-game shogun to reach.

Sasha clicked her tongue in annoyance at how little damage she did to this area boss. All the weapons in this game were trash! If she had her sniper rifle, it would have blown this disgusting orange blob into bits.

“Run!” Zen yelled at his big sister when he saw how the orange boss doubled in size as it sucked in air. This was going to be a powerful attack, and Sasha was directly in its line of fire.

Sasha reacted quickly to Zen’s warning and narrowly dodged the powerful air blast that would have put her out of commission. She paled. Even the pink slime boss of the first level wasn’t as difficult to defeat. What was this orange slime monster?! Where did it come from?

Zen didn’t know what he could do and looked around helplessly. In this game, both Sasha and he were too weak to defeat this monster. They had no skills, weapons or knowledge to defeat this orange blob. He secretly apologised to Sasha, who came to his rescue. Maybe when they revived, he would transfer her some credits for her revival fee and make her extra custard pudding as an apology for the traumatic experience.

Just before Zen could say his prayers, he received a new notification.

[All party members of “Godly Food” have arrived. Area Boss difficulty will be adjusted for a Party Raid.]