Appraiser's Job Chapter 15: Festival of the Slimes

Dungeons have layers.

Generally speaking, the lower you go in a dungeon, the stronger the monsters that appear are.   

This dungeon was no exception. The chance of encountering slimes with bothersome abilities grew as you descended the stairs leading deeper into the dungeon.

"Appraiser's Sight." I let loose my appraisal magic while concealing myself behind Mr. Larsh's shadow. My magic conveyed to me its evaluation of the slime before us.

[Poison Amoeba]

A slime whose body is filled with toxins.

"It's a poison amoeba."

Learning the slime's type, Mr. Larsh furrowed his brow and drew the sword from his back. "Poison slimes are repulsive. They'll prey on anything without discrimination. This guy, how many swords have you ruined." The toxins a poison amoeba possessed had the ability to corrode blades, making them useless. As one would expect from this kind of slime. The more the threat rose, the more difficult it was to do combat with our weapons.

Setting ourselves at a distance where the slime wouldn't be able to leap at us, Mr. Larsh sent Ms. Ruka the signal. She began chanting her magic. The lump of flames that appeared on the tip of her wand rained down incessantly upon the poison amoeba. The surrounding air burned with the energy from the powerful flames.

I rubbed the back of my hand against the tip of my nose, trying to rid myself of the foul smell of burning trash.

When the flames disappeared, the slime seemed to have evaporated, disappearing without a trace left behind.

"Huuu….," lowering her wand, Ms. Ruka huffed as she began to catch her breath.

Being unable to partic.i.p.ate in the fights, Mr. Lloyd had volunteered to carry her bags. From her backpack on his back he pulled out a canteen and handed it to her.  

"Thanks," she said, satisfying her thirst with the water. Ms. Ruka stretched a ways to return the canteen to Mr. Lloyd.

"I wonder where we are in the dungeon. Is there another level down to go?"

"We already seem to have descended a fair bit," Mr. Larsh said, sheathing his sword. "With small dungeons like this, it wouldn't be strange if we encountered the main boss soon."

"The boss…..is it a slime too?"

"The possibility for that seems to be quite high."

"Mhmm," Ms. Ruka frowned unhappily. "It's been fine dealing with the small fry up until now, but when we encounter the boss, I can't bear all that responsibility alone. Back me up guys."

"Of course we will!" Mr. Larsh said. Verifying the state of the lantern's coals, he  gradually resumed his pace. The others, me included, also continued on.

We walked for some time without stopping….

The sound of wet clothes being dragged along the flower came from the end of the pa.s.sageway, drawing nearer to us.

Shluush. Shluush. Shluush.

The sound of kneading flesh gradually grew louder.

With a grim face Mr. Larsh drew his sword and took up position in the middle of the pa.s.sage in order to defend us.

I have a bad feeling about this…..

Preparing the appraisal magic in my mind so that it could be cast immediately, I snuggled up close to Ms. Ruka.

Mr. Lloyd had his halberd at the ready. Ms. Ruka stared fixedly at the end of the pa.s.sageway and focused her consciousness.

And like that, while we stood on our guard, it appeared before us. It's raw-flesh body filled up the entire pa.s.sageway. The pungent smell of rotting fish lightly drifted toward us. This gigantic meat slime was the true form of that sound.

"Oo—," I squeaked without thinking. I wrinkled my brows.

"This is…," Mr. Larsh said in astonishment. This was the first time he'd seen a monster like this.

This was not the situation to be taken aback, especially when I hadn't fulfilled my duty yet. Staring at the gigantic slime I cast my magic, "Appraiser's Sight."

[Fresh Meat]

This slime is birthed from the dead flesh of animals and other monsters. It's body grows when it absorbs the flesh of other living creatures, and has the same flexibility as raw meat.

The same as raw meat….does that mean ordinary weapons will work on this slime? In any case, what I didn't understand wouldn't change if I thought about it only by myself.

I conveyed the results of my appraisal to Mr. Larsh, and a thin smile floated to his lips. "If we can use our weapons, we can take care of this without burdening Ms. Ruka. Lloyd, get close to Ms. Ruka and Mr. Io!"

"At last our turn has come! Leave it to me!" Tossing the backpack to the side, Mr. Lloyd brandished his halberd and started to run. After a short pause, Mr. Larsh broke out in the same.

The curtain had finally been raised on the fight with the gigantic slime.

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Footnotes: 

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T/N: I expected more slimes for this slime festival. Slightly disappointed.

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Credits:

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