Wohard raised his sword and led the way into the secret passage.
Sovinia followed behind, a massive black leather backpack pressing against her slender back, the bottom of the pack nearly drooping to the backs of her thighs.
This gave her an odd gait, like an upright snail lugging an oversized shell.
What a frail elven woman.
Sovinia carried the backpack prepared for “Kimi the Coldhearted” as she followed behind Wohard.
The secret passage wasn’t long; before long, they emerged from it.
***
The exit led to a wide Corridor. On one wall hung Skull-shaped Candelabra, their flames flickering dimly.
On the other side was a collapsed opening; peering down revealed a Bottomless Dark Cavity.
Sovinia closed her eyes, feeling for the direction of her head. Energy fluctuations emanated from within the Bottomless Dark Cavity—that was where her head lay.
At the same time, a stench, like kitchen scraps, wafted up from the hole.
The Hero, Wohard, said, “There’s more space beneath the Demon Castle?”
Of course, that’s where the Demon Castle’s garbage is dealt with.
Sovinia thought to herself, down there is teeming with Slimes, specialized in devouring trash.
A few viscous drops of liquid dripped from the ceiling, landing on the stone slab in front of Wohard with a faint “plop”.
He stopped in his tracks and looked up.
Hidden in the ceiling’s shadows were three or four green gel masses, each about the size of a plowing ox. Their bodies writhed ceaselessly, surfaces glistening with a greasy sheen.
Upon sensing they’d been spotted, they detached from the ceiling like several heavy water bags, crashing to the ground and splashing rings of green Slime Mucus.
They had no fixed shape, only constantly extending pseudopods as they surged toward the pair.
Wohard immediately turned, shielding Sovinia behind him. His scorched longsword pointed forward as he said:
“Careful! Stay back! These sticky Demon Race creatures aren’t easy to handle. Don’t let them touch you.”
Humans classified these low-level monsters as ‘Demon Race’ as well? What a shoddy taxonomy.
Sovinia poked her head out from behind him, glancing at the Slimes, then at Wohard’s vigilant, battle-ready expression.
She couldn’t understand it.
He could behead the Demon King herself, so why act as if facing mortal peril against a few Slimes?
Wohard crouched low, power gathering at his feet as he instantly closed the four-meter gap. His longsword drew a fierce arc with a slicing wind, cleaving deep into a giant Slime and cutting it clean in two.
“Splat—”
The giant Slime did not die, but split into two medium-sized Slimes.
They wobbled, quickly regaining mobility, and closed in on Wohard from both flanks.
At the same time, other giant Slimes extended corrosive pseudopods like viscous tentacles, whipping toward Wohard’s body.
Wohard’s combat skills were indeed formidable. He sidestepped the lunge of one giant Slime, and with a backhand slash, sliced through both an incoming pseudopod and the Slime itself, splitting it in two again as more Slimes surrounded him.
The Slimes were continually cut apart, only to split further into smaller entities, their numbers multiplying.
Before long, the great human Hero Wohard was sporting fresh wounds.
A pseudopod lashed his calf; he grunted, his movements slowed for a moment, and several mid-sized Slimes surrounded him.
He continued his desperate ‘swimming’ through the sea of Slimes.
Sovinia stood at the back, watching expressionlessly.
The thought that she, of all people, had been beheaded by this fellow left her feeling rather disgraced.
She shrugged off the enormous pack, unzipped it, rummaged inside, and found a whole bag of Salt.
Just then, a mid-sized Slime leapt from the side wall, vaulting over the embattled Hero like a green cannonball, heading straight for Sovinia’s head.
“Watch out!”
Wohard spun around sharply. He ignored the pseudopods around him, slammed his shoulder into a Slime to break free, enduring several opportunistic blows in the process, then rushed toward Sovinia.
“Holy Slash!”
He bellowed, his sword gleaming with a soft white light, and brought it down with full force on the airborne Slime.
It was his first time using up precious magic power in this fight.
The blade flashed; the mid-sized Slime, struck in mid-air as if by a pillar, had part of its body obliterated, and the rest split into three chunks.
Three smaller Slimes landed before Sovinia, wriggling as if ready to pounce on her anew.
Unhurried, Sovinia tore open the salt bag and sprinkled coarse Salt over them.
“Eeeek!!!”
A piercing screech rang out as the three gel clumps writhed and boiled as though splashed with strong acid, frothing with white bubbles.
Within seconds, they completely dissolved into steaming green liquid, leaving a wet patch on the stone floor.
Wohard dashed to Sovinia’s side, staring in shock at the liquid on the ground:
“You… took care of it just like that? With Salt? Good heavens, I never knew they were weak to this!”
By now, the other Slimes had caught up, once more surrounding Wohard.
“Do you have more Salt? Quick, throw it at them!” Wohard said. “I can’t afford to waste Holy Slash on these things.”
“No rush, it won’t work now.” Sovinia said calmly, “You go ahead, cut them apart, I’ll time my move.”
Wohard didn’t understand, but dutifully swung his sword again, slicing a giant Slime in two. As the two halves hit the ground, wriggling to become new Slimes—
Sovinia tossed Salt over them.
Another shrill scream. Those two Slimes met the same fate as their comrades, melting into liquid.
From then on, the battle became simple. Wohard handled the swordwork; Sovinia handled the Salt.
Soon, all the Slimes were wiped out.
***
Wohard looked at the pools of liquid everywhere, hardly able to believe it:
“Who would’ve thought—these troublesome things, it used to take several spells from the party’s mage to deal with them!”
“How did you handle them before?”
Wohard replied:
“The mage would cast Accelerate on me or Conan… a barbarian warrior. We’d hack away, one sword at a time, until they stopped splitting. It took a long time but saved on magic power.”
So this was how the elite of humankind’s strongest teams dealt with such feeble creatures?
Sovinia said, “I can’t believe you didn’t even know this.”
“No, wait.” Wohard frowned, “Our Scholars used to keep Slimes for experiments. They definitely tried Salt. It didn’t work at all. What’s your trick?”
“Because they have skin.” Sovinia said blandly, “You have to strike when they’ve just split, before their skin regrows. Or burn the skin off with fire, that works too.”
Wohard was stunned. “That’s it?”
“Slimes themselves are weak monsters.”
“You know so much, you’re even better than our Scholars,” Wohard said sincerely, “But… didn’t you say you’d forgotten a lot of things?”
Sovinia’s heart skipped a beat. She glanced at Wohard’s longsword; she must not let her head be separated again, lest she split into two elves.
Lying was much harder and more exhausting than being beheaded.
Her face remained calm, golden eyes turning away to avoid Wohard’s gaze, as she said lightly, “I don’t know, either.” She hadn’t thought of a good lie yet.
***
After speaking, she crouched down, gazing at the puddle of liquid, her eyes unfocused. Her long silver hair slipped from her shoulders, covering the side of her face.
The light of the Skull-shaped Candelabra cast flickering shadows over her, the enormous backpack by her side making her silhouette even more delicate.
She squatted there like a lost child, completely at odds with the eerie, dilapidated Demon Castle.
Wohard looked at her frail profile, his heart filled with pity.
She must be haunted by past nightmares again… That bastard Kimi the Coldhearted, just what did he do to her?
Yet Sovinia’s unfocused eyes were, in fact, fixed on three gray cards—cards only she could see.
[Slime Mucus]: Cost 1, adds a Slime Mucus card to your deck. Consumes 1 energy to use this card.
[Weak Regeneration]: Cost 1, if you receive at least 1% damage in battle, restore 2% health after combat.
[Pseudopod Attack]: Cost 1, your attacks will cause the opponent to be smeared with Slime Mucus once.
All rubbish. She swept her gaze over them, quickly losing interest.
This was her Card System: when she personally killed certain creatures, she could choose from random cards.
As for who could drop a card…
Her gaze lifted, landing on Wohard before her. Over his head, a golden card hovered, a question mark on its face.
A Gold Card… If she killed him, she could select one of three random Gold Cards—the highest-grade card.
Gold Cards were crucial for power boosts. When assassinating the Demon Queen, she’d been able to unleash the terrifying Burn, thanks to a Gold Card that multiplied her strength.
Sovinia had made up her mind. When this dumb mutt was covered in wounds and had lost his usefulness, she would personally stab him in the back, kill him, and get a Gold Card to strengthen herself.
Wohard saw that she hadn’t gotten up for a while, thinking she was still lost in sad memories.
He stepped forward and spoke softly.
“Are you alright?” he said with a smile. “Shall we get moving?”
A formless ripple came from the enormous opening below.
Sovinia stood up, certain this was the only path to where her head was.
There was also a Slime King below. If she let the mutt go first and claimed the kill herself, she might score a good card.
She pointed at the hole, blurting out the lie she’d prepared:
“I know the way. If we go down here, through the caverns below, there’s a shortcut out of the Demon Castle. It’s safe, much safer than the other ways.”
***
Wohard scratched his head and winked at her, “Your Demon Race Language is really fluent.”
Sovinia stiffened.
Damn! She’d used Demon Race Language again by reflex!
She quickly switched, repeating her words in Universal Language.
“Wait, let me think…” Wohard said, pulling out a piece of parchment from who-knows-where, “I have a Map here, let me check first.”
The moment Sovinia saw that piece of parchment, she froze. This… this Map, she’d anonymously gifted it to the Hero’s party back when she was Kimi the Coldhearted—a Gift to help them assassinate the Demon Queen and give herself a chance.
Wohard spread out the Map and examined it by torchlight. He traced it with his finger and pointed to the Corridor’s only exit.
“Look, the Map says if we keep going forward, that’s the shortcut.” Wohard pointed ahead. “The hole below… it’s labeled ‘Slime King’s Lair’, with a crowned Slime drawn there. Looks pretty dangerous. Let’s head forward, Miss Sovinia.”
Sovinia felt a headache coming on. She’d dug a pit for herself and was now buried in it.
She had to convince him to take the lower path. If she missed her chance, she might be stuck as an elven woman forever—just the thought terrified her. Plus, the Slime King below could be used to weaken Wohard.
Wohard had already put away the Map and turned to get ready.
“Are you ready? Let’s go.”
What to do? How to make him change his mind? What lie should she tell? This is so hard.
Wait, I can listen to his thoughts.
Sovinia suddenly took a step forward, grabbing Wohard’s hands tightly before he could move.
Wohard stopped in his tracks and looked down at Sovinia. He was tall—taller than she’d imagined—and Sovinia had to tilt her head up to see the half of his face marred by burns.
It made Sovinia, who’d always looked down on frail humans, feel distinctly uneasy. At that moment, Wohard’s inner voice came flooding in.