Chapter 2-7 : The Girl Encounters Slimes For The First Time
「Oh, right. Before we proceed, Elle, take this with you just in case.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid stopped and handed Elle a card with a spell written on it.
「What is this card?」(Elle)
「It’s an escape card. It has been imbued with teleportation magic. If you tear it, you will be teleported to the entrance in an instant.」(Ingrid)
「What a handy magic item.」(Elle)
「Right? The guild has placed several teleportation circles in this labyrinth for adventurers to escape, but you have to remember their locations and find them first. However, you can use this card to escape immediately in emergencies. For example, when you get seriously injured in battle or face formidable enemies you can’t defeat.」(Ingrid)
「I see. But, Ingrid, this card must be very expensive, isn’t it?」(Elle)
「Well, yeah, but it’s cheap compared to losing your life. The deeper we go, the stronger the enemies we will encounter. If you feel your life in danger, retreat immediately.」(Ingrid)
「Got it.」(Elle)
Elle put the card in her pocket and continued following Ingrid.
After walking for a few minutes, Ingrid suddenly stopped.
「There’s something ahead.」(Ingrid)
Immediately after she said that, something jumped out from the corner.
It was a moving translucent jelly-like thing.
「Is that a slime?」(Elle)
「Yeah. Don’t worry, they’re not much of a threat. You can easily kill them, especially with fire.」(Ingrid)
『Fire, you say? Looks like it’s my turn to shine!』(Flamberge)
Hearing Ingrid’s explanation, Flamberge got excited all of a sudden.
『Elle, I’ll show you my power. Grab my hilt and hold me toward that thing.』(Flamberge)
「Umm, okay.」(Elle)
Not sure what Flamberge was planning, Elle unsheathed him anyway and held him forward.
「Like this?」(Elle)
『Perfect. Now get your mana flowing into me.』(Flamberge)
Elle nodded and imagined her mana running to Flamberge through her hands.
『Uwoooggh! I feel the POWER!! Eat this! Crimson Emperor : SEARING FLAME!!』(Flamberge)
ーBWOOOOOOOOOOOSSHHH!!!
「ー!!」(Elle)
A big fire whirl was fired from Flamberge’s glowing blade. The force was so strong that Elle was pushed back a little.
It hit the slime and reduced it to ash in a split second. It also hit the surrounding walls and turned them black.
『Phew… How’s my arts? Impressive, isn’t it?』(Flamberge)
That was indeed a powerful technique, but instead of being impressed, Elle was a bit angry.
「F-Flamberge, youー」(Elle)
「You went too far, you stupid sword! You can’t unleash such fire in a confined place like this! You’ll suffocate us!」(Ingrid)
Elle was aware of that and wanted to scold Flamberge, but Ingrid beat her to it.
Seeing her scolding the sword firmly, she praised and applauded Ingrid in her head, saying, “Ingrid’s amazing!”
『Woops… I’m sorry… I got a little too carried away. I’ll hold back next time.』(Flamberge)
「Geez… We can’t extract its thickening agent now that you’ve reduced it to ash. What a waste.」(Ingrid)
『My bad…』(Flamberge)
A thickening agent was the material that could be extracted from a slime. Originally, it was mainly used as an industrial adhesive, but in recent years, the researchers found that it could be used as cosmetics and medicine.
Other than that, the guild found that it could also be used as a food ingredient. That’s what motivated them to make the slime noodle soup in their cafeteria.
「Flamberge, I appreciate your help, but you need to be careful. It was just a slime. You should save your flame for stronger enemies.」(Elle)
『Uuu… My princess is so kind.』(Flamberge)
「Hahh, Elle, you’re too soft toward him. Anyway, use your blade first next time.」(Ingrid)
『I got it, I got it.』(Flamberge)
After defeating their first slime, they continued.
Not long after, another slime appeared.
「Gyau, gyau! (Can I fight this time?)」(Prox)
Prox seemed to want to have her turn to fight.
「Gyau, gyau, gyau. (Don’t worry, I won’t make mistake like that sword.)」(Prox)
「Okay, I leave it to you.」(Elle)
Getting Elle’s permission, Prox flew toward the slime and spat out a small fire ball about thirty centimeters in diameter.
The slime writhed upon being hit and stopped moving soon after.
It wasn’t that powerful, but it was enough to kill the slime.
「Gyau! (I did it!)」(Prox)
「Good job, Prox.」(Elle)
「Nice. Its core’s still intact. We can collect the thickening agent.」(Ingrid)
The slime was dead, but when Ingrid was about to extract its material, more slimes appeared.
「Seriously? There seem to be more slimes than usual today.」(Ingrid)
『Looks like it’s time to redeem myself. Elle, you can release me. I’ll do it myself.』(Flamberge)
「Okay.」(Elle)
Flamberge still regretted making a mistake earlier and wanted to do it properly this time.
As soon as Elle let go of his hilt, he flew toward one of the slimes and thrust his blade through it. Right after, he flew toward another slime and swung horizontally, slicing it in half.
ーSTAB! ーSLASH!
It was hard to kill slimes with physical attacks, but Flamberge heated his blade, so he could kill them in one hit.
「Good work.」(Elle)
「That’s how you do it.」(Ingrid)
『I prefer using my flame though.』(Flamberge)
「Don’t you dare.」(Ingrid)
『I know, I know.』(Flamberge)
After that, slimes started to appear one after another as they proceeded deeper, but Flamberge and Prox defeated them easily with their teamwork.
Thanks to them, they were able to collect a big amount of thickening agent.
「Looks like there won’t be a chance for us to fight any time soon.」(Ingrid)
「Isn’t it great? You can save your arrows and I can save my magic stones.」(Elle)
「Haha, you’re right. Hm? There’s something there.」(Ingrid)
While extracting materials from the dead slimes, Ingrid noticed something ahead.
It was a fancy-looking wooden box.
「Is that a treasure chest?」(Elle)
「It is. Now the question isー is that a real one or a Mimic waiting to devour us?」(Ingrid)
「Yoyo, it’s your time to shine.」(Elle)
「I feel no malice. I think it’s a genuine treasure chest.」(Yoyo)
「I see.」(Elle)
「Looks like we’re lucky.」(Ingrid)
「Say, Ingrid, we have Yoyo, but how do people tell which ones are real and which ones are Mimics?」(Elle)
「You hit them with projectile weapons, or if you don’t have them, you can throw a rock with full strength like this.」(Ingrid)
Saying that, Ingrid picked up a rather big rock from the ground. She lifted her left leg, stomped it on the ground, and threw the rock with all her might at the chest.
ーCLANK!
「However, there are some Mimics that won’t budge with this trick. In the end, you need to be really careful.」(Ingrid)
「I see.」(Elle)
Elle thought she was lucky she had Yoyo with her.
「Do you know where these chests came from?」(Elle)
「They spawn out of nowhere. It is said that they are managed by the Master of the Great Labyrinth. They put some items in the chests and spawn them in random locations.」(Ingrid)
「Master? This labyrinth has a master?」(Elle)
「Actually, no one knows. Even the Adventurer Guild has no idea about their identity and whereabouts. Some people said they are some kind of beings close to a god. Otherwise, managing such a massive labyrinth would be impossible.」(Ingrid)
「A god…? That’s fascinating.」(Elle)
Apparently, nobody knows about the mysterious entity who created the Great Labyrinth and what their purpose was.
However, because various types of monsters and treasures appear inside, people speculated that their purpose was to teleport monsters from all over the kingdom and trap them into the labyrinth for the humans to kill. They would then get the treasures as rewards.
「I wonder what’s in it.」(Elle)
「Since your cat said it’s a real chest, do you want to open it? We’re still on the first floor, so I think it’ll be low-grade potions or something.」(Ingrid)
「Alright. Let’s see.」(Elle)
Elle crouched in front of the chest and slowly opened the lid.
「Hm? What are these? Needles?」(Elle)
「Wait… Huh!?」(Ingrid)
Ingrid, who was peeking into the chest while standing right behind Elle, was surprised to see the items inside.
「No way… These are no ordinary needles. They’re poison needles.」(Ingrid)
「So they’re throwing weapons?」(Elle)
「Yeah, but you don’t normally find them on the first floor. This is rare.」(Ingrid)
While Ingrid was wondering, Yoyo explained.
「I think it’s because Elle has an incredible luck.」(Yoyo)
「Hmm, maybe? I heard that you might get rare items from treasure chests if you’re extremely lucky.」(Ingrid)
「Really? I think it’s just a fluke.」(Elle)
「We’ll see about that. I’ll let you open the chest when we find another.」(Ingrid)
「Okay.」(Elle)
After that, they found multiple treasure chests, and Elle opened them all.
Finding a rare item from a treasure chest once might be a fluke, but Elle had opened five chests so far, and all of them contained rare items.
Ingrid couldn’t believe what she saw.
「A ruby dagger, an evil-repelling amulet, a dungeon escape card… We’re still on the first floor, right? Am I dreaming?」(Ingrid)
She looked at Elle in disbelief.
「Elle, you must have been blessed by the goddess…」(Ingrid)
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