At the time that Frederica was annihilating the knights, Fiana and her group was advancing further into the mine's interior.
Fiana stood in the lead, holding a lantern in her hand. Alfira and the adventurers advanced behind her, huddled together so as to protect Satia.
However, although they were taking every possible precaution, their progress went quickly.
"I don't feel any presences nor any mana… is the slime further inside?"
"… …"
Satia felt uneasy due to Fiana's lack of openings.
She knew what sort of existence knights were. Although there were some who brandished their title without a suiting capability to do so—there were definitely those who did.
As she had talked about with Frederica, it was possible that, perhaps, those coming to the mine this time were those that did have power. And indeed… the mana fluctuations she felt coming from Fiana were noticeably different compared to the people that Satia had met before.
They were even greater than Frederica's—greater than Goshujin-sama's.
Although she wasn't too tall as a woman, her existence itself felt extremely large.
"Are you alright, Satia-san?"
Thinking that Satia looked tense, Alfira called out to her.
Satia responded by doing a simple nod as she continued walking so that she wouldn't fall behind the group.
How much farther would they be going? Fiana looked like she still had a good amount of stamina left, but tinges of weariness began to appear on Alfira, the adventurers' and Satia's faces.
The speed they moved at began to slow down, so the dust and poltergeist voices that hadn't irritated them much beforehand started to do so.
Satia herself was used to breathing there as she had grown accustomed to it, but it wasn't like that for the rest of the group.
"Should we turn back soon?"
It was at the moment that Fiana suggested that.
The female elf suddenly pulled out her sword, stopping in her tracks and looking around. Her sword was clad in mana. Unlike the lantern's light, its pale bluish light that centered on her illuminated the mine's darkness.
The light's quality and volume was clearly different from the mana blade the male knights that were with Frederica.
"Prepare yourselves. It's beyond here."
Together with her voice, it felt as though the temperature fell.
No—
(Cold…?)
In fact, it was to the point that Satia and the adventurers shivered and got goosebumps.
However, there was no change in Alfira. She likely knew about Fiana's attribute.
Like how Satia was compatible with the wind and fire attributes, and as how Frederica could use wind, fire, and earth attribute magic, mages had attributes.
Surely, Fiana was cold. Struck by Fiana's mana, a slime about the size of a cow appeared from inside the mine.
"A Black Ooze… well, it's an alright opponent."
She didn't hold up her sword, but she looked towards the slime in vigilance.
Satia took a step backward.
"There's just one, but don't let down your guard."
Hearing that, Alfira and the adventurers drew their swords and paid attention to their surroundings.
Their behavior felt clumsy compared to Fiana's, but even so, their response was quick. Facing the somewhat haphazard adventurers, the Black Ooze ignored Fiana and shot its tentacles toward them.
The tentacles moved at a speed that almost couldn't be seen by the human eye—however, a flicker of an instant later, the tentacles were severed by the frozen sword, the severed pieces freezing.
With this, it was unable to make use of the droplets of paralytic poison that was the secondary effect of its attack. Moreover, it was unable to reform with the severed pieces even if it touched them again.
In this cave that they couldn't use the fire attribute in, there wasn't a more effective magic against the slime than this. Its liquid would be rendered useless if it was frozen, after all.
"It's alright. There won't be any problems if we stay calm."
Not even surprised by the tentacle's speed, Fiana said that.
Aiming at Fiana just after she spoke, the Black Ooze's tentacles rushed towards her.
Enough tentacles to blot out one's field of vision all aimed towards a single woman, but most were cut away and she easily avoided the ones that weren't severed.
The female knight jumped, kicking off of the rock wall to dodge. The front of her robe flapped in the air, her beautiful hair dancing.
The tentacles that were sliced off by Fiana fell to the ground, frozen through due to the chill produced by her mana.
The adventurers were looking at Fiana in admiration, but once deep blue slimes that were camouflaging themselves as rocks nearby began to move, they moved into a circular formation.
"Wasn't there just one!?"
"Don't panic! Leave the big one to Fiana-sama, we can't drag her down!"
One of the adventurers shouted at Satia that it was different from what they'd heard, but Alfira called out to him and the other adventurers to calm them down.
Fiana and the giant slime's ability was obvious. They believed that so long as they didn't drag her down, they would definitely win.
In truth, even Satia's doll-like expression was filled with surprise at Fiana's incredible skill.
Alfira stood in front of the adventurers, holding her shield up to protect them. The slimes' tentacles headed towards Alfira, but they were blocked by her shield and armor.
Sensing how things were going, a few more appeared from behind other rocks.
"Satia-san, cover us!!"
(… What should I do?)
Meanwhile, Satia was wondering about what she should do.
Even if she took action here, the possibility of neutralizing Fiana would be exceedingly low.
The difference in their power was too vast—she had to do something, causing her to panic.
Unlike Frederica, Satia wasn't able to use much mana and was limited in what she could do.
Should she attack Fiana to distract her, or should she disempower Alfira and the others? As she thought about that, another slime dropped from overhead onto an adventurer.
He was wary of his surroundings, but he wasn't able to properly cope with an attack from above and couldn't react in time. However, although he avoided being crushed by dodging to the side, it ended up causing their circular formation to collapse.
Surrounded by slimes and split up, panic flourished among the adventurers.
"Huu—!"
Although Fiana was worried about the adventurers, she had her hands full in trying to neutralize the Black Ooze as quickly as possible.
Severing its tentacles, she gradually closed the distance between her and it. However, her progress was slow. The Black Ooze was a monster that had taken half of the livestock from the village at the mountain's base, as well as upwards of twenty men.
As an existence that could change things that it absorbs into its own mass, unlike how it looked, it had far more mucus at its disposal compared to usual Black Oozes.
This was the Black Ooze's biggest weapon against Fiana and was the only way it outstripped her.
Would Fiana be able to freeze the slime's main body, or would her stamina run out before that?
—That balance continually tilted more in Fiana's favor.
She was accustomed to battling and was not careless. Her figure, jumping about as she dodged despite being so limited inside the cave, was both beautiful and impressive.
"… …"
However, she had made a single miscalculation. Rather than the slime being Satia's enemy, it was her ally.
Satia picked up one of the tentacles that had been severed and left behind on the ground, frozen.
The girl could use fire and wind magic. Of what she could do with it, there wasn't much.
However, she was able to melt the frozen tentacle in her hand immediately.
"Satia, what're you doing!?"
One of the adventurers noticed what Satia was doing, but he was too late.
Immediately after he shouted that out, the black tentacle stretched out from the girl's hand and struck the three adventurers against the wall. It hadn't held back at all in this attack, so the place that the three men hit the wall had even cracked. The men died instantly, of course. They died with their blood flying out of all of their orifices.
Although the slime was only so large that it could fit in her palm, the mass it contained was nonsensical.
After that, the tentacle extended towards the three remaining adventurers and Alfira.
"Satia!?"
Alfira exclaimed, but she didn't respond, instead preparing her mana.
"… Wind."
"Kuh!?"
The tentacle in Satia's palm headed towards Alfira and the three others, but they managed to avoid it this time.
However, this time, a deep blue slime's tentacle aimed at the point they would dodge towards ahead of time. The adventurers, feeling something wrong with their bodies just by being touched by it, fell into even further confusion.
Alfira was safe due to being protected by her armor, but Satia's wind magic blew her away towards the rock wall, which she wound up colliding directly against.
She managed to avoid losing consciousness by clenching her teeth, but her body had grown numb from the impact and wasn't responding properly.
Yet even so, she did her best to stand back up and—
"—Wh… at!?"
Unable to put any strength into her legs, she fell to her knees.
Due to the timing that she'd been blown away at, she had crushed a slime with her back.
Satia wasn't safe either. Immediately after she blew Alfira away, she was blown away by Fiana's wind magic.
As she was attacked just after she'd used magic and was thus defenseless, her small body rolled across the cave floor much like a leaf blown in the wind, crashing into the rock wall.
Fiana could tell that the girl had lived due to her fingertips moving faintly, but she didn't appear to be conscious nor was she showing any signs of attempting to get up.
"Satia-san, why!?"
She shouted that, but her sword didn't slow in the least.
She stood right between Alfira and the group of slimes, cutting down all of the tentacles heading towards them.
The adventurers had either fainted or were unable to move due to the paralytic poison. They weren't able to oppose the smaller slimes that slowly crept up towards them and were swallowed one after another.
Only able to allow herself a moment to look away at the situation, Fiana turned back towards the Black Ooze in vexation.
The situation had made a complete reversal due to Satia's interference. However, there was still a chance of it reversing yet again.
If Fiana could slay the Black Ooze and the other slimes, it would come to an end. Threatened by the cold-clad sword, the small slimes were unable to approach the two of them.
The only thing that she had to worry about was the Black Ooze.
"—Fiana-sama, don't worry about me!"
"Kuh…"
Alfira didn't want to hold Fiana back. If she could go all out and not have to worry about protecting her, she'd be able to win against these slimes by herself.
(If we weren't hindering her—)
She bit her lip.
A slime about the size of a lizard was crawling towards the knight's feet, it was a child slime.
The paralysis affecting her lower half was strong, so she still hadn't noticed it.
"—! It's still alright! We'll manage somehow, so—"
Fiana had said that to reassure her, but something unusual was happening to Alfira behind her.
"—!?"
Immediately holding back her voice, she covered her mouth with her right hand as it could still move.
For an instant, she didn't understand what was happening. However… she was convinced that something was on her lower half. She looked down in a panic. However, the only thing she saw was her usual armor.
The small slime had entered the knight's armor through its gaps and, as it had inherited its instincts from its father, struggled to reach the girl's lower half. Feeling something weird brushing against her lower half even though she was wearing both clothes and armor, her mind quickly fell into a state of panic.
(What!? What's going on!?)
Alfira's expression wasn't her usual composed one. She was startled and confused as she looked at her lower half.
Still protected behind Fiana, her lower half was licked by the slime. However, as her armor and clothes blocked her view, Alfira couldn't figure out what was happening.
Under such extraordinary circumstances, her paralyzed body wouldn't listen to what she told it to do. As she tried, the slime, pleased that its prey wasn't resisting, didn't hesitate in moving towards her genitals.
Even though she couldn't put any strength into the area, her thighs tightened up on reflex as the slime slid towards her crotch from the opening of her panties.
Even so, as the slime wasn't a solid object, something like that wasn't enough to stop it.
It gently licked her closed vagina.
"Hii—"
(Hiii!? W-wha—-I'm being licked!?)
Her thighs closed even tighter to resist the repulsing sensation. However, not paying her meaningless actions any heed, the slime continued licking her.
Feeling a mix of fear, confusion, and that repulsive feeling, Alfira's composure was snatched away. It was a miracle that she was able to keep her voice back so that she wouldn't alarm Fiana.
If she weren't numbed by the paralytic poison, she would have took off her armor to remove it.
Using Alfira's confusion, the slime started moving onto the next step. In addition to gently licking up and down the girl's labia, the slime extended a tentacle towards the girl's modestly hidden clitoris.
With a shock, Alfira's body bent backwards. However, Fiana still hadn't noticed because of her struggle against the tentacles.
Looking at Fiana from being as she fought so desperately, Alfira did her best to suppress her voice. Tears collected in her eyes, seeming as though they might spill at any moment.
Her labia was being licked gently while her clitoris was stimulated from above its hood. Although Alfira was ignorant when it came to sexual things, she could understand what this intruder's goal was by its actions.
(Stop… stop it…!)