Aryan woke up early in the morning. Killing slimes was a priority and from the looks of it, he also had a second task in hand. Without bothering with breakfast, he headed for the mission.
Upon asking a guard, he had mapped out three routes to the village. All he needed to do was travel through the three of them and kill any corrosive slimes in the way.
Walking a few minutes, he entered the forest area, where trees were taller and sunlight could barely reach the ground. He could occasionally find blue slimes feeding on the grass, but he ignored them.
Slimes are football-sized jelly-like creatures that feed on the wastes of plants and animals. While they were available in many species and colors, most of them were considered harmless. The one Aryan was hunting for was dark green slime, which had corroded properties, enough to dissolve metals.
'Who in the hell uses this route for trade? There isn't even a path carved out, He pondered, rechecking on the map. He had a feeling something was off, but he decided to act normal.
Aryan momentarily closed his eyes and scanned around him, 'Two energy signatures...they don't look like monsters.' He concluded, walking normally, he could sense the signature was still following him.
It had been half an hour of walking, and he had already reached quite far, yet he didn't encounter a single dark green slime. The silence in the forest was unnatural, almost haunting.
Out of nowhere, he sensed a few energy signatures near him, followed by more. The plain expression broke replaced by a slight frown.
"What are you supposed to do in horror movies, again?" He asked out loud, his voice echoing through the forest," Ignore the ghost and sing a rhyme."
Aryan sarcastically said, slowly humming a children's rhyme.
"Baa, baa, black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full."
"One for the master, one for the dame. One for the little boy who lives down the lane."
He quickly grabbed two daggers made of alloy metals, specifically for killing slime. While a wooden spear was held on his back. Instinct kicked in, and he suddenly thrust his dagger in the air.
"Bang!!"
The dagger pierced into a small slime, and the slime burst into several pieces. Slimes were immune to physical attacks; the only solid part of their body was a small core in the center. Unless destroyed, the slime will not die.
"Baa baa black sheep, where is your master now?"
Aryan continued singing. The grass around him began to move, and dark green slimes jumped out of it, surrounding him from every direction.
"Gone sir, gone sir, with a furrowed brow!"
In a matter of seconds, Aryan found himself surrounded by over fifty slimes, from every direction. A few jumped and shot at him like a fastball. Aryan dodged the attack, but the green monster collided against a tree bark and bounced back at him.
"Thud!" The slime hit on his back. Aryan stumbled like being hit by a wet pillow. He quickly regained balance and stabbed that slime, destroying its core in one go. All the slimes jumped at him.
"The dame has vanished, and the boy is lost. The wool is frayed and cold as frost."
Aryan daggers screamed immaturely. Yet, each of his attacks was an instant kill, as if the slimes were purposefully committing suicide. Every time they brushed, their remains would hit his skin, causing burning pain.
The slimes weren't dangerous, but the terrain was unfavorable, in addition to their overwhelming numbers it could be fatal. He changed his stance defensive, slowly getting out of the swarm. He was hit twice or thrice in the process, but he managed to break through their circle.
"Baa baa black sheep, why do you weep? The field is empty, the night is deep."
Aryan seized the opportunity and ran. A horde of hundreds of dark green slimes chased him, shaking the forest wherever they crossed.
"Baa baa black sheep, where do you go? To the shadows to the shadows, where dark things grow."
Aryan looked back, breathing heavily; He looked ahead, the forest was getting familiar. A few distance ahead there would be an open field, he noticed back when tracking the quest.
The trees turned shallow, and Aryan purposely decreased his speed for the slimes to catch up. He jumped out of the forest, into wide, empty ground. He stood at the center of the field, a twenty-meter radius burned area where no tree or grass grew.
The slimes reached after him, surrounding the field from all directions. Aryan's breathing settled, and he was surrounded by a hundred corrosive slimes, ready to attack at any moment.
"In the quiet night, and the moon so pale. Baa baa black sheep tells a haunting tale."
He placed back his daggers and picked up the weapon on his back. A thick wooden spear with thorny skin and sharp ends on both sides.
The slimes jumped at him.
He jumped back, swinging his spear like a baseball bat, bursting tens of slimes with each hit. Within the first minute of the fight, Aryan had killed almost thirty slimes without taking any damage. But Aryan was more concerned about something else.
All of a sudden, the slime stopped attacking him. When Aryan approached, they rolled back to avoid his attacks. 'Whatever was about to happen, it's happening now...' He firmly gripped his weapon, catching his breath.
Suddenly, all the slime around him began to shake violently as they rolled in a specific direction. Aryan turned to look at the anomaly happening before him.
The slimes were slowly fusing into each other, turning into one giant human-sized slime with a big core in its center.
"Thud-thud!"
The monster jumped, its body weight shaking the ground each time it moved. Aryan stood alert, but before he could react the slime's body wiggled.
"Bang!"
A small projectile was shot from it at an incredible speed. The attack hit his chest, burning through the leather armor and the skin beneath it. Aryan was thrown on the ground.
"Ahh," He gritted in pain. His skin felt like it was in contact with hot magma, constantly burning through his flesh. He didn't have the time to grieve, as another attack shot at him.
Aryan jumped back; the attack hit the ground, its splatters hitting his legs, easily burning through his armor. "No fuck," he cursed, stepping back from the slime, avoiding two consecutive attacks.
The attack got slower in long-range; Aryan easily dodged it. More attacks shot, and he dodged each of them again. The creature was fast, but there was a limit to how far it could shoot. Aryan calmed down, analyzing the opponent before him.
'Physical attacks would be useless. Getting closer means getting hit.' Aryan concluded. 'The flow of events is too unnatural for taking risks.'
"I guess it's not an E-rank quest anymore." He said adjusting his mask. Realizing, he didn't have a single attack that could hurt the enemy. His eyes narrowed, with a sense of mockery in his tone, "What an irony, I am not an E-rank adventurer either."
[ Basic magic: Enhancement is used ]