Slimy Plains.
This was once a peaceful and calm place, inhabited only by slimes who only cared about eating the grass of the plains and wandering around without worries, however, everything changed in the last month.
One day, an invader entered the plains and began to go after the slimes, at first there were only a few. As time went by, he grew stronger and found new ways to kill.
Although slimes do not have a developed conscience or much intelligence, they realized that something was wrong, so, as a species, they joined together, forming small groups unconsciously. At first, this helped to avoid being attacked by that unknown invader. Unfortunately, that changed today.
Somewhere in Slimy Plains, near the border with the forest, the mana present was being agitated and becoming chaotic. Spells were cast in all directions by the slimes who tried to expel an invader, the same one that had been harassing them for the last month.
As time passed, more and more slimes saw and joined the fight to expel the invader who was surrounded, soon he would be overwhelmed and succumb. At that moment his enemy let out a sound unknown to them.
— "How did things get like this!!!!"
…
Some time ago.
Observing the plain in front of him, Edart thought about how to proceed from here on. The slimes that used to be alone, now for some reason they joined together, forming small groups of 2 or 3, sometimes there were more together.
— "What caused this change? Eris, do you see something wrong with the plain that made the slimes act like this?" Edart didn't understand why the slimes changed their behavior, so he asked for a second opinion.
After a few seconds, her voice reached his ears.
— ["There's nothing wrong, everything seems the same as the first time we got here. Maybe…"] Realizing that she had more to say, Edart encouraged her.
— "Maybe????"
— ["That curse the world placed on you may have affected the slimes to walk together, making it harder for you to grow stronger, however, I can't say with 100% certainty that it is that, it may be something else that affected their behavior."]
— "I see, even if I'm not sure, that may be a possibility… But that doesn't matter, now I have a sword, it will be easier to defeat them."
This change upset him, but it wouldn't be enough to stop him. Seeing the new situation on the plain, Edart decided to prepare himself better.
While he was on his way here, he took advantage and collected all the 'Silver Moon' petals he found along the way. When he returned home, he would use the laboratory and try to make some potions, since he had a lot of petals, using some to make 'Life Ball' wouldn't be a problem.
Doing so was simple and in the blink of an eye, 5 'Life Balls' were ready, which he put in his pants pocket. Then, he hung his two bags on a tree, grabbed some spears and set off for the plain.
Edart advanced using 'camouflage', going unnoticed by the slimes until he reached the place he had targeted. After advancing 500 meters into the plain, he reached a pile of huge rocks, some of which were over 2 meters high. This would be his outpost, which he would use to rest between fights.
—"It's time to get stronger." Grabbing some spears and his sword, he set off in search of his first enemy.
…
Four hours passed quickly without realizing it. Sitting among the rocks, Edart rested to recover his energy. Although the slimes were different, walking in groups, he managed it very well.
Since there were no more slimes alone, Edart chose the groups with slimes he had already faced. Knowing their attacks, it was easier for him to conduct the fight.
Along with his new weapon, which despite being old and a little rusty, the sword cut through the slimes wonderfully, reaching their cores without difficulty.
Thus, his fights were calm and, with his current strength, he could dodge the attacks without any problems, even when he couldn't get out of the way in time, he would only suffer a glancing blow.
— "Today was a good day, 50 slimes gave enough experience for two more levels, I still have to assign those points. We can call it a day." It really was a good day.
— ["Edart, the slimes are acting strangely, we better get out of here as soon as possible."] Edart, who was resting calmly and relaxed, became alert the moment he noticed her agitation.
— "Calm down, tell me exactly what's going on." He didn't understand why she was so agitated, he needed more information to understand what was happening. Quickly, she responded, still a little nervous.
— ["The slimes, they started gathering around this place, with every passing minute, more of them appear. I don't understand what's happening, but if we don't get out of here now, we might get trapped and attacked from all sides."]
Realizing the situation he was in, Edart activated 'Camouflage' and climbed up one of the rocks. Reaching the top, he saw how the slimes began to gather in a circle around the rocks he was hiding in.
With every passing second, he saw more and more slimes crowding in with the others. There were all colors in sight, however, the most common were blues, greens and browns. Making a rough estimate, the number of slimes surrounding him currently reached 500, with more approaching.
— "Too late to get out of here, hopefully it's just the monthly slime meeting to talk." Since running away was no longer an option, Edart needed to prepare for what would come next. At least the place he was in was full of large rocks, which formed a small maze with narrow passages. If the slimes didn't climb the walls and attack from above, few slimes would be able to attack at the same time, making it easier to defend against them.
Wasting no time, Edart began to make some changes to the terrain. He would need every advantage he could to get out of here alive.
The area where he rested was an open space with a diameter of 5 meters surrounded by huge rocks. Here he would have enough space to move and attack freely. However, there were so many slimes that when he entered, this place would be overwhelmed and would rain attacks on him. It would be unwise to stay here.
Remembering the movie 300 that he had watched, where a small group of soldiers resisted against a gigantic army in a narrow passage, Edart looked for a narrow passage between the rocks.
— "It will be here. There is only one exit, so the slimes will not be able to attack from behind and I only have to worry about one direction."
— ["But you will also be trapped here. If you cannot kill all the slimes, there will be no way to escape."] Eris spoke with concern. She wanted to help. Unfortunately, she could only observe, unable to move a single feather.
— "We are already trapped. We can only find the best way to resist." Not wasting any more time talking, Edart began to work on mana manipulation.
Starting from the central area, he found a path between the rocks that went on for 2 meters and then curved to the left, at a 90 degree angle, and went on for another meter, where another rock closed the path.
To ensure that no attack would come from above, Edart modified the rocks and created a ceiling for it. On the two meter path, he moved the rocks closer together, thus narrowing the path, and only one slime at a time could pass, however, he left it wide enough for it to pass.
Finished that, he looked at his status.
—["Edart, Health: 44/47. Mana 37/52. Stamina: 35/40"]
— "I hope the slimes run out before my stamina runs out." He gathered the rest of his things and took them to the end of the path. Having nothing else to do, he activated his camouflage ability and went to observe his enemy. Half an hour passed and the number of slimes stopped increasing, remaining around 600. After that, it didn't take long for the slimes to advance towards him.
— "The moment of truth has arrived." Edart thought about sending a fireball at them, but it would be a waste of mana, as it would only hit a few. He quickly returned to the place he had prepared and waited for the first slime.
It didn't take long for the first slime to appear. Edart wasted no time and attacked with his sword, hitting precisely the core.
— ["You killed a 'Green Slime (Level: 7).'"].
— ["You gained 31 XP."].
— "One down, only 599 to go."
Soon another one advanced and appeared in front of him. Not giving the slime time to attack, Edart launched another attack, killing it immediately.
For the next few minutes, the slimes didn't stop coming and Edart didn't rest for a moment.
— ["Edart, there are over a hundred slimes in the central area!"] Eris warned him as he requested. Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, he spoke with a smile forming on his face.
— "It's time to test your power." At the same moment, he began to recite the spell chant, however, the slimes did not wait for him to finish and continued to come.
Edart realized how difficult it was to do two things at the same time. Fortunately, whenever he was interrupted by needing to attack the slime, when he returned to chant the spell, Eris helped him, reminding him of the next part.
Near the end, Edart realized a problem in his plan, how was he going to attack the central region when he was at the end of the path with no view of it. Not having much time, he held the incantation and attacked the slimes in front of him.
Clearing his way, he reached the curve and faced the central region. At the same time he appeared, the slimes closest to him noticed his figure and began to attack. Wasting no time, he shouted the last part that was missing.
— "Fireball!"
As soon as the fireball emerged from his palm, Edart threw himself to the end of the path in order to avoid the slimes' attacks. He didn't even have time to aim and see where the spell would hit.
When he fell to the ground, the wind blew hard behind him along with a loud explosion.
— ["You killed a 'Blue Slime (Level: 9).'"].
— ["You gained 39 XP"].
— ["You killed a 'Green Slime (Level: 5).'"].
— ["You gained 21 XP"].
— ["You killed a 'Slime…
The messages started coming one after the other, luckily, Eris stopped them from continuing to appear in his vision.
— ["There were 27 slimes killed, however, I can see that twice that many lost a lot of their energy."]
— "That's it, I expected more, there are still 572 left." He expected to kill more, however, it was a good result. Not having time, he got up and attacked the slime closest to him that was already launching a water attack. Fortunately, the slimes that followed suffered damage from his previous attack, some were on their last legs and others only received superficial damage, but it was enough for Edart to rest a little.
— ["Edart, Health: 40/47. Mana 27/52. Stamina: 30/40"]
— "I can hold on for a while longer." He said to himself, trying to cheer himself up.
Like water in a river, the slimes continued to advance along the path towards him, trying to hit him as much as possible.
Ten minutes later, the central region was full beyond measure, with slimes walking over each other without caring.
This time, Edart asked Eris to warn him when that area was overloaded with slimes. As he asked, she warned him and now it was time for another fireball.
In those ten minutes, he managed to kill 60 more slimes that had some degree of damage to their bodies, however, after that, the slimes began to become stronger, having higher levels than initially.
Wasting no time, Edart began chanting as he killed the slimes. After a minute of divided attention, he managed to finish the spell. Throwing himself onto the path that led to the central area, he raised his hand and threw the fireball.
As the flaming ball continued its path towards the center of the slime pile, Edart was shocked by the sight he saw, remaining paralyzed for a while. Two seconds later, a strong blow hit his left shoulder, throwing him against the wall behind him, making him fall on his butt on the ground, looking at the incredible scene in front of him.