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"Now, with this..."
Mariabelle found the slime's core, which was as small as a pebble, and crushed it with her armored foot.
This is the eighty-third one.
In the distance, her companions were doing the same, finding slime cores and destroying them by stomping or hitting them.
"With this many, it's going to be hard work shattering them."
"I don't think we've missed anything, but I'll look around a bit more."
"I'll go too. I feel like if I leave you alone you'll get kidnapped again..."
"I won't be kidnapped again!"
With loud voices, Meltia and Fenelieka left to search the area around the slime castle.
Seeing this, Mariabelle let out a sigh.
"Maria, are you okay? Are you feeling well?"
"Ah, yes. Father's armor is weakening the effects of the aphrodisiac, and the suppressant is probably working as well."
"I see, that's good."
Mariabelle said, dressed in a black adventure outfit.
She wears blue light armor over her clothes and is equipped with a round shield and a holy sword.
Her expression was calm and there was certainly no sign of the effects of the aphrodisiac, but the reality was that during the few days she was captured by the Humanoid, she was subjected to even more brutal torture than Meltia or Kara, something she would never forget.
She was only able to stand thanks to the Goddess Armor, which had the ability to neutralize all poison, but what would happen if she were to take it off? Remembering the devastation that occurred when she removed the armor when she cleansed herself and her clothes, Kara was extremely worried.
"If anything happens, just tell me. Absolutely. Don't try to hide it."
"Yes. Thank you, Kara."
Mariabelle was happy to hear Kara's concern and nodded with a big smile.
"Thank you so much for coming to help me. And for worrying about me. Thank you so much―― you're so kind."
"Well... without Maria, we can't defeat the slime."
"Fufu. Yes, I'll do my best to live up to those expectations."
As they talked, Mariabelle carefully looked around her surroundings once again, making sure she hadn't missed any slime cores.
Kara too.
With such a formidable opponent, the slime ended up transforming into a gigantic figure the size of a mountain.
There are hundreds of cores inside it, and if even one is missed, the same slime will be born again.
Being wary of this, Mariabelle and the others had not yet left this place even though half a day had passed since the final battle.
"But even so―― why did Maria lose? The intuition of a hero is amazing, isn't it? Even if you couldn't win, you could have escaped after we rescued Fasalina-sama and the others..."
"That's……"
Mariabelle answered Kara's question.
During the battle, her [Hero's Intuition], which was almost like predicting the future, gradually became unusable.
And that the Humanoid's movements improved.
"It felt as if that slime was using something like [Hero's Intuition]."
"It can carry the shield and the holy sword. …Seriously, it was an extraordinary one in every respect."
"Yes"
Looking back at the battle with the Humanoid, it's clear that it had the skills and resources to win, to the point that she wondered how the hell she managed to win.
Even so, the Humanoid insisted on one-on-one combat.
She's a little worried because she doesn't know the reason for this.
Without that, she would have absolutely lost.
"Kara, why do you think that human-shaped slime didn't use its tentacles much in its final battle with me?"
"Oh...? Come to think of it, it haven't used it much... I think it started using it after Meltia-sama joined us."
Kara was pathetic at the time, but she had been made to climax and doesn't remember much about the circumstances of the battle.
But, now that she said it, it certainly seemed like the Humanoid had been adamant about fighting with the holy sword.
"I don't know... it copied the human form. I think it copied our way of life, too. Like, chivalry and stuff."
"Is that so……"
"I don't know. I've been researching the slime for a long time, but it's still mostly a mystery."
Kara shrugged her shoulders, and Mariabelle tilted her head.
"But Kara, you know the most about the slime, right?"
"I think that's probably true, but that doesn't mean I know everything... Just like how even I don't know anything, there are many mysteries surrounding the slimes."
That was exactly right.
There had to be other weaknesses besides blessed water, too, and it would be much easier to subjugate them if they could figure out their behavioral principles like ecology and territorial awareness.
However, each slime acts on its own, and recently they have even begun to mimic the appearance of other monsters, such as goblins and orcs.
It was no different from the original slime at this point―― it had essentially evolved into a new species.
Kara thinks that this may be the end of her research into the species known as [Slime].
(Maybe from now on I'll need to give them names like Goblin Slime Type.)
While she was thinking about such things, Meltia and the others returned.
Seeing that she was a little flustered, Mariabelle placed her hand on the hilt of the holy sword.
However, there is no slime in sight, so it doesn't seem like there is any immediate danger.
"Onee-sama, what's wrong?"
"M-Maria, this is serious!"
"I can see that just by looking at you, so what's the big deal?"
"Come here."
Meltia's panicked words were unclear, so Kara asked Fenelieka again, and she told her that she was taking Mariabelle and the others to a certain place.
The place where the slime castle used to be―― Judging from its location, it must be somewhere around the back.
"This is……"
There was a pool of blood there.
From their conversation with Meltia, everyone assumes that it must be the blonde mage's―― Frederica's.
There was a lot of blood, but Frederica's body was no longer there.
"I remembered when I pushed her off the castle, and I wanted to at least give her body a proper funeral..."
"But then the body was gone."
When Kara said that, Mertia nodded deeply.
"She had lost a lot of blood. And the blood is starting to dry... she may have gotten away while we were cleaning up."
"Do you understand?"
“The time it takes for blood to dry like this depends on the amount of blood that has leaked out, as well as the temperature and the quality of ventilation… I don’t know the details, but you can assume that some time has passed since she was gone.”
Fenelieka sighed in admiration at Kara's words.
"So, did she run away...?"
"I think so. However, with this bleeding. I think she must have suffered a pretty serious injury."
Upon hearing those words, Meltia looked at her right arm.
Her hand had been badly injured due to the magic being activated in a way that nearly caused it to explode.
Still, the amount of blood she lost was less than the amount that was soaking the ground in front of her... she thought.
"With this wound, where..."
"I don't know. It's just――"
Kara didn't say anything more.
Even if she escaped, Frederica was just a mage.
Unlike the priests, they cannot use miracles of recovery.
(The blood trail continues into the forest......)
Was it because she didn't want to expose the body to the enemy, or did she want to be alone to mourn the slime?
Kara sighed, thinking that only Frederica herself would know that.
"Let's go. To do what we have to do."
Seeing Kara's gaze, Mariabelle realized the true meaning of her words and didn't think about Frederica anymore.
She was an enemy, and sided with the slimes, the enemy of mankind.
It was unclear whether she was dead or alive, but if she had sustained a near-fatal injury, there was no need to pursue her.
"...I guess so."
"Yeah. We'll meet up with Fasalina-sama and the others, and then we'll have to defeat that blonde slime."
"Blonde?"
Mariabelle, who had never seen an Alfred-shaped slime before, tilted her head at the words, which didn't sound like a slime, and Kara explained.
A slime that has a completely human form.
"A slime that uses the holy sword..."
"Well, thanks to that, we realized we could put more mana into the sword."
"Thanks to the slime, I was able to learn how to use Father's sword... it feels kind of strange."
"But thanks to that, everyone was saved."
"So, next we have to defeat that slime, right?"
Mariabelle was in mixed emotions after hearing the situation, so Meltia and Fenelieka called out to her.
Thanks to that, she was able to defeat the Humanoid.
Now, using that power, she must defeat a slime in the form of Alfred.
Once her goal was clear, she’d already decided what she needed to do.
"Yes. Let's go home, to Fonteau."
Mariabelle and the others left the place with their heads held high.
They destroyed one enemy, the Humanoid.
To fight the next enemy.
Little did any of them know that a problem was already brewing in Fonteau.
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