Episode 4: Ecology of Monsters
"That's……"
"Shhh."
When Mariabelle saw the scene, she tried to speak, but Fornelis restrained her with a hand.
The gray wolf beastwoman princess raised her right hand as it was, indicating to the group to "wait", and then she sat down and hid in the trees.
Mariabelle, who was beside her, followed suit, and through a gap in the trees, she observed the "monster" that was beyond her line of sight......
(That's……)
(Is it a territorial battle?)
Fornelis answered Mariabelle's question.
Territorial battle.
It was, as the word implied, the act of monsters fighting each other, claiming each other's territory.
The slime that imitated the shapes of goblins and orcs existed beyond Mariabelle and the others' gazes, but the two races were holding weapons and fighting with each other.
There were three slimes in an orc shape.
There were eleven slimes in goblin shape.
(Why are the slimes fighting each other?)
(I don't know.)
(Kara...)
(I have no idea either. To begin with, I've only read about monsters fighting each other in books.)
Fornelis nodded at Kara's words.
(But it is not an uncommon sight in the days when the Demon King lived.)
(Is that so?)
It was a time when monsters roamed throughout the continent and controlled most of the land.
The number of monsters was equal to or perhaps even greater than that of mankind.
Then, there could be conflicts between races―― monsters also need large and fertile lands for their own kind.
They certainly eat living humans, but not only that.
They also eat vegetables and drink water.
If they seek fertile land for food, they would inevitably have to take it from the monsters who own the land first.
It was true that monsters were grouped under one race but that was the knowledge by humans.
Goblins, orcs, kobolds, ogres, and harpies.
There were far more types of monsters than those of humans, and without the order of the demon king, monsters did not cooperate with each race.
In other words, it was not uncommon for monsters to fight each other, like the "territorial battle" that was happening right now in front of Mariabelle and the others.
It was a scene from a bygone era, long gone.
When Fornelis explained it, Mariabelle and Meltia, who have been on the battlefield for the past two years, and Kara, who only knew about it through knowledge, looked at the conflict in front of them with astonishment.
(But why are they fighting? They look different, but they are supposed to be "slimes".)
Fornelis passed on that knowledge, but also wondered, but strangely.
No matter how much they change their appearance, they were still slimes after all.
From Fornelis' point of view, it seemed as though the slimes were fighting each other.
And the way they fight was strange.
Both orcs and goblins were fighting with wooden sticks in their hands, not with the slime's abilities.
Naturally, since their bodies were made of mucus, they did not die from physical blows, and whether their heads were crushed or their arms were chipped, they hit each other without care.
If one didn't find this strange, what would one find strange?
(It was as though they were back to their original behavior. Does this also mean something? What do you think, Fenelieka?)
(No, even if you ask me......)
(They are monsters, right? Do you feel anything?)
(I don't know. I'm not that thoughtless and single-minded.)
They were the same monsters, but the succubus, who was intelligent and lived in human society, could blend in with humans, and everything was different for goblins, who did not even have a clear language or intelligence, from their thoughts to their actions.
Fenelieka also could not understand what the goblin-type slimes were fighting for.
Just.
(It was the same behavior as the goblins we saw a long time ago. They fight to expand their territory and kill each other monsters.)
(Yes, that's right. And we humans used to take advantage of that and launch a surprise attack.)
Fornelis muttered to herself as she recalled the memories of the battlefield, and put her hand on the hilt of the oversized sword on her back, which was as long as she was.
In fact, the goblins and orcs were turning their killing intent on each other and seem to have a lot of openings.
Since their bodies were a slime, that could be a trap, however, their killing intent only seemed to be directed at each other.
The same was true for Fornelis, who was accustomed to fighting, and for Mariabelle, who had a keen sense of perception that could even be said to be close to predicting the future.
(Wait a little. I want to observe a little more.)
However, Kara stopped Fornelis and the others as they were about to defeat the monsters.
She narrowed her golden eyes intensely behind her black-rimmed glasses and looked at the slimes.
Goblins and orcs.
The two forms of slime were still beating each other with their wooden sticks, and if the missing parts heal faster than the wounds they were receiving, the fighting would never end.
(What's wrong, Kara?)
(No, maybe... but...)
In response to Mariabelle's question, Kara mumbled to no one, biting her finger, and then, after a few minutes, let out a deep, deep sigh.
(It's okay now. I don't seem to have anything more to gain.)
(All right. Fenelieka, contact Meltia and have the elves prepare their magic. After we charge in and confuse them, let's get this whole area covered with ice.)
(I understand. Well then, be careful, hero-sama, okay?)
(Thank you. Please be careful, Fenel-san.)
(Okay――.)
She could see that everyone present had stiffened slightly with nervousness.
Fight against the slime.
It remained a trauma for the women.
Putting away their fears, Fornelis and the others took a slow breath and stood up from the bushes where they had been hiding.......
"Everyone, draw your swords!! Kill every last one of those slimes!!"
At the same time as she instructed, Fornelis' oversized sword turned red with burning heat, and Mariabelle draws her holy sword from the scabbard at her waist.
The dark forest seemed to have been dyed madder red, and the surrounding air was purified, shrouded in holy power.
As the wind caressed her skin, she felt as though all the people in the area, who had been tense, relaxed moderately.
A moderate tension.
The optimum state for displaying one's full strength.
The warrior priests from Lishlua hold up their maces and the elven knights their swords.
Behind her, she could feel the flow of mana raging.
Meltia and the others began to prepare their magic.
"Let's go!"
"I'm coming!"
Taking the lead were Fornelis and Mariabelle.
Fornelis swung her oversized sword with brute force, destroying the trees that would get in the way of her swing, while Mariabelle aimed at the goblin's neck with minimal movement.
The reaction of the goblins and orcs―― was sluggish.
Truly, a move that a real goblin and orc would have made.
The fourteen startled monster stiffened for a moment.
Their mucus flesh did not react.
Fornelis, judging that there were no tentacles, didn't hesitate and went straight for its body at once.
Mariabelle, following the keen sense peculiar to the hero, stepped into its bosom even more swiftly than Fornelis.
The red-hot oversized sword sliced the petite goblin's body in two, vaporizing the mucus it touched, and the holy sword sends its neck flying with a gust of wind-like sharpness.
There was no point in destroying the body of a slime.
The two women used their keen kinetic vision to find the slime's "nucleus" inside its small body and completely destroyed it with their first attack.
The goblin that had its "nucleus" destroyed could no longer hold its shape, and within a few seconds, it melted and crumbled.
"The way to kill them is the same! Find the nucleus and destroy it!!"
"Please leave some!? I want to check it out!"
"I know! Orcs and goblins, one each. Kill all the others!!"
At Fornelis' words, the warrior priests and elven knights, numbering 30, raised their voices.
Their voice rippled the surroundings.
No matter what their opponents were...... even though they were far inferior to them and outnumbered, they would not let their guard down.
Slime.
Just like that, they must be killed. They must be exterminated.
The goblins and orcs finally reacted as the warriors rushed in with voices filled with anger.
They stopped killing each other and turned their killing intent toward the humans.
After the people screamed in anger, the goblins and orcs also attacked, raising the wooden sticks in their hands above their heads.
"Don't touch the mucus!!"
"I know!"
Raising their voices in coordination with each other, the warriors destroyed the goblins one after another.
They may not have the same outstanding skills as Mariabelle and Fornelis, but there was nothing dangerous if they worked together, observe, and fight while being careful of the mucus, not the wooden sticks in their hands.
One by one, goblins were felled, and their number was reduced to three.
The large orcs were fought by Mariabelle and Forneris.
The larger the body, the more difficult it was to find the "nucleus," and Mariabelle used her keen intuition to spot it, and then she thrusts the holy sword at it.
The black moving body hid the "nucleus" hidden behind it, but without any difficulty, the huge body of the orc collapsed and melted away.
Fornelis did not possess such special abilities and she slashed at the slime, burned the mucus, and vaporized it to reduce its mass―― but she was not able to kill it in time.
"It's ready! It's going to be fired soon!!"
"Everyone get back!!"
A few minutes after the start of the battle, Fenelieka, who had returned, shouted loudly from the sky, and Fornelis, who saw the "nucleus" through the back of the huge orc body, gave the order to retreat.
The warriors in the unit followed the order, even though they were on the verge of defeating the goblins.
Immediately behind Fornelis and her men.
The trees that had been lush and green, the green leaves covering the ground, covered with ice, and the ground froze.
It was not only plants.
The soil, the air, was freezing.
It was not only behind Forneris and the others.
A little later, from left and right.
While Fornelis and the others were fighting, the elven mages unleashed powerful ice magic.
The cold air crawled across the ground, swallowing the air and freezing everything within the area encompassed by the magic.
Naturally, so did the slime.
Goblins and orcs froze from their legs as they turned away to escape, some frozen in place, others shattered from the knees and fell to the ground as they tried to force their frozen bodies to move.
"Maria, are you okay!?"
"Yes, thank you, onee-sama."
As Mariabelle and the others were checking on what was left of the goblins, Meltia, who had released magic along with the elven mages, joined them.
The tip of the large staff in her hand, which she had inherited from her mother, perhaps a remnant of the magic she had used, and the gemstone that boosted her mana were imbued with a sharp light.
"Well, thank goodness...... is someone got injured?"
Checking everyone, warrior priests skilled in the miracle of recovery were calling out to the elven knights.
There were two wounded.
They were young men who have been pushed by their hatred of the slime and had stepped in unintentionally.
As the priests heal them, Mariabelle wondered about their condition.
"Is there no poison......?"
"Yes. There is no numbness. Besides, the goblin hit me with a wooden stick."
She knew it was strange.
Not only Kara, but everyone here was beginning to think so.
There were more powerful abilities available, so why not use them?
It was not just tentacles and paralyzing poison.
Slimes in the form of goblins and orcs only used primitive weapons such as wooden sticks and did not even use magic.
If they had, Mariabelle and the others would have had a much harder time.
There might have been more injured people.
She was wary, but that was why it was strange and...... eerie that there was no fierce resistance.
"What's wrong, Maria... belle-sama."
When Kara returned, she was about to call her Maria but had to rephrase because of the elven knights' gazes.
In her hand was an iron pot with a lid she got from a nearby village, rather than the iron box......
Apparently, she had recovered the "nucleus" from the frozen slimes.
Perhaps thinking about the experiment later, her voice sounded slightly lighter than it did a moment ago.
"No. The slimes didn't use magic as well as tentacles and poison......"
"I see, that's."
But unlike Mariabelle and the others, who were feeling anxious, Kara seemed less concerned about it, as though she had some sort of insight to it.
"Do you know anything?"
"I'm not sure yet, and I hope...... I'm wrong, too."
"Hmm. May I ask?"
"Ah ...... well, I know I'm out of line, but.... maybe I just thought so because I said something similar to Maria earlier. Maybe."
Kara paused as she said it in a rare, halting manner.
Sensing that it was information she did not want the others to hear, Fornelis ordered the others to prepare to leave, leaving only the people leading the troops.
"So?"
"I don't want to talk too much about it......"
"No matter how crazy it was, there's no information, I learned that the hard way a year ago."
"I agree. Besides, I'd like to hear it now, just to be prepared."
Meltia followed up on Fornelis' words.
Mariabelle and Fenelieka looked at Kara without saying anything.
"Jeez... well, that's that."
With that, Kara turned her gaze to the frozen and motionless goblin and orc-shaped slime.
"'That's a slime in the shape of a monster."
"Yeah, it is...... It's in the form of a monster."
Everyone in the place could not understand what Kara was trying to say.
She felt it―― or maybe she didn't want to spin the words any further.
Kara let out a sigh and let out the worst premonition that had come to her mind.
"I was thinking that maybe the slime is "creating monsters"."
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Haven't the slimes kept on multiplying?"
No, Kara shook her head.
"The body is indeed made up of mucus. But that behavior is different from the slime―― it was the same as goblins and orcs. They even fight each other."
"Are you trying to say that those are not slimes, but goblins and orcs in the body of a slime?"
"That's right. The Demon King created demons. In the same way, is it indeed too far-fetched to say that slime is also trying to create monsters......?"
With that, Kara returned, her steps heavy.
Mariabelle and the others, who follow her back with their eyes, feel a chill run down their spines when they hear her say that the slime...... is doing the same way as the Demon King.
It was easy to believe it was a lie.
But at the edge of their vision, slimes in the form of goblins and orcs were real.
There were three "nucleus" of slime that they have recovered.
Making a small sound inside the iron pot.
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