“It’s a slime, huh?”
Just like when I first encountered it, it bounces closer toward me.
“May I handle this one?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I agree readily, partly because I want to see how Yofune-san fights.
“Then, here I go. ‘Boost!’“
She chants the simplest enhancement spell and dashes toward the slime.
Her speed is unbelievable for a middle school girl—though that’s thanks to the enhancement spell.
Boost is a basic spell that increases the user’s speed. It’s simple but highly versatile. The more you use skills like this, the more effective they become over time. If you keep using Boost diligently, surpassing the speed of sound might not be just a dream.
“Hah!”
With that momentum, she swings her blade at the slime. The trajectory smashes its core magic stone, causing the slime’s body to collapse.
Yofune-san checks that the slime’s slime residue has disappeared from her blade before she sheathes it.
“You’re really strong, Yofune-san. Have you been practicing swordsmanship?”
Her movements clearly aren’t those of an amateur.
“My grandfather taught me a little. But… what I just did wasn’t good. I relied too much on the sword,” she says, looking oddly downcast.
I don’t get it. I can’t find any reason why she wouldn’t be satisfied with that.
She defeated it, after all. And slimes are often just treated as training targets.
It’s almost impossible to die in a fight with a slime, though struggling is still a possibility.
Apparently, some people even quit adventuring because they couldn’t defeat one, though that’s rare.
Still, it’s understandable. Slimes are acidic by nature. Just imagining one jumping at your face can make you freeze up in fear.
So if you can confront one head-on, you’ve pretty much already won.
But even if I said that to Yofune-san, I doubt it would make her feel any better.
“Then how about fighting something tougher? Something you can’t beat just by relying on a weapon?”
Something like that wolf we faced earlier might be a good fit.
“You’re right. My grandfather always said, ‘A warrior is forged in deadly battles. Cast aside your life.’ Let’s head deeper.”
“Wait, uh, sure…”
Her grandfather’s a samurai? I thought he was a yakuza boss.
And, uh, no, we don’t need to throw our lives away…
—While I worry, our dungeon exploration progresses smoothly.
Thanks to the reach of my naginata, I easily slice through the monsters’ lifelines.
We’ve already cleared the slime zone, and now we’re encountering all kinds of animal-shaped monsters.
But my slime spear hasn’t had much use.
That’s mostly because of Yofune-san’s exceptional strength.
She uses Boost to toy with the monsters, and when she spots one—even from far away—she charges in and takes it down.
She looks like she’s having more fun than when she’s at school.
It’s a little scary.
“Yofune-san, could I handle the next monster? I want to test my throwing spear.”
I make this request to her as she picks up magic stones after another battle.
She agrees without any hesitation, seeming content now that the monsters are getting tougher.
“Two wolf-like creatures are coming. Should I take one of them?”
“I’ll handle both.”
I drop my naginata to the ground and grab the slime spear.
The spear, entirely gelatinous like a slime, has no proper handle. Holding it barehanded would cause burns, but by enveloping my gloves in magic power, I can coat them and prevent any harm.
“Hup!”
I twist my body, aiming the spear not at the wolves but far to the right of them, and throw.
The two wolves seem to mock me as they charge toward me—until they stop midway.
Their mocking expressions freeze in place.
“You pierced both of their heads… How did you do that? It looked like the spear moved on its own,” Yofune-san asks, clearly puzzled as she observes the slime spear sticking through the two wolves’ skulls.
“This is probably part of my Weapon Creation skill. Normal throwing spears wouldn’t work like this, but the slime spear can move however I want.”
“I’ve never heard of such an ability…”
I haven’t either, but it’s not like I can explain why it works.
Maybe it’s because I’ve manipulated magic power in ways outside the skill’s norms?
Leaving the still-confused Yofune-san behind, I retrieve the slime spear, collect the magic stones, and store the spear back in my naginata.
As I turn to rejoin Yofune-san, something feels off.
“Hm?”
I stop and focus my senses.
The ground is shaking faintly. Small rocks tumble down from above. A distant, rumbling sound echoes.
It’s hard to be sure, but it feels like… footsteps. Massive ones.
Nothing this big should appear in these shallow dungeon areas.
“Yofune-san! Something huge is—”
“To the right!”
Responding to her shout, I turn to see cracks forming in the dungeon wall. The wall collapses, and from the debris emerges…
A golem.
