The Dark Event for this stage was as follows:
[Activated Dark Event: Boss Enhancement I]
> One random enhancement trait is given to the boss monster.
So, we wouldn’t know what enhancement trait was given until we encountered it.
Furthermore, we still hadn’t confirmed which monster among the Slime Legion would be the boss.
’These slime guys are pretty diverse, aren’t they?’
Which one was selected as the boss monster? Slime King? Slime General? Or, god forbid, Slime Abomination?
Still, given the current situation, I think we could handle just about anything.
*Thud.*
"?"
*Thud.*
"Hm?"
...I think I heard something ominous.
*Thud-!*
From the end of the right castle wall, a series of unidentified heavy sounds echoed. Heroes, soldiers, and I all simultaneously looked in that direction.
Nothing was visible.
*Crash!*
However, something ’invisible’ was climbing up the castle wall.
The steel plates of the right castle wall seemed to sag under a tremendous weight. What in the world...?
’Slimes don’t have the ability to become invisible, do they?’
Could it be—the boss monster was granted ’Stealth’ due to the Dark Event Enhancement?
"Damien! Do you see that?"
I urgently called Damien, but even he frowned and remained silent.
"Ah, no, I can’t detect anything. I know something’s there, but..."
Even with his [Far-Sight] skill, he couldn’t detect it? Just how high-level was this Stealth?
We couldn’t just stand around. I quickly gave the order.
"Fire in that direction, now!"
Damien immediately drew his Black Queen and aimed at the invisible entity.
"The tip of my gun glows...and the trigger passes judgment."
Forget your angsty lines and just shoot already!
*Boom-!*
A magical bullet burst from the muzzle of the Black Queen, tearing through space and rushing forward. The bullet hit the ’something’ that was climbing up the right castle wall.
*Splat!*
With that, the invisible ’something’s’ Stealth was undone, and its identity was revealed.
*Roooaar!*
It was a massive... truly massive slime.
Within its gelatinous, massive body, hundreds, thousands of colors swirled around. It was nearly the size of a small hill.
On top of its gigantic body, a golden crown made of magical power was slowly spinning.
’A golden crown on a massive slime?’
My mouth hung open.
"What the hell is this monster...?!"
[Enemy Info - STAGE 8]
- Lv.35 Slime Emperor <Stealth Enhanced>: 1
- Lv.30 Acidic Slime: 26
- Lv.25 Tricolor Slime: 33
"It’s a Slime Emperor?!"
A top-tier monster that I’ve rarely encountered even while playing ’Protect the Empire’, the absolute highest rank among all slime-type monsters!
’They gave Stealth to this monster through the Dark Event? Are they insane?!’
Moreover, even with Stealth, normal slime monsters should approach with their allies.
So, this one maintained Stealth while its minions were killed, circled the battlefield, and climbed the wall?
Is that even possible for a slime-type monster?
"Enough of this crap, dammit!"
Whooooosh!
With a sound akin to an elephant’s trumpeting, the Slime Emperor leapt onto the ramparts.
I yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Cannoneers! Everyone, fall back!"
Crash-boom!
The Slime Emperor shattered all the cannons placed on the right side of the walls as it ascended.
Cannoneers screamed in unison and began to flee into the safety of the castle walls.
Caught off guard, cold sweat trickled down my spine. But there was still a way.
"Lilly! Use [Reset from the Beginning]!"
"Got it!"
Following my command, the alchemists on the artifact team grumbled as they took out metal plates the size of a human torso.
It was an SSR-grade Water Artifact, [Reset from the Beginning], obtained after completing Stage 5.
When this massive golden plate targets an enemy, it can forcibly teleport them back to the wave’s starting point.
It could only be used once per stage, but in specific situations, it was an extremely useful artifact. Just like right now!
"Activating artifact!"
The alchemists aimed the metal plate at the Slime Emperor and activated the artifact.
Whirrrr!
The metal plate glowed white. Soon, it would ’click’ and capture the target monster, teleporting it back to the wave’s starting point.
However, just then,
Slosh!
The body of the Slime Emperor undulated like a water droplet, and from within, it spewed out a torrent of smaller slimes.
It was the Slime Emperor’s special ability: Slime Summon.
The smaller slimes, launched like cannonballs, rained down on the artifact team,
Click!
And completely blocked the sight of [Reset from the Beginning].
The swarm of small slimes caught by the artifact was instantly teleported back to the wave’s starting point, but the Slime Emperor remained in place, unfazed.
I clenched my teeth.
No other choice. It has to die here.
"Let’s gooooo!"
The game’s absurd difficulty, my own oversight for not considering stealth among the dark event enhancements, and the monstrous thing in front of me—I cursed at all three and stretched my arm forward.
"Anyone capable of close combat, grab a mace and shield and come forward! No matter what happens, we’ll hold it at the wall!"
Evangeline and Lucas were already rushing forward.
After giving the order to hold the monster with all available melee troops, I looked at the mages.
"Let me make this clear: The Slime Emperor is virtually immune to elemental magic."
The Slime Emperor possesses all the characteristics held by every type of slime.
In other words, it has fire, water, lightning, wind, ice... all the attributes are within it.
If hit with elemental magic, it switches its own attribute to reduce the damage.
Only non-elemental, or perhaps light or dark magic would be somewhat effective, but there are no mages of that sort here.
So, our most powerful damage dealers—the mages—would be relegated to being spectators.
And that means we won’t have enough firepower to kill it.
’That’s not an option.’
"Junior. Prepare to use your ultimate skill, [Elemental Disassembly]."
If Junior’s ultimate skill could drain the Slime Emperor’s Magic Power stats to the negatives, then Reina’s potent wind magic could deliver the final blow. That was my plan to defeat that monster.
However, Junior responded with a defeated look.
"Your Highness, I’m embarrassed to say, I need time to recover due to overexerting myself with rapid spell casting."
Junior looked pale. Her body was evidently not in good shape, but that didn’t mean we were out of options.
"Reina, assist Junior."
Both mages wore expressions of displeasure, but I pressed on sternly.
"Stop wasting time and do as I say. Don’t you see the situation? The enemy boss monster has climbed up the walls. If we can’t stop it here, this city is done for!"
A melee had already erupted beyond the walls.
Whoooosh!
Tentacle-like protrusions extended from the Slime Emperor’s massive body, whipping around, targeting humans.
Shield bearers were getting swept away, screaming as they fell.
"Junior, cast your spells as quickly as possible. Use the essence stored in your staff to recover your magic power, got it?"
"...Understood, Your Highness."
"Reina, fully support Junior with all you have. Once she uses [Elemental Disassembly], immediately attack the Slime Emperor."
Reina asked, unconvinced.
"Why would her magic be able to penetrate that monster’s robust magical defense?"
"You’ll see."
Resigned, Reina placed her hand on Junior’s shoulder, assisting in the casting of the spell. Other mages in Reina’s party also assisted.
"Whew... Here goes!"
Whooooom!
Junior began preparing [Elemental Disassembly].
It was a time-consuming spell, which meant we had to hold off the Slime Emperor until then.
"Damien!"
I called out to our sniper.
"Can you see its soul core?"
Aiming his gun at the Slime Emperor, Damien muttered nervously.
"No, Your Highness. I can’t locate its soul core. Or rather, it has too many. Almost its entire body is filled with them. I don’t know where to aim..."
The Slime Emperor was a monstrous fusion of thousands of slimes.
For Damien, who specialized in targeting a single entity’s soul core, there were too many potential targets.
But he could still be useful.
"Damien, your role today is not to kill that monster. It’s to save our allies."
"Huh?"
"Monitor the battlefield. If our troops are in imminent danger from that monster, snipe it to keep it at bay. Can you do that, Damien?"
Damien, who had looked nervous, finally cracked a smile and nodded.
"Heh heh... I like that. I’ll give it a try."
I still couldn’t quite get used to that smug laugh of his, but when tasked with protecting allies instead of killing enemies, Damien seemed genuinely more comfortable. This natural-born healer...
After issuing various commands to the rear members like Lilly and Saintess Margarita, I urgently rushed to join the front lines.
Boom! Crash! Bang!
Atop the fortress wall, the human-formed defense was barely holding on.
"Sir! Cover the lower right!"
"I know! You take the upper left!"
Evangeline and Lucas, each holding a shield, were at the forefront, fending off the Slime Emperor’s attacks.
Right behind them, ordinary soldiers also held their shields professionally, forming a wall. Together, they blocked several tentacle attacks from the Slime Emperor.
"Aaagh!"
"Ugh!"
Each time, they were pushed back but managed to maintain the defense by taking turns.
"Hold on just a bit longer! The mages are preparing a spell to kill that bastard!"
I encouraged our allies while directing the defense line.
For a while, it seemed like we were holding on. But then,
"Ouch! That hurts!"
"Guh...!"
Both Evangeline and Lucas began to accumulate minor injuries.
The Slime Emperor had numerous tentacles, and it was impossible to block them all. Evangeline and Lucas swung their maces and war hammers, but each time, acidic fluid splattered.
"Hurgh!"
"Aaaah!"
The ordinary soldiers were also showing their limits in sustaining the defense.
They could only block and get pushed back so many times before everyone started to struggle.
Boom! Bang!
As the battle raged on, the only soldiers holding their ground were the 50 reinforcements sent from the Imperial Capital.
True to their elite status, they efficiently held their shields against the Slime Emperor’s attacks.
However, even their faces began to show signs of fatigue.
’How much longer can we hold on like this?’
While assessing the situation, I gritted my teeth when I noticed something unsettling.
Twitch. Twitch.
Some were continually trying to retreat among the defense units.
The newly arrived Penal Squad.
The ragtag band of outlaws was continually retreating, putting a greater burden on the other defense squads.
"Those sons of...!"
I dashed to the back of the Penal Squad and yelled furiously.
"What the hell are you doing?! Don’t retreat! Maintain the defense line!"
"But, but..."
The outlaws looked at me with pale faces.
"We, we, we’re scared."
"What?"
"We don’t want to die fighting such a monster in someone else’s country!"
Someone else’s country...?
At a loss for words, I stood there dumbfounded.
Whooooosh!
Meanwhile, the Slime Emperor’s tentacles continued to rain down upon us.
--TL Notes--
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