Roooar!
Realizing that they were being outmatched by the humans and were rapidly dying, one of the large heavenly lake serpents stuck fighting the crimson flame knight, let out a loud roar before all of the heavenly lake serpents began retreating. Not wanting to continue fighting a clearly lost battle against these hairless mountain gnolls.
"Don’t chase after them, our original goal is still the mutated dragon devouring slime!"
Seeing that some of the humans were about to try and chase after the escaping heavenly lake serpents, the crimson flame knight stepped in and stopped them. Allowing the heavenly lake serpents to escape, while also reminding the rest of the humans present about their goal of coming to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
It was also for this reason that he had ignored the curious monster that looked very much like a small dragon that had appeared in front of them just before the heavenly lake serpents had attacked him.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way he would have allowed such a unique monster to escape, but for now, the most important thing for them was to get rid of the mutated dragon devouring slime before it ended up becoming a bigger problem than what it had already become.
Luckily, when he had gone out of the dungeon to look for people that could hunt down the mutated dragon devouring slime, it just so happened that a group of slime enthusiasts was passing by. Studying local slimes that lived outside the city walls.
Even better, this group of slime enthusiasts were all part of a worldwide organization dedicated to the pursuit of understanding slime through studying them and researching their behavior and other things.
In other words, a rather hardcore group of slime enthusiasts, who happened to be specialized when it came to dealing with slimes, something that he really did need at the moment... And considering how unique a dragon devouring slime- let alone a mutated one was, it was rather simple to get them to help out.
Of course, it did make it a bit simpler with the new branch guild leader of the dungeon town also being a member of this slime research organization.
"Of course! The slime will always take priority over those snakes, I was just a bit curious about them and wanted to see what might happen if I feed them to one of my slimes."
"Me too, I wanted to see if feeding heavenly lake serpents to a water slime would cause some kind of evolution to take place."
"Feeding heavenly lake serpents to water slimes... Brilliant idea! Both with an affinity for water, this will definitely result in some kind of unique evolution!"
"Hehe, not just that, but after feeding the heavenly lake serpent meat to it, I was also planning to-"
"STOP! Focus on the goal! You will all have more than enough time to chat with each other after we deal with the mutated dragon devouring slime!" Interrupting the group of slime enthusiasts as they were about to start yet another discussion on slime, the crimson flame knight, who had already endured a lot of those kinds of discussions on his way down to the fourth floor of the dungeon, stopped them before they had a chance to continue. Reminding them of their current objective.
"Ah! Yes, of course! Oh? Would look at that, what a great specimen it is!"
"Indeed, I really would have loved if one of us could tame it so the rest of us could study it more closely..."
"..."
Feeling like he was about to personally end this group of slime enthusiasts, the crimson flame knight didn’t bother trying to interrupt them again-
"Huh? W-what are you doing!?"
"Just helping you get moving."
Swish-!
Instead, he casually grabbed one of the most annoying among them and threw him in the direction of the mutated dragon devouring slimes.
Boing~
Reacting just in time before he hit the ground, this slime enthusiast managed to summon a slime that softened his fall, but that wasn’t important. The important thing was that the rest of the slime enthusiasts seemed to finally get the message as they began moving forward. Not wanting to get sent flying like their friend. Especially considering that not all of them could pull the same trick of using a slime to cushion the impact from being thrown a few meters into the air.
Growl?
Growl...?
Only now noticing the group of humans that had shown up, as they had been busy dealing with the mutated dragon devouring slime after the heavenly lake serpents suddenly stopped rushing over, the mountain gnolls let out somewhat confused growls. Not understanding what kind of monster had appeared in front of them this time around.
The reason for this being that a human entering the fourth floor of the dungeon was rare and it was even rarer for them to wander all the way into the mountain range and the part under the control of the mountain gnolls.
The only ones among the mountain gnolls who understood what kind of creature had just appeared in front of them was the older shamans and the mountain gnoll lord, who all showed a hint of fear after noticing the large group of humans rushing over.
The reason for this was also rather simple, as the few humans that the mountain gnolls living on the fourth floor of the dungeon did end up encountering were all extremely powerful. Normally being A Rank Adventurers who had at least reached level 70 and were comparable to the mountain gnoll lord if not stronger than that.
For this reason, they felt terrified deep inside upon seeing a group of close to a dozen of these terrifying creatures suddenly appearing in front of them. Far more scared than when faced with the mutated dragon devouring slime.
GROOOWL!
Because of this, without a second thought, the mountain gnolls decided on a tactical retreat. Not planning on clashing with both the terrifying humans and the mutated dragon devouring slime at the same time. Hoping that the humans wouldn’t chase after them.
"Huh? They... They are running away? Aren’t mountain gnolls known to be extremely territorial and aggressive?"
"Who knows... Maybe our dear crimson flame knight friend paid a visit to them in the past and they recognized him. After all, this is the dungeon he is mainly operating inside of..."
"True... With someone like that appearing, it’s no wonder the mountain gnolls decided to run away!"
Seeing how the mountain gnolls ran away without a fight, all of the humans were left confused, but in the end just decided to blame it on the crimson flame knight being intimidating before they focused their attention back of the mutated dragon devouring slime now motionlessly bouncing up and down in front of them without attacking or escaping. Clearly also confused by what had just happened.
"No more play time, everyone, get ready, we are killing this slime before it can escape!"
Not caring about the comments about him being intimidating, the crimson flame knight just rolled his eyes as he instructed everyone to get ready before he made the first move and charged towards the mutated dragon devouring slime.
Bang~!
Soon enough, he clashed with the mutated dragon devouring slime again, as the slime in question finally seemed to wake up before starting to fight back against him with more power than it had in the past.
Luckily, he was prepared this time around, as the group of slime enthusiasts quickly sprang into action and began using everything at their disposal to try and suppress the mutated dragon devouring slime.
Boing~! Boing~!
In the end, it didn’t take long before the mutated dragon devouring slime was trapped without any path to escape, as the slime enthusiasts had found different ways to keep it in place and allow the crimson flame knight to start getting dangerously close to reaching its core.
...
This... The humans are actually winning against the mutated dragon devouring slime!
Watching the battle play out from a safe distance, Scaly could not help showing a surprised expression on her face, as she watched the once powerful mutated dragon devouring slime getting easily suppressed by the group of humans without any way to fight back, as they used all sorts of strange attacks to keep it in place without any way out.
If what she had seen earlier as they fought off the heavenly lake serpents had impressed her of their strength, the current meticulous strategies used in suppressing the mutated dragon devouring slime made her feel a bit fearful of them, as she watched how the size of the mutated dragon devouring slime seemed to decrease in size over time due to some of the humans ripping off part of its body before putting it into strange glass containers that they then looked at filled with happiness.
Humans... They were far more terrifying creatures than she had first imagined them to be. Especially the group currently fighting the mutated dragon devouring slime...