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Chapter 102: Slime's Den (1)

Hearing the strangely muffled voice by the distance, the group was quickly taken aback as they soon became wary. Moments later, the party narrowed their eyes as they saw that the voice came from the giant slime in front of them.

"I-It came from that slime...?" Frey slightly took a step back as she sized up the monster which was almost two heads bigger than her own. "This is unlike anything we've seen..."

"Hoomans, humans. I am curious. Why have you come to this place?" The slime leapt forward as it swiftly made its way towards the group and, the moment it landed on the ground, a sudden notification appeared before the eyes of the party members.

[ King Leloop, King of the Sanke Slimes has appeared before you! ]

[ All non-slimes who are in his presence will have their defences lowered by 1% for every slime in a 35-meter vicinity. ]

[ All non-slimes who are in his presence will receive 50% additional poison damage and it can only be cured through herbs. ]

[ You have resisted. ]

"This is not good..." Kon cowered in fear as he noticed the menacing aura coming from Leloop.

"...the king of slimes," Shinto assessed the situation before him as he glanced around the area, noting that there were many slimes moving about in what seemed to be a street. Some slimes ignored the group, while others were curious, he could even hear certain murmurs coming from them as if their group was the hot topic.

After confirming the situation, Shinto's eyes turned back towards Leloop still on high alert. "If we were to fight... that guy's going to deal true damage to us."

Fighting against the king slime amidst the ooze of Sanke Slimes within the area wouldn't do the party any good. At that point, the defence debuff would be incredibly high, and without any sort of damage reduction skills or barriers, it would mean their death just from a couple of strong hits by the boss if he were to deal high damage.

"...In order to fight it, we'll need to be able to dodge all its attacks." Deep within thought, Shinto calmly analyzed as he soon shook his head of the thought. "No... counting on dodging all its attacks would be impossible." His line of thinking was quickly interrupted as he heard the voice from the king.

"Hmm, you all seem wary. Why so?" Leloop calmly stated. "Do not fret. We mean no harm."

"What?" Ethaniel blankly stared at the statement. "You mean no harm yet you took one of our companions from us?"

"Gloop! Gloop!" The small slime bounced up and down in reply.

"Yes, yes. The 'friend' that they were referring to is that human which your brother brought here, I see, I see." Leloop seemed to have nodded his head over towards the small slime. "So because of that; you brought them here?"

"Gloop!"

"...what are they saying?" Kon uttered in confusion.

"The hell am I supposed to know?" Ethaniel whispered in reply.

"They seem to be conversing with one another... just what are they talking about?" Frey questioned.

"King Leloop." Without wasting any time in the matter, Shinto quickly stepped forward from the group, swiftly confronting the king. "You seem to know the whereabouts of our companion?"

"The whereabouts of your friend... yes, yes," Leloop calmly stated. "I do know where your friend is. However- That human is very important for us as of the moment."

"Important?" Shinto blinked at the sudden words coming out from Leloop. Soon after, he further continued his inquiry. "What does a mage have an importance to you?"

"They who throw the flame of hope against the seeker of death-" The slime leapt away from the group whilst seemingly repeating a verse. "-shall seek retribution and free us all."

"...?" Shito tilted his head at the verses stated by the slime. "The 'seeker of death', are you referring to what they call 'Sanke'?"

"Hmm, human, you seem to know well. Thus I'm sure you'll understand." The slime continued leaping away from the group. "It is of high importance that we request help from your friend. This is a life or death situation after allSo, till then, we cannot allow you to have that human."

"Hmm... I cannot allow you to leave without an answer either." Shinto hurriedly stopped the king. "This 'request' and 'life or death situation' you say; you can't just leave us hanging like that," he stated. "As she is a part of our party, we demand to know what this is all about."

"Gloop! Gloop!" The small slime seemed to angrily bounce as if angered at the king.

"It is simple humans. The request is to use the Flames of Etheral that we have kept archived here to defeat Sanke who lurks deep within this catacomb cursing us all," Leloop stated. "For this friend of yours shall learn the arts and use it to help us defeat him."

"And you're just going to keep her away from us?" Ethaniel frowned. "Why can't you just show us where she is?"

"They who shall learn the arts shall not be disturbed." The slime firmly stated. "Until it is done, you may not see your friend; likewise she may not see you."

"Tch... and what makes us unable to help her?" Ethaniel scoffed.

"It is dangerous for you humans as only the one who holds the Flames of Etheral can fend off the darkness of Sanke." Not wanting to entertain the group anymore, the slime continued moving farther and farther away. "For the time being, your group may stay in our sanctuary. Rustly who has escorted you shall take you to a suitable quarter." His last words protruded out as he disappeared into the distance.

"..." The group was left speechless at the acts of the king, however, unable to do anything, they could only sigh helplessly.

"...master, what do we do now?" Kon muttered out over to Shinto. "Should we trust this guy's words?"

"...bah. I don't like this at all," Ethaniel scoffed. "They took Raina forcibly and we can't do anything about it? Might as well just drag us into this request!"

"Gloop..." The slime sadly uttered out.

"I'm sure the king has good intentions on us! Like, you heard the words of 'curse' right? That's probably why..." Frey reasoned. "He's showing goodwill!"

"...sigh. We can't really do much about this at the moment," Shinto shook his head helplessly. "These guys have the upper hand, so we can't retaliate. As for the circumstance of the curse... I'll see if I can speak with the king again later."

"Huh? You can get around the curse?" Frey blinked at the thought.

"It is something only a handful can do... but yes," Shinto replied vaguely as he turned to Ethaniel. "I'm sure someone else can get away from it too."

"..." Ethaniel kept quiet.

"Ahem, in any case... for the time being, let's just see how this goes," Shinto nodded his head. "It seems that we won't be able to see Raina for a long while, but we'll play along. I'm curious about this place anyways."