We remained silent, clearly embarrassed after our previous conversation. Me, because of my promises, and Jina, perhaps due to a tantrum—I wasn't entirely sure… but the blush on her face betrayed her embarrassment.
Gathering some courage, I cleared my throat and asked, "Hm-hm… How's your hand doing?"
She glanced at me, then quickly looked away and muttered, "I-it's better… Th-thank you," in a voice so low I could barely hear it.
Trying to break the awkward atmosphere, I suggested we resume our hunt, and Jina agreed right away. With her leading, we ventured deeper into the forest, the vegetation growing denser due to the increasing number of trees. The danger grew as well, since slimes hid among the underbrush, which also helped to mask their trails, making pursuit more difficult.
— "Jina, didn't we pass through here when we were fleeing that group of slimes that ambushed us?" I asked, scanning the surroundings.
— "Yeah, this is the place. That means the great lake must be nearby. I think we should fall back a bit."
— "But what if we take a closer look at the lake? What do you think?"
— "Going to the lake is risky. What if we run into an orange slime? Don't get cocky just because you leveled up. They can act in groups too, remember? That day, we saw four of them together," Jina replied.
— "We'll be fine. If necessary, we'll drop our packs and run," I answered, trying to ease the tension and convince her we could handle whatever came our way.
— "And who's going to talk to my father afterward?" she questioned.
— "Hmm, can't this be our little secret?" I thought aloud.
— "Ehh?!? S-Secret?... Fine…," Jina said, flustered, though she didn't seem completely convinced.
So, we headed toward the great lake, careful with each step. Along the way, we encountered several slimes, both solitary and in small groups, which we dispatched quickly, collecting a fair amount of cores.
We finally reached the great lake. I had forgotten how beautiful this place was; last time, there had been no time to admire the view—we were running for our lives. Today was different: without a pack of slimes chasing us, we could walk calmly, taking in our surroundings.
Even while enjoying the scenery, we remained alert, scanning for possible slime groups. The area was wide open, and the slimes often stayed close together, making it rare to find isolated groups.
Everything seemed peaceful; the pace of the hunt had slowed a bit, but we were still able to take down a few groups. "Looks like they're not around here," I thought, a little disappointed, hoping to find an orange slime.
Jina then signaled to me: there was another group to hunt. A solid group, made up of eight brown slimes, and they were definitely far from the others.
I looked at Jina, a bit concerned about her competitiveness, but she just rolled her eyes at me, indicating she was fine. We followed our stealth attack strategy and initiated another battle.
This group was big—probably the strongest we had faced so far. Even if we eliminated two in a sneak attack, we'd still be outnumbered, one against three. For me, it wasn't a big deal, but for Jina, it could be. Her agility helped her stay safe, but taking down such a powerful group on her own would be difficult.
— "Ishida, you know what to do, right?"
— "Ambush, and then each of us handles our part?"
— "Exactly," Jina replied with a determined look.
— "Just don't do anything crazy this time," I joked, teasing her.
— "Humph," she huffed, clearly annoyed by the reminder of her previous failure.
Since the area was open, getting as close as possible and waiting for the perfect moment—like we would in a dense forest—was practically impossible. We needed to close the distance and charge in, finishing them off quickly before the rest noticed.
The plan was executed, and somehow, it worked. We took out the first two slimes, now standing back-to-back as the others quickly prepared to attack.
I went for the first slime and, with a swift motion, launched a thrust. It tried to dodge, but I redirected my spear with precision, landing a clean hit. Without even returning to a guard stance, I spun and launched a sweeping strike that knocked out the second slime, feeling its core shatter from the impact. As I focused on the third, I saw it already leaping at me; I quickly raised my spear and skewered it mid-air.
Jina, meanwhile, had a different approach: she waited for one of the slimes to attack and, using the deflection technique her father had taught us, redirected it toward another charging slime, making them collide. Taking advantage of her agility, she dashed forward with a precise foot thrust, striking the last slime. Only the two slimes she had redirected remained; I moved to assist her and, to my surprise, she was already waiting for me. The slimes, dazed by the collision, didn't expect the rest of their group to fall so quickly. When they saw me approaching from one side and Jina from the other, they panicked and tried to flee. But we weren't fools—we'd been hunting for a while and knew they would try to escape in situations like this. They weren't as dumb as they looked.
Blocking their escape route, Jina swept her spear toward one of them, hoping to take it down quickly. In desperation, the slime jumped to the side, which proved to be its mistake, as I was already prepared—thrusting once more and turning it into goo. Its companion had already been taken out before Jina could even finish her attack. After my breakthrough, I had become noticeably faster and stronger, making these brown slimes easy targets when their numbers thinned.
— "Taking down that group was much easier now, thanks to you, Ishida."
— "Thanks, Jina, hehe," I replied, blushing slightly and feeling a bit shy from the compliment.
We then began collecting the cores; we had finally gathered the seven we needed.
— "Hey, hey, Ishida, take it easy! We can't destroy the cores."
— "Sorry, it was an accident…" I began to apologize, when a roar interrupted my words, and a chill ran down my spine."GRRR…"