— "Grrrrr…"
That growl was familiar. Slowly, Jina and I turned around—and there they were: two orange slimes. But one of them stood out—it was larger, with a darker hue. As that one advanced toward me, the other fired a jet of green slime straight at Jina.
I managed to block the attack from the approaching slime. I tried to push it back with the spear's shaft, but the impact was stronger than I expected, forcing me to take a step back.
Jina rolled to the side, getting out of harm's way, and instructed me to remove the weights as soon as I had an opening. Each of us would fight our own opponent until we could find a chance to escape.
But I was still too close to the slime—there was no way to remove my weights now. My only option was to keep fighting.
— "Jina, can you hold yours off for a bit? As soon as I'm done, I'll come help you," I said, turning my focus to my opponent.
— "Yeah, don't worry. I'll get rid of the weights before it gets too close and buy us some time. But Ishida, be careful with that slime," she replied, already removing her weight plates.
In this battle, Jina just needed to rely on her agility and keep her distance from the slime, avoiding a direct confrontation. That way, she could distract it long enough—even though it was one level above her—I trusted her experience to handle the situation. That trust eased my mind and allowed me to focus completely on my own opponent. I was confident I could defeat it, even with the weights still on.
The fight began. The orange slime lunged at me again, but I blocked its attack. This time, not underestimating its strength, I forced it down. Without wasting a second, I launched a thrust, but it was fast and repositioned itself immediately. My attack hit the ground, and my spear got stuck. The slime then spat another stream of green slime at me, and I had no choice but to abandon the weapon.
I realized that had been its goal all along—to disarm me. It positioned itself between me and the spear, clearly guarding it. I quickly glanced at Jina. She was still holding her weapon, no longer burdened by her weights, and though her opponent gave her no rest, she managed to stay on the defensive. "She's clearly in a better position than me… but I can't focus on her right now. I need to handle my own problem," I thought.
The slime seemed to give up on charging at me directly, instead keeping a distance and spitting slime shots. Every time I tried to get closer, it became harder to dodge. On top of that, it kept trying to land physical blows too. As I searched for a solution, things seemed difficult… until I finally had an idea.
POV: Jina
I was facing the most formidable opponent I'd ever encountered in a life-or-death battle. But despite how terrifying the slime was, I managed to hold my ground. It was relentless, attacking without pause and leaving me no room to breathe. I had to keep dodging and retreating, with no chance to counterattack.
Keeping a good distance, all I really had to deal with were the slime shots, which I could now manage well since removing my weights. I felt like my speed had practically doubled—after all, for weeks I'd been carrying around half my body weight in those plates.
The slime remained relentless, firing shot after shot. I could tell it was growing frustrated and trying to close the distance. Trusting my agility, I kept falling back to maintain range—but then I noticed something: I was drifting too far from Ishida. That was a problem for several reasons… other slime groups might appear, and if anything went wrong, it would be harder for us to help each other.
So, I decided to circle around the slime and retreat in Ishida's direction, managing to position myself behind his opponent. It was easier than I expected—the slime was clearly irritated, failing to take out someone it saw as weaker prey.
I got closer and heard his voice:
— "Jina, switch opponents with me."
I turned to assess the situation and noticed something stuck in the ground. "Wait—is that his spear? What an idiot!" Without hesitation, I charged at Ishida's slime and thrust my weapon at its back. But I wasn't lucky—the slime noticed and dodged the attack.
I felt Ishida rush past me—he managed to grab his spear, yank it from the ground, and ready it for a strike. The slime that had been chasing me tried to hit me from behind, but Ishida's swift action saved me just in time.
POV: Ishida Namikaze – a few seconds earlier
I saw Jina approaching, positioning herself well to land a strike on my slime. I didn't think she'd hit it, but I was sure she could at least throw it off balance.
— "Jina, switch opponents with me!" I shouted. I noticed her eyeing my fallen spear with that usual look of disapproval before she launched herself at my adversary.
Without delay, I ran toward the slime too. The creature, having noticed Jina, dodged as expected, making her attack miss. Then I noticed another slime lining up behind her, likely aiming for a back attack.
I passed Jina and finally reached my spear, pulling it free with a firm grip and preparing to strike. The slime behind her was already mid-jump, going for the kill. But I was faster—I launched a thrust through the air.
The slime burst apart, defeated.
— "We did it, Jina."
— "Ishida, you idiot. How do you lose your weapon in a fight like that? Seriously…" she scolded, walking up to me.
— "Sorry, Jina, hehe. They're faster and smarter than I expected."
— "Speaking of smart and fast… I think we should leave that one behind. It's definitely not like the other slime."
— "Agreed. Let's get out of here, Jina."
As always, Jina collected the core left by the fallen orange slime—a slightly larger core with a deeper hue than those of the brown ones. We began to retreat and, to our surprise, the remaining orange slime didn't follow. It just watched us leave, like a beast warding off intruders from its territory.