“Damn it! Come out already!”
I shouted by the spring.
The Hamo demon beast I was fighting had escaped into the water and hadn’t come out since.
Thanks to the effects of using 〖Provoke〗 and 〖Alluring Radiance〗, it hadn’t completely fled, and was still peeking at me from the depths of the spring.
But no matter how many times I used 〖Provoke〗 after that, it wouldn’t come any closer. It’s hard to stack these kinds of 〖Skills〗.
“Here, here, it’s food!”
I stretched out a part of my body into a thin, long shape, like a fishing rod and line, and wiggled it in the water.
Fishing rods aren’t covered by 〖Weapon Body〗, so it was a bit of a struggle to transform, and the line ended up being as thick as a tube.
Maybe it was because it was such a poorly made fishing rod, but Hamo didn’t seem interested in biting.
Maybe it’s also because there’s no bait.
I thought about using the deer corpse, but it would be tragic if it just stole the bait.
I plan to take at least this deer home in the end.
I want to try every possible method for now, rather than resorting to a last gamble.
“Hey, look, there’s a UFO flying over there!”
I turned around and showed my back, but there was no reaction.
Besides, you can’t even tell the front from the back of a slime.
“Slish, slish.”
I tried dancing.
But Hamo didn’t come out.
Guess it won’t be like the cave of Ama-no-Iwato.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
Fue Toukouya (Jewel Weapon Slime) has acquired 〖Skill: Dance〗.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Okay, next…”
I transformed a part of my body into a whip and submerged it in the water.
Hamo retreated a little, as if wary.
Well, the distance doesn’t really matter, though.
“Activate, 〖Earth Growth Thunderbolt〗!”
I gathered 〖Mana〗 at the tip of my body, and shot it out as lightning.
The spring was dyed with flashes of light.
“Looks like it’s working.”
The lightning pierced straight through Hamo, inflicting continuous damage.
Its body was twitching.
I continued to emit lightning at Hamo, who was struggling in the water, trying to escape. If I kept consuming 〖Mana〗, I could keep shooting it like a laser beam.
But I have to check my remaining 〖Mana〗, since it’s being consumed so rapidly.
Then, when my remaining 〖Mana〗 dropped below 30%, I jumped back.
A beat later, sharp fangs attacked the spot where I had been.
“So you finally came out.”
“Shuu!”
Hamo, judging that it would be a losing battle if it stayed put, had attacked me.
I immediately tried to approach and attack, but by then, Hamo had already backed away.
It was a mistake to flinch and avoid the bite earlier.
The sight of those fangs coming at me stimulated an instinctive fear.
My head knew that I was fine since I was unharmed the first time, but I reflexively ran away.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
Fue Toukouya (Jewel Weapon Slime)’s Soul Accumulation Value (Level) has increased to 30.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And while I was reflecting on that, my 〖Level〗 went up.
But Hamo wasn’t dead.
This must be the 〖Experience Points〗 from the other aquatic creatures in the spring.
My Unique Skill can give some direction to the lightning strikes, but it still disperses somewhat.
Even more so in the water.
I felt sorry for getting them caught up in it, and focused my attention on Hamo.
The lightning strike seemed to have been quite effective, as its bite just now was less sharp than the first one.
But it was far from being incapacitated.
Its three eyes were firmly fixed on me.
“Juu, ruu…!”
Hamo groaned in pain and activated a 〖Skill〗.
It released the whirlpool it had used earlier, and a mass of vivid purple liquid that looked like poison.
“Whoa, whoa… whoa.”
I dodged, dodged, dodged them.
Hamo seemed to be better at close-range attacks, and its barrage was rather crude.
But the problem is how to counterattack.
I don’t want to consume any more 〖Mana〗 if possible… but I can’t reach it from here even if I extend my whip.
As I was racking my brain, I suddenly noticed something in the corner of my vision.
I adjusted my position while dodging, in order to execute that idea.
“Okay, 〖Slash〗!”
I swung my whip sword and cut off one of the stag’s horns.
I quickly wrapped it up and pulled it towards me.
“Slash!”
And then, I jumped immediately!
I jumped over the line of fire of the approaching whirlpools and poison liquid, and then unleashed my Unique Skill.
“Shuruu!?”
And in the moment its movements were dulled by the lightning strike—
“〖Throwing〗!”
—I threw the stag horn!
The red, sharp, and ominous stag horn hit Hamo’s head cleanly.
Was it the stag’s grudge? Luckily, the pointed part of the horn hit, and it dug in deep.
“Juu, u…”
Hamo, after taking that hit, stopped using the 〖Skills〗 it had been using with such ferocity, and instead began to thrash wildly.
It’s a bit of an overreaction for just having a horn stuck in it. No, it’s stuck in pretty deep, so it must hurt, but it’s not just that. There’s something unusual about the way it’s thrashing.
“Could it be that the horn was actually cursed…?”
It thrashed around on the surface of the water for a while, but gradually lost its strength, and eventually lay still on the water.
The blood flowing from its head was staining the clear water a dark red.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
Fue Toukouya (Jewel Weapon Slime)’s Soul Accumulation Value (Level) has increased to 38.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~