Chapter 351: Something Round
Explosions echoed throughout the facility.
Wilson, Olivia, and their daughter Luna were running towards the north entrance of the shopping mall.
The area around the mall had been designated as an evacuation zone for residents.
There were plenty of places to evacuate to even after leaving the mall. Wilson thought so and hurried onward.
“Luna, are you alright?”
Olivia worriedly asked Luna, who was holding her hand. Luna replied with a smile, “Yes, I’m fine,” and ran through the passage with her parents.
At that moment, another explosion resounded.
The entire building shook, and Wilson and the others stopped.
“That was close… the Seekers might be closing in. Let’s hurry!”
As Wilson said this, looking at Olivia’s face, someone came from the passage behind them. A pair of two people carrying large spears and longswords. They immediately recognized them as Seekers from Waraganda.
“R-Run! Run!!”
The three of them started running at once. However, Olivia, who was holding Luna’s hand, fell behind, so Wilson slowed down to try and pick Luna up.
At that moment—the magic released by the Seekers burst before their eyes.
The ceiling fell, and the walls collapsed. A large amount of dust filled the air, and they could see nothing.
The Seekers, seeing that the passage was completely blocked, turned back the way they came and left for another location.
◇◇◇
“Ugh…”
Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, Luna regained consciousness and opened her eyelids.
It seemed she had lost consciousness. Luna checked her body to make sure she wasn’t injured, and then immediately looked around.
She searched for her father and mother, but they were nowhere to be seen.
All she could see was a mountain of rubble. The fallen ceiling and collapsed walls blocked the passage.
“Papa, Mama! Where, where are you!?”
No one answered. Luna felt like crying from loneliness.
Still, she raised her voice and moved the rubble, searching for a place where she could somehow walk. Then, she found a place where the wall had collapsed.
She crouched down and peeked inside, and there was a hole leading to the outside passage.
Her father and mother were on the other side of the rubble. This hole was in the opposite direction, but she might be able to call for help. Luna thought so, lowered herself, and crawled through the hole.
“Wait for me, Mama! Papa!!”
Luna stood up and started running straight ahead. She shouted for help, running towards the exit of the mall.
Luna knew that many people lived near this facility.
Surely there would be someone to help. Confident in this, she approached the exit, and what jumped into Luna’s eyes was a young man holding a longsword.
Of course, he wasn’t a resident living in this area.
He was one of the bad Seekers who had attacked the townspeople. Luna stopped running and halted.
The man in front of her noticed Luna and gave her a vulgar look.
“What, a kid? If it were an adult, I could ask where the mayor ran off to…”
The tall man sighed in disappointment. However, he said, “Well, whatever,” and approached Luna.
“You’ll be useful as a hostage for negotiations. Hey, kid! Come here.”
The man walking slowly towards her looked like a demon to Luna. She put strength into her trembling legs and turned back the way she came.
“Ah! Wait!”
The man hurriedly chased after her. Luna desperately tried to escape, but there was no way she could outrun him with a child’s legs, and the man’s hand was right behind her.
At that moment—the side glass door shattered, and something came flying out.
Something round collided with the man, and they rolled together to the wall.
“Eh!?”
Luna turned around in surprise. Then, from the dust, something round came bouncing out.
Luna didn’t know what it was.
“Oh! I thought someone was being attacked, but it was Luna.”
“Eh? Eeeh!?”
The round thing spoke words and bounced towards her. Luna became scared and tried to run away as fast as she could.
“Wait, wait, Luna! It’s me, it’s me!”
Luna gasped and turned back. She recognized that voice. Luna took out her smartphone from her pocket and tried to communicate using the translation function.
“…Could it be, Yuma?”
“That’s right, that’s right, it’s me, Yuma. Even though I’m in this form.”
The round thing came bouncing to Luna’s feet. A gray body with a round shape. It looked like the monster “Slime” she had seen on TV.
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t human, but it definitely had Yuma’s presence.
“It really is Yuma… but, why did you become round?”
Luna crouched down and stroked the Slime’s head. It was wobbling, but when she touched it, it was hard and cold.
“That’s because I’m a top-notch Seeker!”
“Eh!? Can Seekers do things like this?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So cool!”
Luna looked at the round Slime, who seemed proud, with eyes of respect.
As they were having such a conversation, the man who had fallen by the wall held his head, shook it, and slowly got up.
“What the heck!? What happened?”
The Seeker man looked around and found the Slime standing there.
“A Slime…? Did this thing attack me!?”
The man brandished his longsword and approached.
The black Slime wiggled its body and leaped out in front of the man.
◇◇◇
“Hey, you! If you leave now, I’ll let you off the hook. But if you come at me, I’m going to beat you to a pulp!!”
When Yuma threatened him, the Seeker man distorted his face in fear, saying, “This guy… he’s saying something!”
Come to think of it, there was no way Japanese would be understood.
“Damn it! I don’t know what you’re saying, but I’m going to kill you anyway!!”
The man raised his longsword and ignited the blade with flames. He swung at full force, but it was deflected by the hardness of the Metal Slime.
“What!?”
As the man staggered, Yuma leaped up and charged. He extended two tentacles from his round head, wiggling them and shaping the tips into hands.
“Eat this!!”
He spread both hands and slapped the opponent’s cheeks as hard as he could.
The man’s eyes rolled back from the impact, and he fell backward. Yuma cautiously approached the man and peered into his face. He seemed to be completely unconscious.
“Alright, all done!”
Yuma clapped his tentacle hands together. Luna was staring at Yuma with a surprised expression. It might have been a little too intense.
“Anyway, let’s get out of here quickly, Luna! Follow me!”
Yuma tried to bounce away. Then Luna called out, “Wait!” using the translator.
Yuma turned around and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Papa and Mama are on the other side of the rubble! We have to save them…”
“Where are they?”
Luna pointed to the collapsed passage. Seeing that, Yuma’s eyes sharpened.
“I understand. I’ll rescue Wilson-san and the others. Luna, you get out of the building.”
“But…”
Yuma, seeing Luna hesitate, bounced closer. When he reached her feet, he extended a tentacle and patted Luna’s head.
“It’s okay. Trust me.”
“…Will you really save Papa and Mama?”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely save them!”
Relieved by those words, Luna nodded and turned on her heel to run. After seeing her off, Yuma bounced towards the collapsed passage.
He entered the hole in the wall and came out to the place where the ceiling had collapsed.
“So, this is it.”
Yuma melted his body and slipped under the rubble.