Episode 5: Wielder of Flame and Frost
Peering into the Hole, Yuma saw the Metal Slime quietly huddled in the corner.
It was a bit too far to spray without entering the Hole. In the end, he had no choice but to go inside and reach out.
Yuma cautiously entered the Hole, slowly extending his hand so as not to provoke the Slime.
If the Slime attacked, he would immediately flee. That was Yuma’s plan.
The distance between the Slime and the spray can was about 30 centimeters.
Pressing the button, he released a hissing burst of cooling spray all over the Slime’s body.
At first, the Slime didn’t seem to understand what was happening, wiggling its body in confusion. But then it realized it was under attack and frantically tried to escape.
“Whoa!”
Yuma flinched, but upon closer inspection, the Slime’s movements were awkward. The spray was clearly effective.
“Alright! Now’s my chance…”
Yuma moved the spray can closer to the Slime, unleashing another blast of cold air.
The Slime’s entire body began to turn faintly white, as if covered in frost.
Confirming that it was completely immobilized, Yuma hunched over like a turtle and ventured deeper into the Hole. He poked the frozen Slime with his finger, but it didn’t move.
“This should work!”
He placed the Cooling Spray on the ground and switched the Gas Burner to his right hand. Pulling the ignition lever, a bluish-white flame shot out, engulfing the Metal Slime.
“Whoa!”
The fire spread across the ground, erupting fiercely. “What’s going on?” he wondered, realizing that the Cooling Spray’s gas had ignited.
Reading the can’s warning label, he saw that it used flammable gas.
“So that’s it… I need to be careful.”
That being said, the intense flames were actually quite convenient. The gas seemed to be contained within the Hole, so the fire wouldn’t reach him.
Yuma distanced himself from the flames and decided to observe.
After a while, the Slime’s surface began to glow red, and its frozen body started to move.
But— crack— a fissure appeared in the Metal Slime’s outer shell. Even though it could move again, it wasn’t as fast as before. It was clearly damaged.
“It’s working! It’s working!!”
He sprayed it again with the Cooling Spray. The Metal Slime had been heated, so it didn’t freeze as easily, but he persistently continued to spray.
The Slime began to freeze again, its entire body covered in a thin layer of frost.
“This time for sure—”
Yuma brought the Gas Burner’s nozzle closer and pulled the ignition lever.
Scorched by the flames, the Metal Slime gradually glowed red. He heard the sound of the surface cracking and splintering.
Was the surface becoming brittle? If he struck it now, he could definitely defeat it!
Certain of this, he groped around for a rock, but his hand landed on something hard.
—Ah, this is!?
It was the Hammer he had dropped when he fled from the Metal Slime earlier. Yuma grabbed the Hammer and aimed it at the Metal Slime, which was slowly trying to escape.
In the narrow Hole, he swung the Hammer, and it struck the Slime’s body directly.
Smash! The impact echoed, and the Metal Slime’s body, which had been so hard, shattered into pieces.
“Yes!”
The fragmented Slime turned into fine, black sand, which scattered and disappeared. He had seen how Monsters vanished in the Dungeon on TV.
So that’s how they disappear, he thought.
Yuma illuminated the Hole with his Flashlight, searching carefully for a Magic Gem. But there was nothing that looked like one. It seemed like it hadn’t dropped anything.
“Well, I guess that’s how it is. I heard the drop rate for Monsters is super low.”
Yuma quickly gave up and crawled out of the Hole. Mamezou looked at him with a curious expression, and Yuma smiled and said, “I took care of the weird guy. It’s okay now!”
In any case, the Monster was gone. It was over.
Yuma brought a large cardboard box from the house and covered the Hole. He placed a nearby stone on top of the box to weigh it down.
That should be enough for now. He was too tired to do anything else today.
“I’ll fill the Hole when I have time, so please bear with this until then, Mamezou.”
“Woof!”
Yuma went back inside to put away the Hammer, Cooling Spray, and Gas Burner.
At the time, he thought it was over. Yes, at that time.