Floor 9 of the Minato Ward Dungeon, the innermost boss room.
The sixteen slimes that usually spawned there were nowhere to be seen. In their place sat a single, gargantuan slime.
Its massive body was already taller than me—large enough to swallow three or four people whole. Its appearance was truly bizarre, making it difficult to identify its type at a glance. Parts of its body were crystallized, while others were shrouded in shadow or draped in moss and spores. It simultaneously erupted with intense flames and emitted freezing air, while its base hissed and melted the ground into smoke. It seemed to possess a staggering array of abilities.
It was essentially a slime chimera.
Facing this monstrosity, I—
"Die!"
I unleashed a Mighty Blade-enhanced Great Flying Blade, infused with 5 HP.
The massive aura of the slash soared forward. The giant slime reacted instantly, shifting a part of its body to form a crystal shield. Perhaps it had used a skill as well, for the shield emitted a faint radiance.
My slash collided with it head-on.
I watched with bated breath, and the result was—
"Hell yeah! Floor 9 cleared!"
Without a moment’s hesitation, the slash tore through both the shield and the giant slime. The blade continued down the passage behind the monster, toward the stairs to Floor 10. A moment later, the roar and vibration of the strike slamming into the dungeon wall reached me from deep within the tunnel.
Naturally, the giant slime, bisected perfectly, was blown to smithereens by the aftereffects. Its HP must have been obliterated instantly; it dissolved into particles of light and dropped a magic stone.
In other words—the Floor 9 boss room was conquered!
Now we could finally head to Floor 10. Since our progress in the Shinjuku Dungeon was still stalled at the Floor 8 monster room, this would be the first time Hinata-san and I set foot on the tenth floor of any dungeon. Well, the same went for the ninth floor, but the milestone felt different.
『Wait, what the hell are you doing?!』 『Why did you just stand there and watch the slimes merge?!』 『No, he definitely went out of his way to make them do that!』 『He shattered the floor between them with a Mighty Blade flying slash just to show them he could, then told them, "Hurry up and merge already." That was hilarious lol.』 『I knew this felt familiar—it’s a total Demon King move. Flexing the power gap to make the Hero go all out, then effortlessly crushing them to cause absolute despair!』 『What do you have against slimes?!』 『Is this guy crazy? He made the enemy stronger on purpose.』 『Leveling Junkie Bro is usually crazy. That's just standard.』
Comments from the viewers poured in through the drone.
Yes, in truth, that giant slime was the result of the sixteen slimes that spawned in the boss room merging together.
After fighting through the boss rooms of Floors 5 through 8 in rapid succession, I’d had a thought. Slimes were quite short, making it difficult to mow them all down with a single sweep of an aura blade. I had been forced to pick them off one by one with Flying Blades, which was a huge hassle.
That was when I realized that if I condensed them into a single target, it would save me a lot of work.
Legion Slimes always appeared in the monster rooms and boss rooms of the Slime Dungeon, and if left alone, they would use Fusion Absorption to merge. Furthermore, according to the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki, slimes have a habit of actively trying to merge into a Legion Slime when they sense danger.
My clever self had decided to exploit this behavior.
Thus, I opened the fight by flashily shattering the floor with a Mighty Flying Blade to make them realize the power gap. Once I’d waited for all the slimes to merge, I defeated the resulting Legion Slime in a fair, one-on-one duel.
The experience points gained were technically lower this way, but slimes offered poor XP to begin with. Since my target today was exclusively the Metasla, I was willing to ignore the loss of pocket-change XP.
"Good job, Takeo-kun."
"Thanks! Good job to you too, Hinata-san!"
"Yeah. Though I was just being carried on your back, so I'm not really tired."
As the battle ended, Hinata-san approached me with a wry smile.
『Still, that was insanely fast lol.』 『It hasn’t even been five hours since the stream started!』 『Even if he ignored all the trash mobs on the way, this speed is seriously inhuman.』 『And he did it while carrying Hinata-chan the whole time.』 『Isn’t his stamina also beyond human, running for five hours straight like that?』 『Watching this really makes me feel how much Leveling Junkie Bro has grown.』 『Seriously, his stamina and movements are on par with a top-tier explorer.』 『Has Leveling Junkie Bro finally reached that realm...?!』 『Wait, who are you to talk? lol.』 『Stop acting like his secret mentor lol.』 『I remember it like it was yesterday... those days we spent training together...!』 『lol.』 『Another fake memory lol.』 『Wait, "top-tier realm"... It hasn't even been two months since Leveling Junkie Bro became an explorer...』 『Wha?! Now that you mention it, you’re right! This guy’s growth is way too fast!』
Ignoring the viewers' comments, I picked up the dropped magic stone and put it in Hinata-san's backpack.
When slimes merged, they only dropped a single magic stone or item. However, the value of the stone apparently increased based on the number and level of the slimes that had fused. That said, just like with the experience points, it was usually more profitable to kill sixteen separate slimes and collect sixteen separate stones.
Because of this, Legion Slimes were generally despised in the Slime Dungeon.
"Well then, shall we move on, Hinata-san?"
"Yeah. Finally, Floor 10."
I prompted Hinata-san, and we headed for the passage leading out of the boss room. Beyond it was a long staircase descending to the tenth floor.
We moved from Floor 9 down to Floor 10. And then—
"Oh? There’s a crowd gathered here."
"I wonder if something happened?"
Just before we reached the Floor 10 Staircase Plaza, we found a large number of explorers clustered on the steps. At a glance, there looked to be about twenty people, meaning multiple parties had converged in one spot.
Angry shouting echoed through the air, and some people looked visibly desperate. On closer inspection, a good portion of the group was sitting on the steps, receiving first aid from their comrades. Their appearances were grim—dented armor, half-shattered shields, and stains of drying blood. It was easy to see they had suffered massive damage.
Some had quite serious injuries, but as expected of Special Crisis Case Explorers, they seemed to be managing with their own potions.
I wondered what had happened. I could guess by looking at them, but it was safer to ask. As I descended the stairs and approached the group, I called out to the person nearest to me.
"Excuse me, what happened here?"
"Hmm? You two are..."
The woman who looked up had distinctive paint across her face—it was Ajari Kong.
"Leveling Junkie Bro and Hinata, right?"
"Ah, yes."
Leveling Junkie Bro... well, lately people used that more than my actual name, so I guess it was fine.
"You asked what happened?"
"Yes. It looks like everyone’s pretty banged up..."
"Hmph. It’s exactly what it looks like. That special variant slime... the Metal Slime? Everyone challenged it and ended up like this."
By the way, "Metal Slime" and "Metasla" were just common nicknames; I wasn't sure if that was the formal name for the species.
"So you were all beaten back by the Metasla..."
"Yeah. No one’s died yet because, for some reason, the damn thing runs away even when it has the advantage. But frankly... it was unbelievably strong. We couldn't lay a finger on it. And that's saying something, considering most of the people here are veterans who’ve cleared Floor 10 before... wait."
Ajari Kong, who had been speaking with a grim face, suddenly looked at me as if she’d realized something.
"Wait, weren't you just coming from above? Does that mean..."
"Ah, yes. We’d never been to the Slime Dungeon before, so we just made our way here from Floor 1."
"What?! I remember seeing you in the Association lobby this morning..."
Ajari Kong looked stunned—at least, I assumed she was. Her face paint was so intense it was hard to read her expression. Regardless, she stared at me with what was (probably) a look of pure shock.
"That means you didn't dive yesterday; you made it all the way to Floor 10 in less than half a day... that's incredible."
"Hehe, aw shucks...!"
I'd been praised.
However, Ajari Kong’s expression turned stern as she offered a warning.
"But be careful. If you take it lightly, you’ll end up in a world of pain just like us."
"Understood!"
"Heh. Well, maybe a crazy explorer like you will end up defeating it effortlessly."
"A crazy explorer..."
Hinata-san murmured, sounding slightly offended. I wonder what was up with her?
"Since you've come this far, I assume you're going to try? To take it down."
"Yes."
"I see....It might be unwanted advice, but use extreme caution."
"I will. Thank you very much! We’ll be careful!"
Ajari Kong... to think she’d worry about us, even though we were technically rivals for the Metasla. She really was as virtuous as the rumors suggested.
I thanked Ajari Kong and then turned to Hinata-san.
"Hinata-san."
"Yeah. Then—"
"We haven't had lunch yet, so let's take a break here."
"Right, let's g—wait, what?"
Well, we’d been running non-stop until now, and we hadn't eaten. The stairs were technically a safety area, so it was perfect. Let's have a lunch break! Occasionally, monsters had been known to move between floors via the stairs, but it was still true that they almost never entered these zones.
I sat on the stairs and asked Hinata-san to take out our lunches. Since we were only carrying one backpack today, the food was inside her bag.
Comments from the viewers flickered across the drone's display.
『Heyyyyyyy!!!』 『That was the perfect dramatic setup to go fight the Metasla!』 『You’re way too relaxed!!』 『Even Ajari Kong is bewildered!!』 『Well, it’s true that "an empty stomach is the enemy," so I get that Leveling Junkie Bro has a point, but...』 『The way he just cuts the flow of the conversation is kinda psycho.』
It couldn't be helped. I was hungry.
"……" "……"
And so, under the silent gaze of Hinata-san, Ajari Kong, and the nearby explorers, I began my meal.
"Delicious! Delicious! Delicious!"
It was just a convenience store bento, but it tasted great. Since becoming an explorer, I got hungry much more easily, which made every meal feel incredibly satisfying.
Munch, munch, munch... Oh, that’s right. I should check my status while I’m at it. Slime experience points were low, but I opened my status to see exactly how much I’d accumulated, and—
"—Oh."
『The Leveling Junkie Bro Eating Stream.』 『Also, his eating is so loud lol.』 『Eat quietly lol.』 『Maybe I’ll have lunch too.』 『This stream is a great deal because you can eat with Leveling Junkie Bro.』 『No, if it’s an eating stream, I’d much rather watch Hinata-chan while I eat lol.』 『That’s true—wait, huh?』 『Leveling Junkie Bro? What’s up?』
"Oh, no... it’s nothing major," I said.
I’d noticed something when I opened my status.
"It’s just... I seem to have gained the Slime Killer title."
I wondered when that had popped up. Well, I’d been killing slimes in the Shinjuku Dungeon early on, too, so I’d definitely hunted over a hundred of them by now. I guess these things just happened.
『Wha—!!?』
『Wait, that is definitely something major!!!』
『lol.』
『Could you please stop picking up titles like they’re common drops lol.』
『I wonder if the Seekers are still breathing. I’m pretty sure none of them had the Slime Killer title yet, right?』
『(´;;) *Sob*』 『(´;;) Sob』
『(´;;`) Sob』
『They didn't make it lol.』
『Wait, were you guys actually in the chat? lol.』
『W-we’ve been toiling in the Slime Dungeon for days, and yet Leveling Junkie Bro gets Slime Killer in just one day...』
『What the hell is this difference in talent...!!』
"Hey, are you serious...?" "No way... even for a killer-type, titles aren't that easy to get..." "Man, between reaching Floor 10 in a few hours and this, a truly terrifying rookie has appeared."
The moment I mentioned the Slime Killer title, the comment section exploded, and the surrounding explorers began to buzz with excitement.
I mean, yeah, it was a title, but it was just Slime Killer. I couldn't even afford to invest points into it. Still, the 1.2x damage bonus against slime species was a nice little perk to have right before the Metasla fight.
"Sigh, you really are something else... Hinata, your partner is a perfect ten as an explorer."
"Um, er... thank you, I guess?"
Somehow, Hinata-san seemed to be hitting it off with Ajari Kong. They were whispering about something. As expected of her social skills!