Chapter 19—Battle
Thud! Thud!—footsteps echoed across the field.
Slime#47 and Elder Slime hidright beside the fence's northern entrance, waiting in complete silence.
Mama Slime pressed her tiny palms into the dirt. "Earth Trap!"
'Good…' the young slime nodded, watching Mama Slime settrap after trap.
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They'd prepared everything for a sneakattack—simple, risky, and probably stupid, but it was all they had.
'I hope this works…' the young slime tensed. He wasn't even sure he could kill one of the soldiers.
They were skilled warriors—he was a slime. 'Failure just meant another loop, so why not try?' He cheered himself.
"They're entering," Elder Slime hissed. He'd sensed the barrier drop.
Slime farm owners always dropped the barrier whenever they entered.
'I need mana sensing… seriously need it,' the young slime thought. 'That's basically a survival skill.'
He could sense and control mana within himself, but he couldn't sense mana from the surroundings, let alone invisible barriers.
The old slime never taught it, and he hadn't asked—there wasn't time.
Bam!—A fully-armored man stepped inside, slow and heavy, with the others right behind him.
"Fireball!" the young slime roared, activating the rune the instant they crossed the entrance.
He hurled the fireball straight at the man's face—no helmet, no protection, perfect target.
"Ahhhh!" the man shrieked, stumbling back.
Half his head meltedinstantly—bone, brain, everything—and he dropped dead.
[ Ding! You have levelled up! ]
[ Ding! You have levelled up! ]
[ Ding! You have levelled up! ]
"tt%^&g," the humans were shocked, but the slender armoured red-haired woman reactedfast.
Unsheathing her sword, she bellowed while pointing her left hand toward the farm, "^&^GB!"
A bulky black-haired man in heavy armor rushed into the field.
'I'm out of juice,' the young slime thought irritably, frustrated with his lack of mana reserves. He could no longer cast any spell. He didn't gain any mana recovery on level up!
Due to the level up, his mana reserves increased by a bit—he wasn't dizzydue to having little mana.
"Fire Lance!"Elder Slime bellowed. A red circle flashed on his tiny palm, and a blazing flame shaped like a lance materialized in front of him.
The lance was one meter in size.
"Here, human!" He launched it at the charging man, who had just leapt over his dead comrade's corpse into the farm.
'Powerful....' Young slime could feel the heat from the spell.
Only two had entered the farm fully so far—one was dead, and the other was still alive.
Puk!
Whoosh!
The burning lance pierced the man's head before he could even scream.
His black hair burned away instantly, his face charred beyond recognition, leaving only cracked, scorched bone.
They had already planned to target their heads as they left them unprotected.
'Hmm…good hiding skill... hard to tell what kind of juice though..,' Slime#47 mused, he still couldn't sense Elder Slime at all—even while staring at him.
He couldn't sense him even when glancing at him, much less humans.
"I'm out of mana!" Old Slime roared, informing the young slime and Mama Slime of his depleted reserves.
This entire fight took place in just a few seconds!
"$&ygv!" The red-haired woman yelled, and the last bulky man muttered furiously, "#*Hgh!" His body glowed red as he charged forward.
'Too fast!... Is he a… breed of cheetah?' Slime#47 thought tensely as the man dashed into the field at incredible speed.
But the slimes were on the far end of the field, while Mama Slime, the young slime, and Elder Slime were near the entrance corners of the fence.
The man rushed straight into the center of the field, missing everyone.
Boom!
But before he could react, the ground beneath him turned soft, and he fell into a crater full of spikes that pierced him in several places—but they shattered against the red energy surrounding him.
'Mama Slime… your Earth Trap failed horribly,' the young slime sweat blue drops, core pounding. 'This loop is done. We can't take them head-on…'
They had lost their advantage!
Thud!—The bulky man leaped out of the crater. Finally, the three slimes were visible to him.
Before this, the humans couldn't tell who was attacking them—hidden behind the fence, they had only seen slimes at the far end of the field.
Whoosh!—Puk! A sword tore straight through Mama Slime's core, killing her instantly.
The red-haired woman pulled her sword from a pile of blue goo—she had leapt over the fence insteadof entering through the gate.
"Damn it, Mama Slime… Acid Fist!" Slime#47 roared, aura flaring. He leapt up and attacked the woman's face.
He pumped allhis aura into the strike and didn't use the Evade skill to make his Acid Fist more powerful.
He had one advantage—Mama Slime was right beside him before getting killed, and the woman was standing close.
In the last loop, his mana and aura resonated with his emotions, fueling his strength—allowing him to break free from Water Bind.
Elder Slime couldn't do it because he lacked that strong emotion.
Now, the same fury surged through him, granting him strength beyond normal.
Boom!
His fist, shining with grey light, smashed into her face. Smoke hissed from it—Gzz!—the poisonous liquid searing on impact.
Smoke burst upward as he dropped back to the ground—Thud!
'What?! Not even a scratch? How strong is this woman?!' he thought in disbelief, glaring up at her.
A red aura flashed across her body, leaving her completely unharmed.
Whoosh!—Puk! Her sword rushed straight through his core before he even blinked.
[ Ding! Your core has been shattered! ]
[ Ding! You have died! ]
'Elder Slime…' His vision darkened as he faintly saw the red-haired woman cut down the old slime.
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When he opened his eyes, he was once again surrounded by nothingness.
[ Ding! Timeline 78521452224.4 has ended! ]
[ Begin Timeline 78521452224.5? ]
"Damn these humans… they leave me no way…," he muttered, trembling. He'd expected it to be tough, but now he understood—it was impossibleto fight them head-on.
'Soldiers and kids are easy with ambushes… but that woman? She's a monster. She reacts instantly. Even tactics might fail without pure strength.' He finally understood—he'd hit a strong wall.
"How the hell do I break this?" he murmured, wobbling his body in frustration.
Skills and masteries carried over, but levels? Nope. Every loop dragged him right backto level one.
It left him feeling helpless—what good were max skills if he had no mana or aura to actually use them?
He needed multiple casts to even scratch that woman, but his tiny mana bar and aura bar emptied after one damn spell.
End of the chapter. ______________________________________________________________________________________________