When Orion stepped out of the Adventurers' Guild, he felt a gaze on his back—just for a brief second. He paused, glanced around, then brushed it off.
Maybe someone's jealous of my looks, he thought, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.
He climbed into the carriage where Axl and Max were already waiting. Dusk had settled in, and Orion reckoned it would be full night by the time they reached the quest location. He considered waiting until morning, but his excitement won out.
There was just one problem.
He had no idea where the place was.
Orion leaned toward the driver. "Hey, man."
The driver looked back. "Yes, sir? Do you need something?"
Orion handed him the quest paper. "Do you know where this place is?"
The driver's expression darkened with concern. "Yes, I do. But I advise you to wait until tomorrow morning."
"Why? Is it really that dangerous at night?"
"Everything is dangerous at night," the driver replied grimly. "But that's not the main issue. I was ordered to show you around the capital. I can't take you there—and if I do, and something happens to you, I'll be in serious trouble."
Orion clicked his tongue. "I'm going anyway. So why not take me as close as you can? It's just a slime extermination quest. Not exactly life-threatening."
The driver hesitated, then sighed in defeat. Reluctantly, he changed course.
In a shadowy alley, four figures gathered, clad in black attire, each bearing the symbol of a grim reaper at their center.
They were Baldwin's men—the ones assigned to keep a close eye on Ryan.
"Where are they going now?" one of them muttered as Orion's carriage suddenly changed direction.
"I don't know," said the blurry, middle-aged man who seemed to be their leader. "But we follow."
The carriage passed through the city gates and headed toward the forest near the capital.
It was a relatively normal forest. Most monsters were weak, with the strongest being B-rank—and even those were rare. It hadn't always been that way. Being so close to the capital, the forest had been raided countless times, driving powerful monsters out.
"They're heading into the forest…" one of the goons said, grinning widely.
"What an idiot. Who goes into a forest at night?" another scoffed. "Anyway, can't complain. Makes our job easier. Let's move."
They slipped past the guards and followed the carriage beyond the gates.
Orion finally reached the destination.
The driver didn't take them all the way, but he gave Orion a detailed map before returning to the city gates to wait.
"Alright, Max, Axl," Orion said, stretching. "Our first quest. You guys excited?"
"Kuuu!"
"Kuuuu!"
"Khuuui!"
Both beasts were practically vibrating with excitement at the sight of the forest.
"Okay, calm down," Orion said. "Let's search the area—"
He didn't need to go far.
Just a little deeper into the forest, he found a pond—and a very familiar sight.
Slimes.
Dozens of them. At least a hundred. Jelly-like, globe-shaped creatures in various colors, wobbling lazily around the water. They were exactly like he knew them from anime and video games.
"Appraisal."
[Slime—F Rank]
Can shoot corrosive acid.
The body is difficult to destroy with weapons.
Weakness: Fire magic, destruction of the core.
Orion could wipe them all out with Fire Star, but he needed intact bodies. That meant destroying the cores.
Looking closely, he noticed faint white stones floating inside their translucent bodies.
"That must be the core…"
Before he could act, Max and Axl lunged forward, aggressively tearing through the slimes with teeth and claws.
"Hey—wait! You hungry brats! Don't eat all of them!"
Too late.
Orion sighed and drew his spear. A thrusting weapon was ideal for slimes, and he needed more practice with it. Using a slime as a test subject was safe, efficient, and effective bait.
The slimes bounced toward him. He slashed—
The slime split cleanly in two, but Orion missed the core, and it soon reformed.
"…Oh. That's kinda cool."
He adjusted his grip.
A slime leaped at him. Orion thrusts forward, aiming precisely.
Crack.
A sharp sound echoed as the core shattered. The slime instantly collapsed, its body melting into a lifeless, puddled goo.
"Ugh," Orion grimaced. "That smells awful."
Max and Axl, meanwhile, were having the time of their lives. If they weren't busy eating, Orion would've already finished the quest.
Acid flew through the air, splashing against them—but neither beast seemed affected.
They had some kind of resistance to the slime's acid—and perhaps to poison as well, to some extent, Orion noted. Orion didn't have to worry too much about Max and Axl, so he fully focused on the slimes.
Suddenly, two larger, dark-green slimes crept up behind him.
One spat acid.
Orion dodged on instinct. The acid struck a tree branch, which began to hiss and smoke violently.
"Tch."
He spun his spear and hurled it forward.
The weapon pierced straight through both slimes—
Crack. Crack.
Two cores shattered at once.
The spear embedded itself into the ground as the slimes collapsed into steaming goo.
But more slimes gathered, and they surrounded Orion from all corners, while Max and Axl were doing their best to thin their numbers.
The slimes now had their attention divided, and Orion used this situation fully.
He was thrusting his spear left and right. Some strikes were able to shatter the cores, and some missed.
Suddenly, one slime got close to Orion and swallowed his leg inside its body.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Orion could feel the slime's acid burning, but he didn't try to pierce it, fearing for his leg. His pants were burned where the slime swallowed his leg, so the pain was even worse.
But Max came to the rescue. He first tried to bite it, but that didn't work, so he prepared to use his claw. Seeing the sharp edge of Max's claw, Orion gulped.
God… what if he misses—
But Max struck the slime's core with incredible precision, which left Orion shocked. The slime died instantly.
After a couple more minutes of dodging the slimes' acid and some kicking and piercing, they finally succeeded in subduing the slimes.
"Hoh, it was surprisingly easy, but a lot of fun and hard work," Orion wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Let's see how many slimes we got." Orion began to gather the bodies of the slimes—although calling them bodies was a stretch, as they were just puddles of goo.
The ones that Max and Axl killed—the ones they didn't eat, anyway—were in no condition to bring with him. So that only left the ones Orion killed.
"32… 36… 39…" Orion finally finished gathering all of them.
"39. Not bad. That's more than enough." He put all of them into his inventory.
"Okay, now I think it's time for us to go back."
Just as Orion was about to leave—
"Aww… going so soon?" Baldwin's goons were already there.
"We didn't even have our fun yet," said their leader.
"Who the fuck are you guys?"