The path from the underground lake to the surface took the form of a single
long cavern path, which I was currently bouncing and oozing my way along. I
was moving quite a bit better than I'd originally pictured. Even in the dank
darkness, harnessing Magic Sense made it look as bright as a sunny day to
me.
Back when I was blind, I was too focused on my footing to notice, but
slimes can actually truck along pretty quickly when they want to. I never got
particularly fatigued, but there was no real reason to hurry either, so I tended
to keep it at a regular walking rate by human standards. (This was definitely
not because my last flirtation with exuberant locomotion landed me square in
the water.)
As I plodded on, I found that the path was blocked by a large gate—the
first man-made object I had seen in this cave. Very suspicious, but it didn't
throw me off much. It was just like any of the dozens I had seen before in
RPGs. Every boss room usually had a gate in front of it.
So how to get it open? Water Blade my way through the bars? It seemed
like a decent idea, but as I thought it over, the door opened by itself with a
creak. Flustered, I scurried over to one side of the path and watched.
"Whew! Finally got this thing open. The whole lockin' mechanism
must've rusted out…," someone said.
"Yeah, I'll bet. Nobody's even tried going in for three hundred years or
whatever, right?" replied a second voice.
"There is no record of anyone attempting an entry. Are you sure we're
safe? We are not leaving ourselves open to sudden attack…?" commented a
third.
"Gah-hah-hah-hah!" laughed the second one. "Come on. Maybe this guy
was invincible a few centuries back, but it's just a big overgrown lizard,
y'know? I told you guys 'bout how I bagged a basilisk solo once, didn't I?
It'll be fine!"
"I was wondering about that, actually," the third replied. "Are you sure
that's the truth, Kabal? A basilisk is a B-plus-ranked monster. You truly
handled that by yourself?"
"Quit playing dumb! I'm B ranked, y'know! Some huge reptile ain't gonna
faze me!"
"All right, all right. Just keep your guard up, if you could. And remember,
we can always use my Escape skill if things turn sour…"
"Can we save the friendly chitchat for later?" the first interjected. "I need
some quiet. It's just about time for me to activate Concealing Arts!"
Three of them, it sounded like, none of them making much of an effort at
stealth. And I understood everything they said, too. Odd.
Received. Your Magic Sense skill can be adapted to decipher
sound waves that have willful meaning stored inside them.
Okay. So I couldn't speak to them, but I could get what they were saying.
That was good. I was never too gifted at foreign languages. I was always one
of those kids in the back of the class, bitching all like, "Why do I need this?
I'm never gonna live outside of Japan, anyway! Save it for somebody who
will!"
Now that I was actually in that position, something told me that excuse
wouldn't work for much longer. Time to hit the books, I guess.
But that wasn't important. What should I do? That was a tougher question
than opening the door, for sure. I didn't know what they wanted, but if I had
to guess, they were adventurers. Treasure hunters, maybe? These were the
first humans I'd encountered in this world—I had an urge to tail them to see
what they were up to. But…ooh, if a slime who couldn't speak their language
showed up, what would they do? Slice me up with impunity, I'd bet. Better
save it for next time. Safety first. I could save the human stuff for when I
could talk to them.
The slim man leading the trio did something, and the three of them
suddenly began fading from sight. Not entirely, mind you. He did mention a
"concealing" something or other—some kind of skill, presumably. I wonder
what he learned that for. Not for sneaking into people's bedrooms,
hopefully. How scandalous. I'll have to make friends with him later.
Once the trio went out of sight down the path, I sprang back into action.
No need to rush this. It wasn't as if this would be my last chance to meet
people. Slow and steady wins the race, as the ancients said, and I believe
them.
Through the door I went, and before any of them could come back to
check on things, I was gone.
Proceeding a fair distance from the door, I arrived at an intersection with
several paths branching out from it. Which one would bring me to the
surface? Thinking about it wouldn't help much, so I chose a path and headed
on down the cavern path.
Flick! Flick!
Our eyes met.
Slowly, I averted mine. There was a gigantic, ominous-looking serpent in
front of me, a jet-black one with thorned scales, tough skin, and an
appearance that made the snakes of Earth look positively cuddly. This
creature in my path made me feel like a deer—or a slime—in the headlights.
My mind went blank. Maybe I'd be okay if it didn't notice me? Slowly, I
tried to slide myself back. No luck. The black snake reared its head upward,
matching my movements. It flicked its tongue at me as it silently menaced me
with its eyes. Damn it. It's not letting me off the hook! We didn't need to
exchange any words for that much to be clear.
Should I fight it? I had this killer finisher that I'd spent the last week
training for, didn't I? It's just that…you know, fighting a monster like this
would take a bit of an…extra oomph. In other words, I was crapping my
pants.
But hang on. Get a hold of yourself. Thinking about it, I've been
through scarier stuff before. Remember Veldora? Compared to that dragon,
this guy… Hell, maybe it's not so scary after all. Maybe this is all gonna
work out!
With a somewhat calmer mental state, I took a moment to size up the dark
snake. It must have been thinking that it had stunned me into silence, that I
was unable to move. Probably coming up with ways to land the final strike
on me. Maybe it found the concept of swallowing me whole to be too bland
or something.
Well, no point holding back. Without another moment's hesitation, I
squared up toward the snake's neck and unleashed a Water Blade. With a
lethal-sounding fwissh, the blade pierced through the air and struck the
monster.
It all happened in an instant—so quick, I doubted my eyes. Without a
single bit of resistance, the Water Blade lopped the black snake's head off. A
snake so huge, so ominous looking, I was sure I'd be nothing but a
midafternoon snack to it.
This skill…might have been a tad stronger than I thought. If I'd used it on
that adventuring trio, things might've gone all slasher film pretty fast. Good
thing I'd had the foresight to try it on a monster first.
Before I go on, let's do a quick recap of what was occupying my stomach
at the moment. Veldora, 15 percent. Water, 10 percent. Medicinal herbs,
recovery potions, and the like, 2 percent. Ore and other materials, 3 percent.
Grand total, about 30 percent in use. Each Water Blade strike used not even a
regular cup's worth of water, so…sheesh, I could probably spit out thousands
of these before I even began worrying about running out.