The slimes moved with an unsettling fluidity, their gelatinous bodies absorbing the forest light filtering through the trees. Alex counted five.
These weren't ordinary monsters.
Just moments ago, they had maintained convincingly humanoid shapes. That meant intelligence. Coordination. A far bigger problem than expected.
The first one lunged.
Alex dodged, feeling the damp air ripple as the creature passed by. His mind raced. Weapons? Defense? Mayuri's critical magic flashed through his memory. He could create something—but what worked against creatures that regenerated?
A second slime attacked from the left.
Alex leapt backward, his hand extending instinctively. A short dagger of sharpened quartz formed out of thin air. He stabbed it straight into the slime.
The creature barely reacted.
The wound sealed itself within seconds, the quartz dissolving and being absorbed into its gelatinous mass.
"Damn it," Alex muttered. Pure elements weren't enough.
The slimes began to circle him, moving with disturbing synchronicity.
From the carriage, a trembling whisper reached his ears.
"Fire… or extreme cold… disrupt their cohesion."
It was the woman's voice—young, but steady despite the fear. Alex nodded internally. It made sense.
But he had no fire magic. No ice.
Only crystals.
Crystals… what if…?
A dangerous idea crossed his mind—the same one that had caused the explosion minutes earlier. Mayuri's warning echoed in his head:
"Mixing them can cause a catastrophic reaction."
But he had no choice.
Echo of Memory activated—faster this time, as if the danger had sharpened the connection. In each hand, he felt divergent energies gather.
In his right: the ordered, rigid structure of diamond.
In his left: the chaotic, razor-edged nature of obsidian.
Normally, he conjured them separately.
Now, he forced the magical flows to intertwine—not to merge, but to braid together in a fragile, unstable dance.
The pain was immediate.
A searing heat surged through his arms, as if molten sand were rushing through his veins. The slimes sensed the instability and hesitated, their bodies rippling uneasily as they took a step back.
"Don't do it!" the voice from the carriage shouted, now filled with genuine panic. "That energy is unstable!"
Too late.
Alex released the spell.
What emerged wasn't a weapon—but a cloud.
A storm of microscopic fragments. An abrasive dust of diamond and obsidian mixed at a molecular level. The cloud engulfed the nearest slimes.
The effect was instant—and grotesque.
Their gelatinous bodies began to crystallize unevenly. Some sections hardened into jagged stone formations, while others remained liquid, creating unbearable internal tension. Unable to maintain cohesion, the slimes started tearing themselves apart.
One exploded into a thousand glass-like shards that scattered across the forest floor.
Another froze mid-motion—half monster, half grotesque statue.
The remaining two recoiled in terror. With a sound like a choking gurgle, they melted into the damp forest soil and vanished.
Alex dropped to his knees, gasping.
The strain had been overwhelming. It felt like he'd run for days without rest. His arms trembled, and a thin layer of cold sweat coated his forehead.
He looked down at his hands.
Fine, crystalline cracks ran across his skin—surface-level crystallization scars. Magical burns from the unstable reaction. Painful, but seemingly superficial.
The carriage door opened cautiously.
It opened slowly.
A woman stepped out.
She carried an imposing presence—elegant, mature, with an aura of natural authority. Her formal attire, adorned with noble details, stood in stark contrast to the wild forest surroundings.
"You're an idiot," she said bluntly, though her voice lacked real anger. "You almost disintegrated along with them."
Alex tried to smile. It came out as a pained grimace.
"It worked… didn't it?"
"Pure luck," she replied, stepping closer. Her eyes examined his hands with practiced precision. "These are aftereffects of magical instability. You forced elements with opposing solidification matrices."
She looked up at him sharply.
"Who taught you to do something like that?"