As a hundred and twenty-three years old gray dwarf, even if he was a weak, helpless, and especially gluttonous child in the eyes of his parents, Ironfelt, who was already a master craftsman, had experience befitting his age. Even if he had never traveled to the surface, he would have a drink in the taverns of Magma City after work every day, where he would hear the gray dwarves who returned from their travels bragging and drinking every other day.
Ignoring the bragging of the storyteller and slightly wringing out the water in the story, the human behavior in the dwarven stories was almost the same. Although at first glance, there was not much difference between the lives of the dwarves, in fact, because the human lifespan was much shorter than the dwarves, they did not have the attitude and passion for excellence that the dwarves had for their craftsmanship. Most of the people were just muddling through dull days under the rule of the church or nobles.
Moreover, there were too many humans, and the gods they worshiped only favored a few believers, which left humans very weak.
At first, Ironfelt did not want to come to the surface and stay in human territory, but he did not think that the job would be too difficult. At most, he would just have to craft some weapons to fool the humans, and how difficult could it be for a dwarf who had been dealing with fire and steel for over a hundred years? Just like the Furnaceman guard had said, he could just treat it as a vacation.
In the end, things went awry the moment he stepped out. He did not encounter a single Slime in the mine passageway, and Ironfelt assumed that the mine guards had cleared them out. He did not expect that the Slimes had gathered and fused into a large Slime, which stuck itself to the top of the dark tunnel above the portal, ambushing and preying on the dwarves who were about to teleport.
Caught off guard, Ironfelt suffered as well, and was directly swallowed into the Slime's stomach. To make matters worse, the portal had already been activated, directly teleporting him (along with the Slime outside) to the northern border of the Valla Empire on the surface. It appeared to be a small, uninhabited forest, and he could not even call for help from the other dwarves who passed by.
Just when Ironfelt thought that he was dead for sure, two human pups and a dog popped out of nowhere.
Slimes were the lowest class of magical creatures and were very weak when they were alone. Though their outer layer of gel was practically immune to physical attacks, the magical stones within their bodies were very obvious, and even a child could beat them off with a stick. However, when many Slimes gathered to form a Grand Slime, its ability would greatly increase. While the gel increased, the magic stones attracted and fused together but did not grow much, greatly reducing the chances of injury. At the same time, its huge and sticky body also gave it extremely powerful hunting ability. Prey like Ironfelt, who was completely wrapped in the gel and could not exert his strength, could not escape without help.
All in all, it could all be summed up in one sentence: those two young humans were definitely no match for this thing!
Ironfelt wanted to warn them, but he could not make a sound inside the Slime's body. The moment he opened his mouth, the gel with weak digestive ability was poured into his mouth, and he was about to lose control of his sphincter. If it were to penetrate him from top to bottom, he would die in no time and turn into a pile of gooey cheese. After all, Ironfelt's endurance up until now was entirely due to the gray dwarf's sturdiness and racial innate ability to survive in all sorts of hostile environments. That said, their innards were clearly not included …
'So what the hell are you fighting for? Get your adults here!' Ironfelt bellowed inwardly.
Still, it was clear that the two young humans did not have telepathic abilities. Watching them attack the Grand Slime, Ironfelt believed that he would soon have two cellmates and a dog.
Nonetheless, the outcome was far beyond Ironfelt's expectations.
The two young humans were unbelievably good at fighting!
One of them appeared to be a warrior. Not only would he harass the Grand Slime from time to time with a hand sword and a small round shield, stabbing it until its surface rippled, he would also summon a humanoid specter that was probably some sort of ghost to throw a barrage of punches at the Grand Slime. Even Ironfelt inside the Grand Slime's body could feel the force of those punches.
The other young human was even more miraculous — he was summoning seafood to feed the Grand Slime.
That's right — feeding.
From land cuttlefish to clawfin marlins, there were also crabs as tall as a dwarf, hermit crabs with anemones growing on their shells, and garden eels poking their heads out of barnacle shells to provoke the Slime … In short, none of the summoned creatures could survive more than three moves against the Grand Slime without being eaten …
At first, Ironfelt thought that the young summoner probably did not have a powerful contracted beast and was a noob, which was why he could only summon seafood to protect the young warrior.
In the end, Slimes were brainless monsters that ate without restraint, accepting almost all the seafood that came their way.
And when Ironfelt was pushed to the edge of the Great Slime's body by the increasing amount of seafood, his face was clutched tightly by an octopus, giving him the misconception that he was about to be parasitized by something, he abruptly realized the Great Slime's intention.
Just as Ironfelt had guessed, the dog that had been inconspicuous since the start of the battle had sneaked behind the Grand Slime's back … or maybe not, since Slimes had no front or back. Either way, the Grand Slime was being beaten up wildly by the humanoid specter summoned by the young warrior, and did not notice the big dog that had snuck over.
Seizing the opportunity, the dog bit down on the octopus's tentacle that was poking out of the Grand Slime's body and yanked hard.
Ironfelt's head poked out of the Grand Slime's body as well, and the dog yanked even harder when he saw that. 'My scalp! My scalp is going to be torn off by that octopus! 'he screamed in agony, risking disfigurement (referring to Ironfelt) to drag the gray dwarf out.
"Alright, I'll give it one last hit!" The dwarf promptly rose to his feet like a puffer after landing, whipping out his beloved little hammer and intending to join the fight.
But he soon realized that he was not the only one being pushed to the edge — the Grand Slime's magic stone was there as well.
With a look that said 'we've seen too many people like you trying to steal the kill', the young warrior stabbed his single-handed sword into the Grand Slime's core viciously.
The Grand Slime promptly shrieked, and its entire body burst apart like a broken water balloon. Disgusting gel splattered all over the ground, while its body rapidly shriveled into the shape of seafood.
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