In a proper dungeon, the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters become. At the deepest point, a master resides. It's rare to find a dungeon where dragons appear from the first level. The powerful don’t need to rush for sustenance, as they gather strength and slumber during times of peace.

The same applies to humans. Royalty builds their castles in the center of cities. Without working tirelessly, they collect taxes, and even in times of famine, they are the last to face death.

But it seems monsters don't always follow such patterns, as I am now learning for the first time.

"How long is that thing going to chase us?"

"Damn it, it's still there. So annoying."

Void spat out in frustration as he glanced back, and even Miku, unusually, echoed his sentiment.

"Goblins are better than this..."

Trailing behind us, as we briskly walked, was a mud-colored mass of slime.

It was an amorphous creature—a slime, and quite a large one at that. It was big enough to engulf not only me but even Void.

By its very nature as a gelatinous substance, it could seep into any crevice, and if one were engulfed by it, suffocation would follow. In most cases, one wouldn't even make it to suffocation, as many of these creatures carried toxins within them.

These toxins weren’t something they produced themselves but rather accumulated by absorbing poisonous moss, herbs, and fungi while crawling around—similar to how pufferfish accumulate toxins by consuming poisonous substances in their growth process.

However, its threat level is extremely low—even less than that of goblins.

Its intelligence, if it even had any, was questionable, and its speed was no more than a brisk walk. Its method of attack was simply creeping closer and smothering its prey. As long as you avoided being leaped on, it posed little danger. It was a low-level monster of the lowest tier, but for swordsmen, it was a real nuisance.

"Take this!"

Void turned around and threw a fist-sized rock at it.

With a heavy splashing sound, the rock made a dent in the slime, but it passed through its body, dropped to the floor, and the dent quickly returned to normal. Only the rock remained on the dungeon floor after passing through.

Void groaned in frustration.

"Give me a break..."

Indeed, physical attacks were utterly ineffective. If one were to clumsily slice it with a sword, depending on the type of toxin it carried, the blade could corrode or get damaged. Worst of all, the creature might split into two.

To capture it, you’d need a large, waterproof bag. Even then, a bag containing a slime could remain in a dungeon for years, as the creature would survive until all its gelatin evaporated. Even a trace amount of slime left behind meant it was still alive.

This one probably grew by consuming goblins that had strayed in from the fourth layer. With its current size, it might take years to fully evaporate.

Once engulfed, escaping was much harder than flailing in water. It would slowly dissolve your organic clothes, eventually digesting your entire body.

Miku turned back, cursing at the creature.

"Ugh, you're so persistent! Idiot, jerk, dummy, perverted slimy creep!"

"Stop wasting your energy. It doesn’t have the intelligence to back off from insults. If it understood enough to retreat, slimes would be high-tier monsters, and swordsmen like us wouldn’t stand a chance."

"I know that! But it dissolves clothes, doesn’t it?! The only one allowed to see me naked is El-tan, my future husband!"

...Is she not taking this seriously?

"Especially not that delinquent over there! He’d be staring with beastly eyes!"

"Ah? Don’t worry, Orunkaim. I wouldn’t even flinch seeing a kid like you naked."

Void grinned mockingly as he picked at his ear.

Miku’s right cheek twitched.

"What did you just say?! You cougar-loving freak!"

"You're an idiot. If you’re so upset, try acting a little more like a woman."

"Why the hell should I do that for you?!"

I yelled up at the ceiling.

"Cut it out! Stop arguing over my head!"

We kept jogging away from the creature. We had already sprinted at full speed once to lose it, but it must have followed our scent. It reappeared.

A mage could incinerate such a monster in an instant, but swordsmen like us were utterly powerless. Among our group, the only one capable of magic was Fix Oughas. But if we dragged him into this exploration, the severely injured Ilga would die.

"If only this magical lantern at my waist were real fire..."

"Magical light won’t help. It’s pointless to even say it."

All the running around had caused us to lose our sense of direction. Dungeons, whether man-made or natural, all looked the same, making navigation difficult.

At the lead, Oujin turned a corner.

"Oujin, do you still know the way? If we return to the base carelessly, we’ll drag the standby group into this."

"Don’t worry. I’ve been keeping track of our approximate position in my head."

"Wow, Ryoka-chan, you’re amazing! You’re so different from a certain delinquent who’s just running aimlessly."

At some point, she had started addressing him by name.

Miku’s generation shortened the distance between people in ways I, now older, couldn’t understand. Or maybe it was just her personality.

"Could you stop calling me Ryoka-chan? That’s a common girl’s name in my country."

"Ryo-Ryo!"

"...Ryo-Ryo?"

"Obviously, it’s short for 'Roger that, Ryoka-chan'!"

Miku never listens to what others say. Trying to control her would probably be as difficult as teaching a cat tricks.

Still, Oujin surprised me. I thought he had been silently running, but he had been mapping out the dungeon in his head all along. What a model student. It was a relief to have him. If it had been the other three of us bumbling around, we’d have gotten lost in the middle of the dungeon, arguing until we died.

"Ha. Well, fine. Call me whatever you want. Anyway, I’ve come up with a way to shake it off. Let’s pick up the pace."

The four of us simultaneously quickened our speed.

The slime could only manage a brisk walk or at best a slow jog. We could easily lose it. Yet, no matter how many turns we took, it would always catch up eventually.

We couldn’t figure out how it kept finding us. Was it following our scent, the sound we made, or perhaps traces of magical energy?

But—

Was that slime the only creature in this level? We hadn’t seen any other monsters for a while now.

On the other hand, perhaps its persistence explained everything. Thanks to that slime, other monsters might not have been able to establish nests here. Goblins fear fire, so they wouldn’t be able to deal with slimes.