Beginner's Adventure With Elder Elf Part 2

1

A vast grassland.

A group of bright blue, springy creatures like purified water, jumped towards the two people walking on the path.

“U-Uoooohhh!? What the hell is that!?”

One of the men was dressed formally, covered with a black cloth as a robe—Aspa Pandawa, who was a stranger in the world, was surprised and impressed by the tiny creatures that jumped towards him.

“We call it slime, Bro Aspa. It is a monster and is usually used as a fighting practice for novice adventurers.”

“That’s so evil. Such a tiny creature was killed just for training."

“Well, because their rapidly increasing population can become a pest, you know. And also adding, They can absorb mana from various living things. Usually they absorb mana in various fields. Making all the plants planted wither.”

“Hooo~ Looks like a mouse, huh. Tiny and annoying!” said Aspa while pinching one of the slimes near him.

Watching Aspa playing with the slimes casually, made Randa, who had a different view as a native, was left confused.

“Do you.. not feel anything weird?”

“What?”

“Like I said, slimes absorb the mana of living things. Humans can be affected by it even if it is only slightly."

“Nope. I don't feel anything. Maybe it's because I'm from another world, so mana doesn't exist in my body..”

“B-But bro... For us, not having mana is the same as dying, you know!”

“Eh, seriously!?”

Randa nodded her head.

Meanwhile, Aspa, who was now overthinking his own situation, had dissolved into his head.

To be honest, when I first came to this world I already felt something was strange. My breath slowly narrowed, and my energy drains very easily. Could it be the effect of not having mana? If so, why am I still fine now? In fact, I feel better now.

Could it be?...

“So that's how it is, then. No wonder.”

Aspa has returned to his original calm demeanor after finding the answer.

“What is that, Bro?”

“I was cursed. If I think about it, my body started to adapt to this world after defeating the demon chi-.. I mean the monster that the Witch summoned.”

“You mean, the curse gave Bro mana?”

“It’s still not certain. But, it’s possible that the slimes didn’t absorb my power because they felt the dark energy inside. Look, they’re moving away from us.”

The young man she had just met had impressed Randa from the start. His calm way of thinking and how he explained things felt like an educated person to someone who didn't know like Randa.

“You're really like a scholar, aren't you?”

“I told you I'm just an ordinary office worker." In an annoyed tone, Aspa denied Randa's view of him, and continued to say, “you said we were close to the city, right? We have to hurry so we don’t get caught out by nightfall.”

“I did say we were closer than before, but actually there are still 10 kilometers to go until we get there.”

“E-Eh?~ This is bad. It’s already evening. Is there a save point up ahead?”

Trying to understand the words he didn't understand, Randa answered, "If you mean inn, I don't think there are any."

Losing what was called hope, Aspa slumped down. He looked at the ground which felt dry, not only in his eyes but also in his hands.

The ground is really dry, huh? Is it because of the slime too? But... for such a small slime…

Aspa looked around with the aim of observing the surrounding conditions. With his characteristic bulging eyes, he began to notice some conditions that he had not been aware of before.

“Hey, Randa. You said the slimes absorb the surrounding energy, right?”

“Yeah, anything that has mana they will absorb.”

“How bad is the absorption range? Is it evenly distributed?”

“A-eum… In my field, usually only five to ten plants. We finish them off before they cause more damage. And when it comes to being even, well... that's obviously impossible."

"Impossible?"

"Yes. Because as I saw myself, they walk in a hopping manner. So there is a distance between the plants that are spread out.

After finishing checking the condition of the ground up to several meters back, including the surrounding plants, Aspa started to stand up and turned around stiffly.

“But Randa...”

Aspa pointed to the ground tremblingly.

“All this drying up... it's really wide, you know.”

Their heads seemed to lift for a moment, until they became aware of a violent vibration from beneath the ground beneath them.

The vibrations became stronger and it felt like something was approaching. Cracks began to appear around them in a radius of about 5 meters long.. Forming a ring of cracks surrounding them.

While thinking about what to do other than avoiding it, Aspa saw a hoe that Randa had been carrying on his shoulder since the beginning of the journey.

“Randa! Stick the hoe into the ground as hard as you can!”

Without thinking twice or even the slightest bit of resistance, Randa immediately followed Aspa's orders by sticking the hoe as hard as he could into the ground..

“A-”

“Eh?”

““Water?””

They both froze because of the same feeling of confusion, until the vibrations in the ground reached their peak and destroyed the surrounding ground, throwing Aspa and Randa away.

The water that they had previously seen from between Randa's hoe stuck in the ground, quickly grew larger and continued to grow larger, passing the height of the surrounding trees.

They have come to the conclusion that the 'creature' is the one causing the vibrations in the ground, as well as causing the surrounding soil to dry out..

However, it was too late for them to realize it. Because by now the creature had begun its attack.

Aspa fell to the ground with her fragile body, while Randa managed to maintain his standing position by falling perfectly.

“Get ready for battle, Randa! Ouch, my body aches...”

“Bro-”

They were both separated on different sides. The liquid creature—more precisely the slimy creature had separated them with its large body.

Spongy, round, and bright blue, it was a creature they were familiar with.

“Slime?” Randa, a native, was very surprised when he saw a slime that big. What was in front of him right now was beyond his understanding.

As for Aspa, he had seen unexpected things several times in the RPG games he usually played. So his face was quite calm even though he was actually holding his pee in his pants.

“Brother! Watch out!”

Hearing Randa's warning, Aspa reacted by retreating several meters while dragging his body which was still sitting on the ground.

At that moment, the human hand-shaped liquid that came out of the slime monster's stomach almost hit Aspa who had dodged it first.

The hand-shaped liquid grew like roots that continued to grow. Carrying out endless attacks on Randa and Aspa.

“Khhhakk!”

While busy avoiding the hands that attacked him, Aspa heard a groan of pain from Randa who was being strangled by the monster's strong hands.

“Randa...”

Aspa began to take the situation seriously. He took a few steps back to avoid the monster's hand and began to adjust himself.

He took the axe that was tied to the side of his pants belt. with the prepared force—Aspa was ready to attack.

His first step immediately pushed his body closer to the slime monster.

“—!!_--------!_----------!!”

Aspa swung his axe deftly while avoiding all the attacks aimed at him. Even so, Several hands had injured him, but he still ran forward around the slime's body and cut off the hands that were strangling Randa.

“Khk!”

After being released, Aspa immediately kicked Randa's stomach to get away from the slime that was about to attack him again.

Aspa has managed to keep Randa away from the danger, but…

“B-Brother!”

“Do not come close!”

The harsh warning came out of Aspa's mouth as he vomited blood.

"Don't worry... Everything is under control here."

“What is it...”

Aspa smiled gently at Randa. Even so, the sight he showed the young man behind him gave an unbearable sense of fear and horror.

“What’s okay!”

Blood poured onto the ground. His face turned pale from enduring the excruciating pain that he had never experienced before. Aspa remained standing even in that condition.

Several of the slime monster’s hands… had penetrated his body.

“T-Ttt-… These slime hands are n—nothing! This is just… a mass of liquid that penetrated my body! Nothing… hhhoooekkk..”

Oh no... is this where it ends?

I'm... scared to death dammit!

“Your death isn't funny, human!”

A voice that sounded as sharp as a loud whistle passed through Aspa's ears.

When he realized it, a strong gust of wind pushed the slime monster's body several meters away.

“GRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The monster—which had been silent before—suddenly let out a loud roar after being dropped. Its shape also became increasingly distorted—now looking like a normal monster. Various kinds of eyeballs protruded from the slime's body—they seemed to come from animals it had secretly absorbed.

“Child Elf!?”

“My name is Elvy!”

The golden-haired girl with pointed ears—Elvy threw a bottle of potion at Aspa's face until the bottle broke.

Despite the pain, Aspa's wound can be healed.

“Healing the right person, hey!”

“That’s punishment for acting stupid and acting like a hero. Haven’t you ever learned the rules of adventurers, huh?”

“How would I know!? I’m not even from this world!”

The Elf girl was silent for a moment without thinking.

“I see. Even so, it seems like you’re not the person in the prophecy. You’re old, after all.”

“so mean, huh!”

The next attack from the slime monster was launched at them. This time it was a large hammer formed from the slime's body.

However, due to chatting too much in the middle of the battle—Aspa wasn’t fast enough to avoid the monster’s attack. Putting him in a dangerous situation now.

Oh no... I'm going to die!

A loud crash was heard—Aspa slowly opened his eyes, and found Randa holding back the slime hammer with only the hoe handle and his strong body.

“Stupid! What are you doing, Randa!?”

“I should be the one calling you stupid! You stabbed yourself so badly that you almost lost your life! Brother, you always do things without thinking first. It annoys me! But... I like it because it's cool. So cool! So...”

The muscles in Randa's arms that were used to block the slime monster's attack were seen tightening. Like unbreakable steel, Randa used all his strength to hold the huge hammer made of slime that could weigh up to tens of tons.

“GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

I see... I guess I was looking at him too much like a child.

Randa threw the hammer-shaped slime's hand back, causing the slime's body to be crushed by its own hammer.

Seeing an opportunity, Aspa picked up his axe from the ground and started to move from the ground.

“Good job, Randa!”

A pat was felt on Randa's shoulder. It came from Aspa who immediately ran fast towards the slime monster who was busy with his own hammer.

From the applause, Randa could finally feel Aspa's full trust. Eliminating his pent-up anxiety during their journey.

“Oi! Kid elf!”

“My name is Elvy!”

“You know when to shoot that wind again, right?”

The Elf girl—Elvy nodded in response to Aspa’s question.

“Alright, here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Aspa swung his axe horizontally at the slime monster's body, causing the monster's body to split open and exposing its insides.

At that moment, Elvy, with her bow and arrow ready, released it towards the slime monster's exposed body.

Before releasing the arrow, Elvy muttered something in an ‘abstract’ language and then released it.

The strong wind blew again quickly. Penetrating into the slime monster's body, then continuing to circle around inside its body.

Is that what is called magic?

Aspa watched the reaction caused by the Elf girl's attack.

The slime monster's body quickly returned to normal after being hit by Aspa's attack. However, with the strong wind caused by Elvy's arrow's inside the monster body, then quickly the slime's body inflated like a balloon and exploded into a sticky liquid that scattered around.

With that ... [Quest completed]