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“I was planning to leave it to the reinforcements, but since they’re my friends, that wasn’t gonna happen.”

Still, it was impossible to fight while protecting them. I could barely look after myself, let alone worry about them.

But if I’m gonna be honest, the moment they touch that thing, it’s game over for them. Just like those hosts I just killed, in an instant…

Should I jump in front of them and get stabbed instead?

That thought crossed my mind just then.

“Eww, gross! This is weird!”

In a life-or-death moment, Seolhwa and Jinhyeon managed to react just in time to create a thick Ice Wall.

When the tentacles reached the Ice Wall, they twisted grotesquely and pulled back. But the impact was so great that the Ice Wall didn’t last long before it shattered into pieces.

“What the heck is that?!”

The ones who had assumed defensive positions immediately joined me and asked about the giant creature. I would’ve gladly said “Suicides!” but…

“I don’t know! Are they suicides, or are they mimics that ate those guys? For now, just get out of here! Do not touch it! Absolutely! Run…”

“How can we just abandon our friends and run away? Right?!”

I was about to say “run,” but Lapiz, weighed down by chunks of concrete stuck to her hands and feet, was ready to charge headfirst into battle.

“Lapiz is right! And so is Blanca! We won’t just sit around doing nothing!”

Others also showed their fighting spirit and stood by my side.

“…Guys.”

Are they really willing to fight, knowing they could die? Just because we’re friends?

Just then, a tentacle that I thought was going to hit me was blocked by Jinhyeon’s Ice Wall.

“Thanks, right? Then wake up! That thing looks seriously dangerous!”

“It seems weak to ice? The slime’s frozen and stuck to it.”

“Jinhyeon, leave the defense to Seolhwa and try everything from flames to electricity! Lapiz, can you bury it underground?!”

“I’ll give it a shot!”

While I was momentarily dazed, the others started doing their part.

Jinhyeon passed the flames to Yeonhwa and unleashed an all-out assault with various elements, while Seolhwa immediately raised an Ice Fortress surrounding the lab’s exterior.

Lapiz was trying to shake the ground to bury the slime, and Ageha was providing overall support.

Lucia, not having much to do, was shooting beams or reinforcing barriers with darkness.

…I couldn’t just sit back and relax either. I gathered my wits and shared what I knew immediately.

“I’m not sure what that is, but I could somewhat control those tentacles! And it’s aiming for me!”

“Only Blanca? Why?”

“Because it’s curious about her!”

As I extended tentacles from my body, she expressed her annoyance at how all the curious things looked like that.

“Alright, got it! We’ll somehow hold that thing until the other heroes arrive!”

Wait. Other heroes? Did they just throw themselves into danger without any plan?

So we had no idea who would arrive first?

As soon as I registered Ageha’s words, I cranked my thinking speed to the max and came to a conclusion.

I had to contact Justitia immediately after grabbing Lucia by the shoulder, who was currently firing beams.

Whether she realized her clothes were dissolving from the slime or not, Lucia seemed flustered but agreed to make the call.

“You should have called for reinforcements!”

The reason for choosing Justitia was simple. Only she could definitely subdue something that strong.

Just as I was about to dash out to buy some time, Ageha stopped me, saying not to do anything reckless.

With a look that seemed to imply she was confident in being able to hold it down, she wanted me to sit and watch.

In reality, anyone watching might think we had almost caught it.

With its surface completely frozen and unable to move, that giant was being buried underground.

But it wasn’t the case.

“Right now that thing—”

It was simply staying still, preparing to transform.

That warning didn’t reach anyone in time. As cracks formed in the black ice, an enormous centipede burst out from the gaps.

In an instant, the giant centipede charged towards us.

Seolhwa, Jinhyeon, and Lapiz combined their powers to stack dozens of layers of defense, but the centipede transformed its head into a drill and stubbornly broke through.

Jinhyeon squeezed out enough power to freeze the centipede entirely, but contrary to his expectations, it melted the ice in an instant.

“Has it adapted?!”

“It didn’t adapt; it changed to exploit a weakness!”

As the method that had just worked became useless in a heartbeat, Ageha showed a look of panic.

But since it was partly a mimic, I had foreseen it would behave that way.

I could change the slime into various forms according to the situation, but what if the slime itself is its body?

It could change into countless shapes and simply switch to the optimal form as needed.

“This fortress can’t hold! Get out!”

I scooped up Lapiz and stretched my tentacles with all my might to swiftly evade the centipede’s charge.

The others also managed to escape from its path in whatever way they could. When the centipede crashed into the Ice Fortress, not only the fortress but the lab beyond it got utterly destroyed.

For a moment, I was speechless at that overwhelming destruction, but soon realized that the interior was filled with toxic gas and shouted at them to get away from the lab, which was now tainted with poison.

“But there’s nowhere left to retreat to?!”

Ageha seemed determined not to let it head toward the city, even if it meant facing the risk of poisoning.

“I told you, it’s targeting me! So it won’t head for the city!”

“Are you sure?”

I didn’t know either. What that thing might do.

But, I was used to lying.

“Yeah!”

Besides, I definitely didn’t want my friends to get hurt or die.

I dashed straight to the other side, where Lapiz tried to bury the mimic, and thankfully, the centipede wasn’t charging toward the city. Instead, it turned toward us.

What wasn’t lucky, though, was that I could see something dropping from the centipede’s body from afar.

It couldn’t be melting from damage.

Above all, when I saw it transforming into human forms as it fell,

It was trying to fight as a giant centipede, but also multiply into several medium-sized centipedes along with thousands of human forms.

A splitting boss. If you design it like that, you’ll get scolded. Just thinking about that ludicrous quantity made me feel deflated.

“Ice won’t work on it, so how about fire? The surface area has increased, so it looks like we could deal significant damage.”

But even in this situation, the others seemed deeply committed to fighting.

They wouldn’t just give up because I said so. So I needed to come up with a clever plan.

I had to find a way to handle that mass.

As I racked my brain, I suddenly noticed that the frozen black shell of the slime was melting away.

…If that’s the case, maybe I can do something!

“Minho! Can you kick those pieces behind you and smash them?!”

I asked Minho if he could break the black pieces that hadn’t melted yet.

“Those? I can, but didn’t you say if I touch it, I’d die?”

Listening to him suggest that maybe it would be better for Jinhyeon and Yeonhwa to combine their powers and melt it, that indeed seemed like a better option.

“That’s true, but they have to deal with those things! Plus, those frozen ones don’t have cores, so you don’t have to worry about erosion, you’ll be fine!”

When I pointed out that he didn’t have anything to do, Minho, sounding a little wronged, protested that he didn’t want to sit still either.

“So, are you going to do it or not?!”

“I’ll do it!”

Half-shouting, Minho went to break it while Jinhyeon added flammable materials to the massive column of flame he had created, making it even larger.

“Yeonhwa, are you really sure you can handle this?”

“Yeah. The only thing I learned in training was how to control a fire this big!”

Yeonhwa confidently assured me, crossing her arms in an X before spreading them wide.

“Flame, obey me!!”

Shouting that, she freely swung around a massive river of fire.

The giant fireball moving along the trail of her hand reminded me of a massive scale of a sparkler, multiplied a thousand times over.

…But it would probably adapt quickly.

So, what I planned to do had to work.

While Minho, Yeonhwa, and Jinhyeon bought time, I kept kicking the frozen slimes away and made a black puddle.

“Is this good?! But what do you plan to do now?!”

As he signaled that he was all set, he regarded me with a somewhat concerned expression, wondering what I was going to do.

What do I plan to do? Why do you think I asked you to break those frozen things?

Of course, I was planning to use them.

“I’m doing this!”

Alright, this could be my last gamble in life.

I really hoped this would work.

I prayed to a deity I didn’t even believe in and jumped into the black puddle.

 

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