Chapter 27
Momo and I headed for the home improvement store.
It was about a twenty-minute walk from here.
We left the apartment building and followed a side street away from the main road.
We kept as inconspicuous as possible, moving quietly.
Momo was currently inside 'Shadow.'
It was waiting there so it could come out immediately if anything happened.
Following the road, we encountered a new monster when we were almost at the home improvement store.
It was hiding quietly in the bushes by the roadside.
It was only a little larger than a basketball.
It was a blue, semitransparent sphere, with a small ball floating inside and bubbles rising with a glub-glub sound.
A quintessential fantasy staple.
A major monster on par with Goblins and Orcs.
That's right—a slime.
"Ooh..."
Seeing one in person, it was even stranger than I'd imagined.
Unlike in certain games, it didn't have any eyes.
It looked like a giant amoeba, or the head of a jellyfish... It was hard to describe.
Or rather, are slimes strong?
Since 'Danger Sense' wasn't reacting much, I didn't think it was all that strong, but...
"Momo."
"...Woof."
I let Momo out of 'Shadow' and watched the slime.
The slime moved slowly, like a slug, dissolving the grass it covered.
Was it eating?
It didn't seem to have noticed us, either.
"Should we hunt it?"
"Woof."
Momo nodded and immediately sent 'Shadow' toward the slime.
Restrain it, then crush it with the refrigerator.
A classic combo.
The extended shadow restrained the slime in an instant.
But the very next moment, something completely unexpected happened.
With a slurp.
The slime slipped out through the gaps in the shadow.
It plopped onto the ground.
Then it began eating grass again as if nothing had happened.
W-what...!?
Momo's 'Shadow' doesn't work on it!?
"Uuugh...!"
Momo was frustrated.
Kind of cute.
"C-calm down, Momo."
While vigorously ruffling Momo to soothe it, I took out the refrigerator.
It's fine. Even if Momo's 'Shadow' couldn't restrain it, the thing was slow.
This would finish it!
The refrigerator I launched crushed the slime.
But once again, things did not go as expected.
The slime flattened its body and crawled out from beneath the refrigerator with a long, squelchy sound.
Even the core-like part floating inside had been flattened completely.
Then the slime began eating grass again as if nothing had happened.
"..."
How annoying.
Maybe it was unfair of me, but there was something irritating about watching it start eating grass again as if nothing had happened!
"Grrrr...!"
Momo was growling.
C-calm down, Momo.
I'd never seen Momo like this before. Cute.
More importantly, could physical attacks really not work against slimes?
What about slashing attacks?
I took out my kitchen knife and approached the slime.
Even when I got this close, the slime showed no reaction whatsoever.
After being attacked with 'Shadow' and a refrigerator, it should have realized we were here long ago, but...
Could it have no means of attacking?
No, since it didn't react to 'Hostility Detection,' maybe it didn't have a will of its own at all?
I raised my kitchen knife and swung it at the slime's core, expecting a clean cut—but it didn't go that way!?
The slime changed shape with a squelch and remained unharmed.
It began eating grass again.
Take that! Take that! Take that!
Stretch, wobble, bounce.
The slime was unharmed.
Gnnngh...!
It was tough.
What was this?
Were slimes really this troublesome to deal with!?
Crushing it didn't work, and neither did slashing it. It seemed impossible to defeat it with physical attacks.
Physical attacks were no good... so what about other means of attack?
Fire, for example.
I took out some oil and matches.
If I'd had hairspray or something, I could have made an improvised flamethrower, but unfortunately I didn't have any.
Taking the possibility of burning myself into account, I changed Momo's 'Shadow' into a hand and had it hold the oil and matches.
Then I set the oil alight right over the slime.
"Oh."
It was highly effective.
The slime, which had been completely unfazed until a moment ago, began thrashing around as soon as it was set on fire.
It struggled desperately to put out the flames, but it was too late.
Eventually, the slime's body melted away and disappeared.
≪You acquired experience points.≫
A voice from the heavens echoed in my head.
A green magic stone lay where the slime had been.
When I stored it, it was labeled 'Slime Magic Stone (Tiny).'
"Phew..."
In a way, this may have been the most trouble I'd had so far.
It was the first time I'd encountered a monster against which physical attacks were useless.
On top of that, the experience points weren't worth the time and tools it took.
I'd used a considerable amount of oil just to defeat a single one.
Hmm, considering the effort and return, maybe I shouldn't bother with slimes.
They didn't attack at all, after all.
They seemed harmless, just eating grass, so I could probably ignore them whenever I saw them.
So a slime's weakness was fire.
I wish that High Orc had some kind of weakness, too...
Though it didn't seem like that thing had any.
I gave Momo the slime's magic stone and resumed walking.
We hunted three Goblins along the way.
Yeah, Goblins were easier to deal with after all.
But I still didn't level up. What a shame.
After a while, Momo and I reached the home improvement store.
This area, too, was a commercial district on par with the shopping mall.
A home improvement store, a supermarket, a drugstore, a bookstore, and other businesses stood side by side, with a large parking lot and plenty of customers.
There didn't appear to be any monsters.
But there were 'people who'd gotten there first.'
"That's what I'm saying! We got here first! Go find somewhere else, you idiots!"
"B-but you don't own this place! We barely made it here ourselves!"
"Just let us stay inside until the Self-Defense Forces come to help us!"
"That's right! People are supposed to help one another in times like this!"
"Let us in already! What are we supposed to do if those monsters attack us!?"
"I don't care! Go die somewhere else! This place belongs to us!"
Near the entrance of the home improvement store.
Several delinquent-looking male students stood blocking the entrance, while nearly ten men and women crowded around them, raising their voices in protest.
Whoa...