The slime, frozen white all over, lets out a muffled scream.
Its body is only about a third of its original size. It was the result of Sven and the others taking their time to fight off the attack and reduce it little by little.

In front of the White Wolf's Lair, there was a devastation. The trees had fallen due to the force field of the slime monster, and the ground had been gouged.
However, the slime's movements already lacked the agility that had been visible earlier.

This was proof that this monster, which had once seemed immortal, was on the verge of death.

The slime still hasn't let its guard down and looks around at the hunters who have surrounded it. It's frozen body scrapes against the ground, making a grinding sound.



'Haha, haha...... finally slowed down......'.

You can find a lot more than just a few of these in the marketplace. The expression on his face is painful, and he seems to be holding back his pain.

However, besides Gark, there were not many people who could take the slime. He could at least deflect the attack for a moment, but at most he could only make it long enough for Gark to help him regain his stance.
Above all, there was no one who could take the place of the Ice Storm Fang, which could damage the slime monster with a mere touch without any major preliminary movement.

Gark received a potion from a neighboring hunter to heal his physical injuries and slurped it down in one gulp.

But the game was already decided. Unless the slime monster had another hidden gem, Sven and the others would not lose.

Sven's arrows were enough to destroy the frozen slime monster. A frozen slime monster is a good target.
However, Sven still kept his expression and scolded his friends with a loud voice.

'Don't be careless! This is the test of a thousand transformations! Watch your surroundings, it wouldn't be surprising if two or three more of these things show up!

'I've already done it!

'Oh, you guys, what the hell happened to you before ......?

Sven's voice was answered by a hunter of the footprint.
As he said, some of the footprint members had shifted their vigilance from the slime to the outside of the forest where night had fallen.
Gark's eyes twitched at the familiarity of the situation.

Sven made no reply, but drew his arrow wide at the slime.
It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for and what you can do to help.

'...... That's it!

And no matter how fatigued he was, Sven's skill wasn't bad enough to miss a target only a few meters away.

He takes a small breath, and puts all his energy into the arrow. And the jet-black arrow was released.
The slime monster could barely even move.
The pointed metal arrow pierced through the center of the slime with lightning speed and sewed it to the ground. The ground shakes as if to indicate the force of the arrow.

The vibrations subside. The slime monster has been skewered through the center of its body. A crack appears in its frozen body.
Had the freeze already reached deep inside? There's no sign of the magic barrier that made it such a threat.

The last remaining slime's emotionless eyes turned to Sven, who was still holding his stance.

Then, without anything unexpected happening, the slime disappeared into pieces as if it was originally an illusion.


§§



Sven knew well from his past experiences that the hand of the Grim Reaper would fall on anyone who let their guard down.

He quickly assessed the situation. Many seriously injured. One lost an arm. It had been an hour long battle, and each of them was exhausted, but no one was dead.
All of the people who had gone into the White Wolf's Lair to investigate had returned safely.

Gark sighs deeply as he sits down on the ground. The two physically weak investigators were also sitting down with exhausted expressions on their faces as if they had lost their back.

'Oh dear, it was an unexpected monster, but it ...... managed to get away. ...... Was that a ...... illusion?'

'd*mn it. This is why I didn't want to accompany you. I'd rather be accused of incompetence.'

One of the investigators said forcefully. Perhaps those words were the consensus of the members present.

It was true that the slime was strong. We managed to find a clue and a way to deal with it, but it was a demon that could have killed us.
Above all, the slime was completely unknown to us. A slime with a magical barrier was unheard of.
In the first place, as the old investigator had said, there was no possibility of slimes appearing in this land.

Our clan mates sat down, exhausted. Sven looked around at the other hunters, who still had somber expressions on their faces despite having returned alive, and raised his voice.

He couldn't stop thinking yet.
We must always take countermeasures. This is the know-how to survive that Sven has learned so much about since joining the First Step.

'Perhaps the current slime has something to do with the anomaly in the ...... treasure house. It's too good to be a coincidence.

The investigation inside the treasure house did not yield anything in the end.
The slime thing is the only new clue.

Marietta, whose magic power had been completely drained by the continuous use of attack magic, sighed deeply and languidly.

'I guess so. It's fine if the level of the illusion just went up, but this time it might be bad.

At these words, everyone's expressions clouded further. Because they understood the severity of the current situation.
The wear and tear is intense. The fatigue is intense. Some of us are injured. Even though we now know how to defeat them, we'll be in trouble if that slime thing shows up again.

But even more than that, it would be risky to abandon this place and return home. That was Sven's thought.

The only reason he managed to defeat that slime monster was because he was the best of the best. They were well prepared, ready, coordinated, and high level hunters.
If it had been the Third Order, who usually guarded the security of the Imperial Capital, that encountered the slime, there would have been a great deal of damage.

The Third Order has a high quality of training and absorbs mana and materials as often as possible to maintain a high level of strength, so they are not weak, but their ability to respond is far inferior to hunters who are exposed to many gimmicks in the Treasure House.
The slime you just encountered is an opponent that cannot be defeated by force.

With time, they will find their weaknesses, but it is doubtful that they will be able to hold the line until then.

'You should at least check where they came from. ...... You can still follow their footsteps now. There can't be that many of them. If there were that many, the forest wouldn't be this quiet.

At Sven's words, Gark frowned and growled lowly. He was probably thinking about the trouble he would have to go through as an explorer.

The investigation mentioned in the request is only about the inside of the Treasure House. If we had found traces outside, we would have at least brought them back, but we have no obligation to jump into a place that we know is dangerous.
Even if he left now, his reputation might be ruined, but he would not be charged with a crime.

At that moment, the brown-haired hunter, who had been sitting and looking down at his lost arm in dismay, looked up.


The man who was injured the most in this incident is the man. With that arm, he would not only be a hunter, but would also be unable to carry out his daily life.

What came out of his mouth was a muffled voice.

'...... By the way, do you think he's still out there?

'...... The odds aren't low. But the members here should be able to handle it no problem. That slime thing doesn't have the power to wipe out a party in an instant. Even if we search separately, we can at least escape.

The hunters look at each other.
Awe. Exhaustion. Some of the hunters in the footprints are smiling bitterly. In their hearts, they're probably complaining about their masters.

Sven understands the difficulty of the Thousand Trials.
It was true that the slime was powerful and unknown, but it was still not as difficult as what he had suffered so far.
The fact that he sent Gark, who was the only one who could pinpoint their weakness, was as expected, but I don't think he needed nearly a hundred hunters.

In other words, the Thousand Trials were not over yet.
Then we should move on. It doesn't look like Sven and the others have a choice.

'You can choose to retreat, but ...... you're in for a world of shit anyway. Do you guys want to get attacked by one of those things while we're retreating?'

'............'

'Those who want to go home can go home. We'll go to .......'

The slime's attack is simple but powerful. Even the strongest of hunters will not be safe if they are struck while they are defenseless.
I waited for a while, but there was no response. The members of the Footprints, of course, but also the outside members, did not say anything.
The appearance of the slime creature must have given credence to their words.

We have more than enough people. We can split up into parties and scour the area. It won't take long.

Deep in the forest, look in the direction the slime came from. The magical light that floated in the air was enough to provide a light source, but the silent forest in the dim darkness gave me an inexplicable sense of dread.

We'd better hurry. Sven stood up, following a hunch that had suddenly crossed his mind.


§§


We go through the forest.
The slime thing had a tendency to destroy anything it touched indiscriminately. Its viscous body may have been made of mana material, and there was no mucus-like substance left behind, but it was not difficult to trace back to its source through the popping trees and trampled ground.

Sven's group consisted of the Black Gold Cross, Gark carrying a halberd, two investigators, and a brown-haired hunter who had lost an arm and was unable to fight properly. The rest of the party has dispersed and is checking for other slimes in the vicinity.

The brown-haired hunter is staring at Sven, who is moving quickly. Sven cut through the bushes with a small knife and said.

'The manifestation of the Prismatic Garden was hell. Compared to that, this is nothing.

'...... more than this, huh?

I'm not sure what to say, but I'm going to nod my head.

You can find a lot of people who are looking for the best way to get the most out of their life.
We continue to follow the trail carefully.

'This time the enemy is ...... an illusion, but that time the enemy was 'the environment'.

The Prism Garden is a beautiful treasure house with countless flowers blooming all over it.
But in reality, it was a hell beyond comparison to the Lair of the White Wolf. Even now, Sven sometimes dreams about it.

'Pollen. It had a sleeping effect. Half of the Footprints fell into a coma within seconds of the Treasure Hall appearing.

It was originally a flower garden.
Suddenly, it was transformed by the mana material, and petals and pollen flew up from the sea of blooming flowers. As its name implies, it has a chalk-like texture, and has the property of bringing about a strong drowsiness to those who inhale or touch it.
The drowsiness is so powerful that it can cause a hunter with a sharp mind to faint within seconds.

In addition to the classification by shape, there are several other types of treasure halls.
The Prismatic Garden is classified as an "environmental" treasure house, where the environment itself is a high hurdle for hunters.

'It seems that the change in the earth's veins was quite large. Suddenly, the scene around me changed. Before I could comprehend the situation, I felt faint. Besides drowsiness, paralysis and poison. And of course-- the visions of powerful cannibalistic plants and beasts adapted to their environment. The Prismatic Garden is like a treasure house in itself, a trap waiting for the hunter.

'...... You're lucky you survived.

'I was lucky.

In the early days, the Prismatic Garden was not as challenging as the current Prismatic Garden due to its low mana and material reserves.
But even so, it was still an insurmountable opponent for Sven and the others who were still in the middle of the pack.

If Sven and the others had been the only ones in that place, they would have been feeding the plants by now.
Once you enter, you can never return. That treasure house was a prison.

It was the members of the Ghosts of Sorrows, I'll never forget, who broke the deadlock.

They didn't make a single sound, and their movements were so smooth it was as if they had known each other all along.

In front of Sven, who was in a daze and didn't know what was going on, Ryz pierced his own stomach with a dagger.
Luke bit off his tongue, and Lucia snapped her pinky finger. All to make the pain lull them to sleep.

The first thing they did was to put on the symbolic masks.

The wind blew the pollen away and the flames burned the flower garden.
Pieces of the glittering flames fluttered like flower petals. The image of the Laughing Skeleton moving unperturbed in the midst of the red lilies is still burned into the brains of the hunters of the Footprints.

There must have been very little time before the decision was made.
Although the members of the Ghosts of Sorrows are now known to have two names, at that time they were not so different from Sven and the others. There was almost no difference in their levels, nor in their physical abilities.

At that time, Sven didn't know why they could choose to hurt themselves, which was an impossible choice for them to make in response to an abnormal situation that had no warning.

Now he knows. It was experience that made the difference.
The Black Gold Cross had been a hunter for longer, but the Ghost of Sorrows had gone through a different number of rough patches.

Among hunters, those with power are respected. Since then, no one in the clan has spoken ill of them outwardly.

Strange Glyphs has not been well received due to its harshness, but it does have a few devoted fans.

Sven, too, was in awe of his outlandish appearance. It was not because of his ability or anything like that. It was just the way he was.
And I was grateful for the good fortune of being in the same clan.

But he couldn't just sit on his laurels. Sven has his own pride as a hunter.


And perhaps it is because there are so many like-minded people that the trail still has so many members.

Suffice it to say that the trail led Sven and his group to an open area.
The trail of tyranny occurred suddenly, and no trace of it could be seen beyond that point.

One of the two investigators, a young man with brown hair, looks around fearfully.

'Did that thing occur here ......?

'No, this is outside the treasure house. I don't think such an apparition could have occurred.'

The other investigator immediately denied his words.
Gark is examining the remains of a snapped tree. The twisted and snapped marks look very much like the marks of a slime attack.

Illusions tend to be stronger in those who appear in the depths of treasure halls, where mana and materials are thicker.
But if we're talking about tendencies, then it's not right when that strange apparition appeared.

The first thing you need to do is to abandon your common sense. And pick up only the facts.
If it's really here, then we have to accept it.

Sven frowned in thought, and Gark snorted, half in admiration, half in dismay.

'...... Cry's guy, how does he always manage to predict everything? I heard he came straight to the treasure house.

'Predictions, predictions, or .......'

Krei Andrich is a genius. He's not a god, but he's got a way with people.
Even this time, he guided us to this point to play his trump card against the slime named Gark.
Even Sven, who has been with us for a long time, doesn't understand the reality of Kry's prediction.

But there had to be a point to all these people.
Cry hates waste. This formation wasn't just for defeating that slime.

At that moment, Henrik, who had been checking the area cautiously, called out to him.

'Sven, I found this ...... there.'

'Hmm? What the ......?'

He handed me a large piece of metal. It looked like a flat, curved plate. It wasn't that old, and it was shining dully without any rust.
The metal was sturdy, like that used for armor, but it had been destroyed about halfway through, as if it had been twisted.

The other members of the group found more pieces of metal and handed them to me. Apparently, they were scattered around the area. Some of the pieces have thick chains attached to them.
Gark's expression grew grim as he looked at the collected pieces of metal.

It's a simple shape. He arranges the metal pieces to match the distorted and destroyed marks.

'Oh, come on, this is--'

'...... handcuffs and ...... collars, huh?

The result was five sturdy-looking rings.
Huge handcuffs, shackles, and collars. There are a few pieces missing, but there is no doubt.

In terms of size, they were clearly not meant to restrain humans.

The two investigators' expressions changed when they saw it. They touched the parts they found with serious expressions, different from the exhausted expressions they had just seen.
Feeling a sense of urgency, Sven kept his mouth shut. They whispered in hushed tones.

'Stupid ...... handcuffs and shackles? I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not.

'...... This is bad, man. I thought it was a phantom I didn't know, but maybe it's--'

You need a report, don't you?

You're right. That's ten crimes! If we hide it, we're the criminals. d*mn you, you've got a lot of changes, you've got a lot of--'

A serious voice. It's not so easy being a criminal.
The two of them seemed to know something, and I understood that this situation was more urgent than I had thought.

The Ten Crimes are the most serious crimes under the laws of the Zebrudia Empire. They include treason against the emperor, overthrow of the state, and other similar crimes. It's not a word you hear everyday.

In relation to treasure hunters, the "Liberation Sin" is famous for releasing transcendent beings that are rarely sealed in the innermost part of the Treasure Hall, but it is probably irrelevant in this case.
The transcendent beings are, if I may say so, those who are as close to God as possible. If something is unleashed, there will be a thousand transformations.

Eventually, an elderly investigator looks up.
He didn't seem to want to explain the situation in detail, and said to Gark in a rapid voice.

'Chief, the situation has changed. As there is a possibility that someone has released that apparition, we need to report it as soon as possible...'

Just then, a sharp whistle sounded from deep in the forest, interrupting his words.