By evening, I finally reached the settlement. I sank lightly into the roadside grass and began reconnaissance.

  After studying the gate guards carefully, I confirmed—they were human. Excellent.

  There were two of them, armed with spears and shields.

  I saw no watchtowers, no archers with bows. More excellent news.

  Everything seemed to be falling into place in my favor.

  Now I just needed a plan—something that would let me slip inside with as few questions and suspicions as possible.

  As I turned this over in my mind, I glanced around… and spotted the slimes.

  An idea clicked into place instantly.

  I tucked the dagger lashed to my left arm deep inside my stiff glove and double-checked my appearance.

  After mentally rehearsing my next moves, I backed far enough from the gate to be out of sight.

  Then I approached a large slime crawling nearby.

  It had two eyes and stood noticeably taller than the others—its gelatinous bulk gave me a flicker of nervousness.

  Gripping my axe in my bony fingers, I swung with all my might—

  —to my surprise, the blade bounced off.

  The axe recoiled upward, nearly throwing me off balance.

  The slime didn’t even flinch. It just kept oozing toward its smaller kin.

  — This can’t be happening! — I wanted to shout, but the words jammed somewhere near my third vertebra.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  I swung again. Same result. The axe deflected uselessly.

  Frustration boiled over—I began hacking at the creature in rapid succession, aiming to pierce it.

  Nothing. Every strike just ricocheted off. No damage at all.

  I stopped, panting (metaphorically), and switched targets.

  Nearby, a one-eyed slime caught my attention.

  I stepped closer, planted my feet wide, and raised the axe high behind my skull.

  Straining nonexistent muscles, I brought it down hard—aiming straight for its eye.

  Thwack!

  This time, the blade sliced cleanly through the slime’s outer membrane and stuck fast.

  The creature was still alive. It thrashed wildly, trying to escape.

  I yanked the axe, but it was wedged tight.

  Thinking fast (or rather, not thinking at all), I lifted the axe—with the slime still impaled on it—and slammed the whole thing into the ground.

  The blob clearly hadn’t expected that.

  The impact split it into two uneven halves—one containing the eye.

  Within five seconds, both pieces stopped moving—but held their shape, lying there like orange slices with an eyeball instead of a seed.

  Immediately, the nearby slimes panicked.

  They surged toward me—much faster than before. Small, medium, large—all of them, rolling and oozing with alarming speed.

  Perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted.

  I kicked the slime chunks away, dropped my axe, and sprinted onto the road, heading straight for the settlement.

  Behind me, the entire jelly-like horde gave chase.

  A few even spilled onto the road ahead—but their size kept them from forming any real barrier.

  After about ten minutes of steady running, I could clearly see the guards.

  I started waving my arms frantically, sending every “help!” signal I could muster.

  They reacted almost instantly, shouting back at me.

  To my surprise, I could actually make out some of their words:

  “Run… Idiot… Turn around…!”

  They seemed thrilled to see me.