Thud thud.
Chelsea and her crew quietly explored the cave-shaped dungeon.
"Wow, it's really dark. It would have been quite difficult without this."
"Well, just use light magic. What's so great about that?"
"Light magic? So you're going to have the wizard use light throughout the dungeon? That would be a perfect way to drain your mana."
"What's the point… lighting a torch in a cave-type dungeon is stupid. Did you fall asleep during dungeon studies class?"
"Hey, both of you, stop fighting."
Chelsea, who had been listening to the bickering between Lois, Merlin, and Elaine, turned her head slightly without saying anything.
Crunch.
She noticed Lucas moving with them from a distance.
'...'
As soon as she entered the dungeon, she was actually a little taken aback by the waves of monsters pouring down like crazy.
'Of course, I would have solved it. They weren't very strong monsters, and the difficulty level itself wasn't that hard.'
However, in that situation, if the field of vision had not been secured properly, even if the crisis was overcome, considerable damage could have occurred.
But.
'It's just a coincidence.'
Lucas's actions would normally be very dangerous.
It could be seen as an excellent response in terms of brightening the field of vision, but what if the light instead attracted the attention of other monsters?
Chelsea, who was thinking about such things, soon shook her head and dismissed the useless thoughts.
'Okay, let's stop thinking about useless things. Now is the time to focus on the strategy.'
After organizing her thoughts, she continued to pay attention to Lucas's movements, not letting go of her suspicion.
Chelsea, who had already suffered a major setback because of Lucas once, still had her doubts about him.
"Elaine, magic!"
"Yeah, Ice Field!"
Jeez, jeez!
"Merlin!"
"Okay, I was just waiting for your instructions."
Push, kkaaaah!
She continued to raid the dungeon without considering Lucas's existence.
Chwiik, kuwowowo.
"Cave Orc Warrior!"
But, of course, He spoke without hesitation when needed.
"Lucas, right now..."
BOOOM—!
"What?"
Ugh, slurp.
Everyone who saw the cave orc warrior die after being hit by a small bomb thrown by Lucas could only look at him in a daze.
"..."
"Not magic, but a bomb?"
Of course, the crew members looked at him with puzzled eyes.
"Everyone, focus!"
Chelsea immediately shouted in a firm voice and focused on clearing the dungeon.
'Why on earth is he doing that?'
The result wasn't bad, but she couldn't help but complain to herself.
After exploring the cave dungeon and dealing with various monsters and traps, they finally...
"It's a boss monster!"
With the appearance of an open space, they encountered a huge being that seemed to proclaim with its entire body that it was the leader of this area.
Kkuieeek!
"Excuse me, is that a boss monster?"
"Considering the surrounding environment, it seems right?"
"No, but how is a slime a boss monster?"
As the crew members' voices sounded slightly flustered, the being that appeared before them was an extremely large slime.
Chelsea bit her lower lip slightly at the sight of the boss monster.
'Tch, why did it have to be a slime...?'
"Change to B formation!"
As her command echoed, the crew members quickly scattered around the area.
"Slimes are immune to physical attacks. Wizards in the rear, please help us in this battle!"
This was the reason Chelsea couldn't help but click her tongue in frustration.
'Can Elaine deal with it alone?'
If it were a normal physically immune monster, Elaine's magic power would be enough, but a giant slime of that size seemed like it would be too much for Elaine alone.
So, of course.
'I need Lucas's power.'
Though very reluctant, Chelsea pulled herself together and opened her mouth.
"Lucas, in this battle, your role is half—"
But at that moment.
Crunch!
"...?"
Suddenly, Lucas was seen running toward the giant slime.
"Lu-Lucas?"
"What? Why is he suddenly doing that?"
At the same time, Chelsea frowned and quickly ran after him.
Ta-da-dak.
"Chelsea?!"
'Damn it. Again...!'
Chelsea had been suspicious and wary of Lucas, but this time, as he ran wild, she had no intention of leaving him alone any longer.
"Lucas, stop right now. Stand right there!"
Of course, very rough and vicious words escaped her mouth.
Hurrah!
Lucas ignored her and kept running forward with the torch in hand.
"Hey, Chelsea suddenly ran off too."
"...What do we do?"
"No, Lucas, why is he doing this again?"
At that time, the other crew members were confused, unsure of what to do due to the sudden situation.
"Uh?"
Lucas, having closed the distance to the giant slime, raised his torch.
"What is he doing?"
"Is he trying to set the slime on fire?"
Grilled! Grilled!
The giant slime extended tentacles from its body as if welcoming the challenger rushing toward it.
"Hey, stop!"
Seeing this, Chelsea chased after him frantically and shouted again.
"Damn it! Lucas, I don't know what you're trying to do, but stop it now! Slimes can't be burned. They're flame resistant, you idiot!"
Her words were laced with curses she normally wouldn't use.
Crunch.
Lucas stopped right in front of the giant slime and turned his head.
Then.
"Oh yeah?"
He smirked mockingly, and then...
Hurrruk!
Without hesitation, he thrust the torch into the slime's body.
Cheeeeeeek!
A sound like the slime's outer surface burning filled the air.
"..... It sticks well?"
SWAAA—!
At that moment, flames engulfed his entire body.
Hwarururuk! Hwaruruk!
Grilled! Grilled! Grilled!
"Oh, it burns?"
Chelsea could only stop running and stare blankly at the intense flames consuming the slime.
'... That's ridiculous. How is that even possible?'
As Chelsea processed the shocking scene, the sound of the giant slime screeching in pain reached her ears.
Grilled! Grilled!
The slime's painful screams echoed through the air.
And then, after a while.
Swish.
"I-is it... going to burst?"
Pbubububu! Pbububu!
BOOM—!!!
The slime's massive body exploded, splitting into hundreds of pieces.
Thud thud thud!
Slime debris rained down like droplets falling from the sky.
"What is this...?"
Chelsea stared blankly at the pieces of King Slime debris falling around her.
At that moment.
Crunch.
"What, internal combustion?"
Lucas's voice reached her as he approached, muttering with a smirk.
"It just stuck well, but anyway, since everything's handled, let's keep moving."
Without hesitation, he started walking toward the path behind the defeated giant slime.
"..."
Chelsea stood there, speechless, watching his back disappear ahead of her.