CH 92

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“Ah, there it is. It is this one…” 

I am careful not to directly touch the newly spawned slime mold, the Yellow Slime, as I placed it inside an empty bottle. 

I quickly closed the lid and threw it into the Cooler Box. 

“Alright!” (Souma)

I thought it would bounce off, but it unexpectedly got inside without any issues. 

You aren’t supposed to be able to put living beings inside the Cooler Box, but it seems like it is ok if it is inside a bottle. 

If this is the result of tracing the world of Nekomimi Neko, which is monkey in a lot of fronts, this is quite the impressive replication, but I don’t get their criteria. 

“What do you plan on using that for?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki approached me and tilted her cat ears dubiously as she asked me this. 

“Well, I was thinking about using it for a bit of a trap.” (Souma)

I answered this as I look around at the Slime Mold Forest that has completely become a wasteland now. 

I woke up at the Stream Cave when it was close to the next day’s dawn. 

Mitsuki had returned a long time ago and told us that she had wiped out all the Yellow Slimes from all the fields including the Slime Mold Forest. 

Even though it should have taken quite the time to just move to all of them, as expected of her outrageous speed. 

After that, I woke up Ringo who was asleep, and headed to the Slime Mold Forest. 

There were a number of things I wanted to confirm, and if possible, I wanted to secure some Yellow Slimes for the future. 

Even if we have wiped out the ones that are present, they respawn after a certain period of time. 

If there’s trees and grass remaining, there’s the chance they would use that as food and propagate again in a short span of time. 

The conclusion is that it seems that was needless worry. 

Even if new Yellow Slimes are spawning back, new trees and grass are not spawning back. 

I asked Mitsuki, and it seems like, aside from the monsters, the plants and animals of a field don’t suddenly revive. 

Even with that, the Yellow Slimes will still propagate after a few months, so I decided to leave it to Mitsuki and the Hisame Dojo. 

I thought about destroying spawn points and setting poison traps, but those are not permanent countermeasures.

More importantly, I had Mitsuki teach the Hisame Dojo and other places the method to deal with the Yellow Slimes. That way, they can make countermeasures so there’s no casualties even when they propagate. That would most likely be more beneficial for this world. 

And with this, my one other objective has been achieved. 

That objective is of course to capture a Yellow Slime. 

I am thinking of using these Yellow Slimes to prepare for the Attack on the Capital. 

When I glance at my side, Ringo and the Bear seem to be playing around. 

“…Split hair?” (Ringo)

Is what she would say as she plays around with a string on a frayed spot at its back, but is that okay for a plushie?

I feel like the Bear is actually struggling seriously here, but it is probably my imagination. 

I didn’t see the arms of the Bear flailing around and turned back to Mitsuki.

I lower my voice a little bit to not get in the way of Ringo and the Bear who seem to be having fun. 

“Keep this between us, but I heard that the monsters close to the capital will be invading.” (Souma)

“An attack on the capital?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki’s cat ears bend as if saying ‘really?’ as I added to it. 

“Yeah, a massive amount of monsters are pushing from the west. I don’t know if it will really happen or when, but I thought that this would be of help when it happens.” (Souma)

“Could it be you are thinking of having this thing eat the monsters that attack?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki naturally voiced her surprise. 

But it is exactly that. 

The Attack on the Capital is an event where monsters mainly around level 90-110 push through. 

To be more precise, the monsters that come attacking from the west fields of the capital are the main ones. 

Anyways, no matter if they are 90 or 110, they are still within the predation range of the Yellow Slimes. 

It seems like even the Yellow Slimes can’t easily eat the monsters that are flying in the sky, but any monsters aside from those were turned to nothing. 

When the Attack on the Capital happened, the monsters attacking the capital would be swallowed by the Yellow Slimes immediately.

I plan on creating this scenario artificially. 

It is still pretty barebones right now, but if I use this in conjunction with the skulls and pitfalls, it should work plenty well as a trap. 

Dig a pitfall in the west of the capital and put the Yellow Slimes in that. 

I haven’t verified yet whether the skulls work on the Yellow Slimes, but I already know that they work to limit the movements of normal monsters. 

I will limit the routes of the monsters and lead them into the pitfalls. 

Of course, there’s the need to pack them tightly, but there’s the chance that we could defeat most of the monsters with this. 

The Yellow Slimes will increase in number after that, but we can solve that by throwing in a poisoned monster at the end. 

When I explained all that to Mitsuki, she frowned with her cat ears. 

“That’s a nasty plan. But it might be effective.” (Mitsuki)

Getting the seal of approval from Mitsuki is reassuring. 

“But if we are going to be doing this, we have to get the permission of the Knight Order or the people of the capital.” (Souma)

If we were caught setting up the skulls and the Yellow Slimes, we would end up being treated as criminals. 

It would also be dangerous if a civilian were to accidentally step on it. If we are going to be setting traps like that, it would be necessary to have the cooperation of the Knight Order. 

Mitsuki must understand that as well. 

She nodded to what I said and…

“If we are going to be doing this, we have to cooperate properly with my father and the people of the dojo. If it is Father, he is probably still…hmm?” (Mitsuki)

She said that and suddenly furrowed her brows. 

“Is something the matter?” (Souma)

“…I tried checking with the Explorer Ring, and Father seems to be moving away from the dojo.” (Mitsuki)

This time it was my turn to tilt my head. 

“Is that rare?” (Souma)

“Yes, quite. Father is always at the dojo, so him moving away from the dojo is something that rarely happens even in a year. I tried checking it out since we were talking about him, but I didn’t expect for him to really be moving.” (Mitsuki)

Now that she mentions it, I don’t remember seeing Asahi anywhere aside from the dojo.

In the first place, NPCs aside from adventurers normally are in the same settlement the whole time, so you certainly could consider this a rare case.

“Can you tell where he is?” (Souma)

“This is…probably the capital. But…he is not in the center of the city. It feels more like he is barely outside of the city.” (Mitsuki)

“Outside the city? Which side?” (Souma)

“West. Does that mean he hasn’t arrived in the city?” (Mitsuki)

“West…?” (Souma)

I ended up imagining something bad there. 

I might just be overthinking it. 

Whichever the case, I just have to confirm. 

I asked Mitsuki. 

“Mitsuki, do you have a Teleportation Stone?” (Souma)

“Yes, I do…” (Mitsuki)

“Then please use that right now and return to the capital.” (Souma)

“Eh? But…” (Mitsuki)

My sudden suggestion made her cat ears shake as if going ‘hm?’ which was cute, but this isn’t the time to be enraptured.

“If it is nothing, you can return at once. That’s why…please.” (Souma)

“…Then…” (Mitsuki)

Being pushed by my threatening attitude, Mtisuki raised her Teleportation Stone, but…

“…? Nothing is happening.” (Mitsuki)

Looks like my bad feeling turned out to be real. 

(This is bad…) (Souma)

Teleportation Stones are convenient escape items, but they are not all-powerful.

Just think about it. If you could use Teleportation Stones anytime anywhere, you could easily avoid all escape events. 

There’s no way the Nekomimi Neko developers, who love to harass people more than eating 3 meals a day, would allow something like that. 

This game has properly inherited the fate of transportation spells and items.

When you are in the middle of certain events or in special dungeons, you can’t use Teleport Stones because ‘the mana is unstable’. 

‘Teleportation uses the flow of the mana, so when it is unstable, you can’t teleport’, is the excuse given, but that’s obviously just to fill in the blanks. You could even read it as ‘A mysterious power has invalidated it’.

Of course, this is not a field where you can’t use Teleport Stones. 

The Teleport Stone not activating despite that must mean that we are in the middle of some kind of event. 

The problem here is that there’s no event going on around us. 

Meaning that the issue is not here, but that there’s an event ongoing in the capital.

(Is the Attack on the Capital event already happening?) (Souma)

You could say that it is natural to think that’s the case.

I can’t think of any other event that prohibits teleportation other than that one as of present. 

But there was no sign of that when I went to the capital before. 

Thinking about the conditions, it is way too soon for the Attack on the Capital to be happening. 

But…

(Is it really because of the Yellow Slimes?) (Souma)

The Attack on the Capital event is affected by the Monster Invasion Progress close to the capital. 

The Yellow Slimes have stopped increasing thanks to the efforts of Mitsuki.

The Monster Invasion Progress should have decreased even more than before the Yellow Slimes propagated. 

(But if the event flag was established before that…) (Souma)

Even if we dealt with it properly, it is true that the Monster Invasion Progress had increased explosively in the whole area around here. 

Once an event flag is established, no matter how much you lower the Monster Invasion Progress from there on, the event will still be happening. 

That said, I feel like this is a bit too sudden, but this isn’t the time to be investigating the reason. 

“Mitsuki, there’s the chance something is happening at the capital! Use the Explorer Ring to confirm the location of your acquaintances!” (Souma)

“?! Got it!” (Mitsuki)

I heard that response as I continued thinking. 

The Attack on the Capital event happening is high, but it is not settled that the attack itself is already happening. 

There should have been a certain degree of preparation time before the attack of the monsters. 

Because that time gets skipped or you get forced into spectator mode, once you entered the route, you couldn’t move freely that much. However, I feel like there was at least a few hours before you couldn’t teleport until the attack. 

The problem is how long has passed since the Teleport Stones couldn’t be used.

The chances are high that the event flag was established before Mitsuki eradicated the Yellow Slimes, or several hours before that, but I don’t know if the event began right at that moment. 

There’s the chance that we still have some time, or at worst, the battle might have already begun a long time ago. 

In the case the player was not present at the beginning of the event, the capital would suffer great damage. 

If that really happened, people would actually die and…

(No, wait wait!) (Souma)

There was no moment in the game where Asahi would head to the city to help.

Every member of the Hisame Dojo has pretty high combat power despite their personality. 

Even if the event has begun, if the people of the Hisame family have gone as reinforcement, the attack might be easily repelled.

“How are the other people of the dojo, Mitsuki?” (Souma)

“From what I checked, they are all in the capital. Most of them are gathered to the west of the capital.” (Mitsuki)

“I see. Then, they probably noticed the attack and went to provide reinforcements.” (Souma)

That’s a bit relieving. 

Now that I think about it, the Hisame family’s dojo lies west of the capital. 

The monsters are technically coming from the southwest, while the Hisame family’s dojo is more to the north. 

It is not in their path, but if an army of monsters passes, I am sure they would be able to find them faster than the people of the city. 

Also, it would be one thing in the game world, but in a real world, if an army of monsters is attacking, it would be more strange that the Hisame Dojo doesn’t move to help the city when it is nearby. 

I thought I would be able to relax for a bit here though…

“But what bothers me is that it really is everyone who is at the capital. Even the ones that are not combatants have moved to the capital. It is as if it is more like an evacuation than reinforcement.” (Hisame)

“Evacuation…” (Souma)

Mitsuki’s words dig back my uneasiness. 

No, time is of essence here. 

“Anyways, let’s head to the city. If we make a turn to the west and go north, we might be able to hit the enemy from the back.” (Souma)

Right now we are at the south side of the city. 

If we go around to the west and advance from there, we might manage a pincer attack. 

I also thought about using a Teleport Stone to move to other places, but I can’t think of a teleportation spot, and we can’t move to places where we haven’t gone to. 

It is unfortunate, but we have to run here. 

“Ringo!” (Souma)

When I shouted this, Ringo stopped playing with the Bear and immediately came here. 

“There’s the possibility that the people of the capital are being attacked by monsters. We are going there at full speed.” (Souma)

“…Okay, got it.” (Ringo)

Ringo immediately nodded and the Bear hid at my back in that opening. 

Eh, the back of the Bear seems…

No, this isn’t the time for that! 

I feign as if I didn’t see the thing that could be peeked at on the back of the Bear and we move north. 

“Ringo, are you okay?” (Souma)

“…Yes, I’m okay.” (Ringo)

Mitsuki is fast by default and I can now use less stamina for my Godstep Cancel, so I can move for long periods of time. 

The Bear is clinging to my back, so there’s no problem there. 

In the case everyone is moving at their highest speed, the one lacking behind would be Ringo. 

Even so, Ringo is pretty fast compared to your average NPC. 

We were approaching the city with outstanding speed. 

Mitsuki is using the Explorer Ring, but it seems like there’s no big movements on their side for now. 

If someone dies, she apparently can’t see their location anymore, so even if there’s a battle, this would mean that the humans are on the advantage or there isn’t a battle at all in the first place. 

We are taking a slight west turn here, but we are taking a relatively easy to cross route, so our progress is decent. 

At this rate, we will be reaching the city in around 30 minutes, but then…we found that…

“Why is such a monster…at this place…?” (Souma)

What was there was a monster that shouldn’t be in this field. 

Acid Escargot: Level 130. 

It has a stupid food-like name, but it is unexpectedly strong, moreover, rather than its plain strength, what’s feared about this monster is that when you attack its acid body, it will melt your weapon. 

The monsters in this field should be around level 100. 

It shouldn’t be a place where you can find a monster like this. 

From what I can see, it is only 1, so it must be some sort of bug. 

Thinking this, I tilted my head here, but…

“…Look…that.” (Ringo)

Ringo pulled my sleeve this time, and I looked at the direction she pointed at. What was far away was a green giant. 

“Giganto Goblin…” (Souma)

Giganto Goblin. 

It is a super giant goblin that Nekomimi Neko players would say ‘it is different from your regular goblin’, ‘just what are goblins even’, ‘it is not like it is okay to just scale up whatever you please’. 

It is terribly slow compared to a goblin, but the power of one hit of theirs is something that you can’t underestimate, and its level is 155. 

It should be a monster that should only be found close to the Demon Lord’s castle. 

Such a monster is naturally walking in a field that’s around level 100, moving east. 

“Why is it in a place like this…?” (Souma)

I muttered this and Mitsuki answered.

“No, if it is the Giganto Goblin, I have seen it around here before. I say around here, but it is a field a bit deeper to the west though.” (Mitsuki)

“West? But there’s no such high level field there—” (Souma)

Just when I was about to finish saying that, I noticed. 

“I see. The unreleased area of the game!!” (Souma)

The west side of the country that you couldn’t go to in the game. 

What lies beyond the west map is a land overflowing with powerful monsters. A piece of information that existed even when it was still a game. 

If that place is exactly as told, it would have a high Monster Invasion Progress and it would have high level monster spawn points. 

In the first place, the monsters of the Attack on the Capital were not coming from the north where the Demon Lord is at, but from the west side where monsters are more active in this country.

(Could it be that the Attack on the Capital wasn’t hastened because of the Yellow Slimes, but because the unreleased west side field exists now? No, more importantly, if there’s high level monsters like this mixed in the horde of the Attack on the Capital…) (Souma)

I can understand why the people of the Hisame Dojo evacuated in the off-chance something happened, and even if the Knight Order and the Hisame Dojo were to give their all in defending, they wouldn’t be able to protect it completely.

The Attack on the Capital might become…the worst tragedy in the world.

Because of how sudden this was, I have no plan for this one. 

There’s the chance that the monsters appearing here are on a level that can’t be compared to the game. 

Even so…

(I…we…have to do something…!) (Souma)

…A despairing Attack on the Capital that no one has seen before…is about to start.