Chapter 164

164 Caution with the hot springs temperature, please! part “Are you alright Sera?”

“This is nothing mister Ryu, I can still help you”

“I admire your resolve, but we can’t have you bleeding on the food, please call Anne”

Ryu commanded and Sera complied without showing any trace of her disappointment. It wasn’t just the fact that her clumsiness brought trouble for Ryu, but also she couldn’t help but notice how fast he asked for Anne’s help when he could have asked anybody else. Of course that wasn’t exactly true because Bob’s hands were too big for dealing with such small vegetables, Luke couldn’t touch food without turning it into inedible trash and Risa, well, he wanted to keep his distance from her as much as possible.

“What’s up?”

“Here, please peel this potatoes”

“Is that why you called me? seriously? I thought you ran into trouble or something, I can smell a faint trace of blood...”

Anne said sniffing the air.

“Is that a skill!?”

.....

“No, I just have a keen sense of smell I guess”

“I see, so that’s why you used to rub the silver flower into your neck...”

Anne blushed at Ryu’s remark and decided to cut the chat and focus on the cooking.

Lunch was mostly quiet, not because there wasn’t anything to speak about, but because everyone was submerged in the amazing taste of Ryu’s improvised cooking. Next thing they knew they were already filled with energy and eager to complete the quest.

They broke campas soon as they finished eating and they started following Anne and Luke who were the fastest and better suited formoving into uneven terrain.

Just when Luke was starting to get bored of all the hiking and no action they came across a path that was covered in green goo. Anne crouched and dipped her fingers into the sticky substance, Luke tried to hide his luscious glare after Anne but failed miserably because he was right in front of everyone.

“Any idea of what is this?”

Anne asked Hana, who was staring at Luke with reproachful eyes.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, not even when we came to investigate after the hot springs became too hot to be used”

“Yeah, I think we might be up to something here”

Risa nodded pretending to know what it meant.

“Mister Ryu, do you think it’ll be dangerous?”

Sera asked.

“There’s only one way to find out, we already commited to this quest, we’re as ready as we’ll ever be and I think it’s better to run into trouble on the first day when we’re still fresh”

“Yeah, but there’s no rush. You can always go back to the inn and get a good night sleep, it’s not like we’re far anyway”

Hana shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been encircling the inn, although we walked for hours, we can return in less than half an hour”

Anne replied.

“That’s great! let’s follow the trail then!”

Morale skyrocketted at the thought of being able to go back to sleep to the inn. They all had the best night they’ve ever had since they came into this world, everyone, including Risa who was a native.

The sticky goo was covering all the plants and trees at just about a person’s height but it was denser and more abundant in the ground. It was so sticky that eventually everyone had been slowed down by the substance and they were tiring out rapidly.

“Yuk! This thing is dripping from the trees too! it’s disgusting!”

Anne said as she tried to bush off some of the substance from her shoulder, but she ended up smearing it all over her robe.

“Hey Luke!!! do you think... maybe...”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking!?”

“SLIMES!”

They jumped excitedly at the thought of facing those well known slimy creatures from old rpgs. The rest of the group, not knowing why they were in such a good mood, thought they were excited because they found the cause of the hot spring’s phenomena and got excited too.

“Look out!”

Ryu yelled out of the blue and threw himself over Sera to cover her, they ended up falling and getting stuck in the goo.

“What’s wrong with you Ryu!? shouting like that, don’t scare us!”

“Hey, keep your thoughts to youself blondie, he must have seen something”

“Yep, over there, there’s a green thing and I sensed it was about to attack”

The green jelly in front of them didn’t move at all, it was simply wiggling like a regular jelly.

“That’s just jelly!”

“No, wait, it’s actually a creature!”

Everyone gaped, it didn’t look to be sentient or even dangerous in any way.

“Mister Ryu...”

“Yes?”

“Could you... could you please move?”

Sera said amidst panting and blushing as they were face to face awkwardly facing each other.

“I’m trying, but this thing is too sticky!”

“Nice one Ryu, but this is not the time to be flirting around”

Luke said as he walked back to pull Ryu up, but he was struggling, Bob came from behind and lifted everyone effortlessly in a single move.

“So, how do we kill it?”

“I’m not getting near that thing”

Anne scoffed.

“Let me try, Blazing hell of fury!”

Bob yelled while hitting the jelly with all his might, his bulging muscles allowed him to land ahit that no living creature could shrug off easily, except for that jelly who apparently didn’t even notice the attack.

“Maybe someone with more than half a brain could give it a try”

Hanna said oozing sarcasm.

“Let me try”

Anne grabbed her bow and shot an arrow at the thing from the distance. As the proyectile pierced it’s green membrane it squelched in what could be interpreted as asign of the attack working.

“That’s great! keep going pretty girl!”

Risa cheered as if Anne was one of her pupils. Yet, even when Anne ran out of arrows the jelly was still ‘alive’ blocking the pathway.

“Do you think that thing is flammable?”

“Don’t even think about it, we’re all covered in that substance, if you set it on fire we’ll follow”

“I think we should just head back... It’s getting late and I’m getting tired already”

“Now that you mention it Sera, I’m getting tired too...”

“We can’t go back now, that thing doesn’t move from it’s position, how did it get there?”

“Uh? what do you mean Ryu?”

Anne said, still somewhat upsed because she wasted all her arrows.

“I don’t know how does that thing reproduce or how does it move, but I think I know how does it feed. We’re all covered in that green substance, what do you think would happen to a tired creature that’s left defenseless in the ground?”

“Doyou think we’ll get disolved?”

“No, I mean, not right away, but we could be in trouble if we get tired. Maybe it’ll feed of the nutrients of dead creatures, it can afford to wait until we die and rot away...”

“Hey, that’s a bit dark, don’t you think? So what do you propose Ryu?”

Prompted by Risa, Ryu took a minute toponder about their options and then he came up with an idea.

“Bob couldn’t damage that thing despite his brute force, yet Anne was able to do some damage from a distance with her arrows. The difference is the type of attack. While Bob’s warhammer inflicts blunt damage, Anne’s arrows inflict piercing damage. I think we should try to hit it with our swords”

“Let’s put that theory to the test”

Luke stepped in and slashed at the green jelly with his short sword, destroying it with a single hit.

“And that’s how you deal with those things!”

“You just swung your sword blondie, no need to look that proud of yourself”

.....

“Anyway, let’s keep moving”

The goo covering the pathway, the greenery and even the one covering the party members was slowly but surely disappearing on it’s own. The sticky substance became something more similar to water than jelly, making Ryu wonder how exactly did it work.

Of course he was worried because it seemed like a dangerous opponent to face without knowing anything about it, but his curiosity wasn’t driven by fear at all. He liked to discover new places, new creatures, new plants, anything he didn’t know before filled him with awe and joy. Especially when it also meant facing something difficult to explain with common sense, even if it wasn’t something related to mana, it felt magical to him.

“Is it my idea or the air around here is getting warmer?”

“it’s not your Idea, there’s something weird going on, I can sense it”

Anne and Luke stopped in their tracks and everyone did the same.

“What’s wrong?”

“We can’t see further ahead, there seems to be a strange mist”

“Can’t you use your night vision skill or something?”

Anne shook her head at Hana who was impatient to find whatever it was killing her business.

“How do you even know about her skills?”

Luke asked intrigued.

“Isn’t it obvious? All archers have the same skill set unless they become dual class”

“Wait... so, do you know all the skills that the basic classes can have?”

“Pfff! didn’t you guys go to school?”

“WHAT!?”

The otherwordly adventurers were left shocked by Hana’s casual reply.