ROACHES

BANG BANG BANG!

"Get under the shield" Ivan held up both hands as a barrier of ice encapsulated the group. The orange slime swung its arm and dozens of smaller slimes soared through the air.

Though the slimes flew by Azantium as if ripping through wet paper, against an element they were weak against they were met with some resistance.

It was only three seconds but that was enough time for Tio to cast a fire spell and incinerate the smaller slimes latching to the roof of the dome.

WHOOSH!

Unable to rejoice in their progress the group was met with several more swipes. The orange slime monster was more intelligent than Ivan had originally given it credit for.

Instead of just standing still while slinging slimes it toured around their dome fortress dropping minions on each side.

If they remained in their position they'd inevitably get overrun while their shelter would be reduced to melted ice.

"Yue!" Ivan hollered to Yue, she, in turn, nodded before placing both her hands into the air. As instructed she had conserved her magic in case of emergencies.

Being the strongest spellcaster of the group she was essentially their trump card.

And as such she decisively released a spell she deemed capable of turning the tide of the battle.

"Void Shatter!" She released an uncharacteristically loud scream as thin lines appeared in the space in front of her.

As effective as freezing and burning remnants of the slimes were, the best course of action now would be to directly 'erase' the slimes to the point where reassimilation wouldn't be possible.

What better way to do that than by splitting space and erasing the existence of whatever stood in the way of her spatial lines.

Walls of earth popped out of the ground to reduce the suction force of the spatial slash, holding Ivan and his group far away from the danger of being erased alongside many of the slimes.

"...."

By the time dust settled the size of the prime slime had reduced significantly. However, now was not the time to get complacent.

The basic knowledge of monster hunting was that a monster was the most dangerous when forced into a corner. And though they were standing face to face with slimes which were considered emotionless beings, that saying still holds true.

The orange slime, that Ivan dubbed 'Prime', froze in place before coagulating. Its base hardened and formed sharp ridges. Spikes adorned its body before it turned to the group almost mechanically.

"Great, it evolved…" Ivan sighed depressedly, slightly amused by the slime giant as he compared it to the scale of his frost giant.

"They're most certainly similar…" Tio affirmed Ivan's words, comparing it she still found Ivan's frost giant to be of utmost impressive.

"In any case, this will be easier to deal with… Canis, Felis, go wild!" Now that the slime was no longer a threat it was time for the melee fighters of the group to move in.

Of course that included Ari and Claire who couldn't even attack from afar in fear of their weapons being destroyed by the acidic properties.

The slime's mistake was turning into a solid, even after chunks of it ripping out and breaking none of the lust affecting slime oozes out. That meant it was no different than a giant punching bag.

"Fire!" In classic RPG fashion mages bombarded the slime crystal giant from afar with catastrophic magic, and front liners chopped at the giant's legs in hopes of incapacitating it.

Little by little it was whittled away like marble under a sculptor's hands.

Until—

"Aww, it's kinda cute like this… I think I wanna keep it~" Ivan mused at the ornate orange cube that sat in the palm of his hand. Every couple of seconds it jumped as if it were alive.

He tossed the box in between members of the group so they could all get a good look at how the slime they had been fighting for two hours was reduced to cool bedroom decoration.

Though he had to stop Felis from licking it as he was confident she'd contract its lustful effects if she tasted even a little bit of it. He wasn't going to risk dealing with that.

But to be honest he couldn't fully fault her, something about how the cube looked made it seem like orange candy. If it didn't jump now and then he would probably identify it as such too,

"I'm sorry, little one… But it's your time to go… We already investigated the area and haven't found a way out. This leads me to believe that your death will trigger the next step towards progress… So, farewell…!"

Ivan gave the slime cube a tiny sendoff, faux tears forming in the corners of his eyes as the rest of the group looked at him with exasperation. But then a second later his right arm glowed as the cube was reduced to dust.

"Alright, so where is it…" As if the tears before were just an illusion, Ivan began climbing trees in search of the next teleporter.

RUMBLE RUMBLE

The ground shook and the familiar dead tree trunk rose from the ground. It busted open from the middle before white light sprouted from its center.

"Oh, so we did have to kill that slime!" The teleporter had shown up right where the slime's remains were.

"I-Is this it… Can we finally leave this place?" Shea spoke with a hopeful expression as this whole labyrinth had been more than what she bargained for.

"That's what I'm hoping… the other dungeons were playful compared to this one. In fact, I'm quite certain that whoever this liberator was they were probably hated by the rest of the group…"

Ivan provided his biased opinion. If you counted the clones at the beginning of the dungeon as a trial, and the body-swapping as another, then that would put them at five trials already. Counting the trent, dream, and slime.

"So once again we step through the wooden arches, what mysteries await us on the other side… I wonder…" Ivan approached the portal without any added flair.

Seeing as how this isn't the first time the group had to deal with something like this there was no reason to put on airs.

But even so, he locked hands with everyone, all the same, it didn't hurt to do and it was quite pleasurable on his end anyways… even with Yue at his side pinching his waist…

"Alright folks, let's step in. If this liberator is as much of an asshole as I believe them to be, another trial awaits us… I only hope that I'm wrong!"

Though he couldn't help but feel as though he raised a flag, Ivan spoke the words that came to mind.

And without a moment of hesitation, they all stepped in.

=====================================================================

It was dark, but not so dark that the group was unable to see their surroundings. That's right, for now, they were together. That in itself was something worth rejoicing over.

"Are we… inside the tree?" Tio couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth, and yet she couldn't help but utter them to affirm what she was seeing was not an illusion.

Branches spurred from the tower of wood that seemed to stretch into the sky without limits, each connected to the trunk of the tree. And though they were inside the tree the room they had to move around inside seemed endless.

Compared to the jungles they were previously in, its size was insurmountable.

But rather than admire the grand sight in front of him, Ivan honed his ears to better listen to the sounds gnawing at his attention.

CRUNCH CRUNCH!

The noise became rowdier as if the source of it sensed their presence. Ivan determined that it was coming from the edge of the platform they were standing on.

So with Yue by his side, Ivan made his way toward the edge and peered down.

"W-What the…?" He spoke with neither fear nor doubt, instead what was present in his voice was an immeasurable amount of disgust.

Bugs weren't a bother to Ivan, in fact, he found their biology interesting. At least when compared to a human the variety of physical evolutions and the intensity of such differences were far more exaggerated.

Ants could lift way more than what their bodies weigh, Some beatles even need drills to cut through their thick armor. And finally, roaches could survive nuclear fallouts, at least controlled ones…

And unfortunately, their enemy just happened to be the last out of those superpowered freaks. Well, it was more suitable to say— enemies.

"Hundreds— no, thousands… not even that…. Hundreds of thousands of them… all writhing and crawling over each other. Their exoskeletons cracking under the weight of their—"

"Enough with the narration!"

Shea snapped at Ivan before running away to a corner where she would then throw up.

"Haaaah… Should we just get this over with and bombard them…?" Though Ivan knew that even with the most powerful of spells it'd be impossible to get rid of all of them in a single blast.

Just initiating the battle would result in a wave of them hoarding and charging after them like an unstoppable wave.

"Mm… there's no other way…" Yue agreed with his statement with disappointment across her face. In the past five seconds she had already thought of five hundred ways to avoid the disgusting encounter… alas it would seem that fate hated them.

If anything, the branches lining up the interior of the grand tree's trunk were just a method for those attempting the trial to run away from the wave of roaches.

Though if Ivan had to go by the previous trials the cruel liberator made up, the real trial was likely facing this horde head-on. The liberator would likely spew some bullshit about facing their fear afterward while acting all mighty.

"I think we should destroy the grand tree when we're done with this labyrinth… no one would miss it…"

"While I'd love to agree with you… there are a few thousand beastman that would most definitely disagree with you…."

"Mm, not to mention that even Haulia likes the tree… I would feel bad about destroying it after ordering them to protect it for so long…"

Ivan and Yue had a casual conversation about a possible arsonist case, throwing out the ideas in favor of the Haulia's faith.

They didn't even turn to face the others that stood at the edges of the overhang along with them, who also showed the same revolted expression they did.

"Mom… I might be coming home sooner than I thought…" Ivan felt as though he needed a break from the ridiculousness of this world. He was a person who preferred to see impossible oddities through an electronic screen, not right in front of him.

"I wonder how much poop is down there…"

Ivan resisted the urge to push Felis off the edge before calling the group back to where they first appeared to formulate a plan.

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Today I felt a strange pang of motivation. That motivation being to work as hard as I can to make money. Though that desire did not come to fruition from anything positive... in fact it sparked after talking with my father today. I really wanna move out, though I likely wouldn't do it even if I had the money until the family member I owe my life to passes. When that happens its bon voyage!

Disregarding my familial drama I wanna thank you guys for helping me take the first steps toward my dreams: to leave this cursed household and focus on creating stuff! For now, that is my dream. So to put it smoothly--- I, Ardo Aleister, have a dream!

Have a great evening, and I'll leave it at here. See ya next time~

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