“Slime king… Where is it?”
In the forest thickly covered in green, Lain whispered while straining her eyes to look between the trees. The tall trees wrapped their branches together, blocking the sun and casting a large shade on the ground below.
It was hard to see too far in this dim darkness, and impatience slowly but surely grew inside Lain’s heart.
Considering they would all have to come back to the rendezvous point by midday, the time limit was not too far.
Even worse, Lain did not leave any marks in particular, and since she got lost a long time ago, she knew from experience that going back would take some time.
“I’m getting a little tired…”
She had been walking for an hour in the depths of the forest with all the moss covered rocks and thick tree roots intertwining all over the place. Even just walking was pretty tiring.
There was sweat gradually appearing on her pale skin, and her face was starting to show exhaustion.
(What… Is that?)
She wanted to rest, but knew she did not have the time. She let her impatience take over, and continued moving, until she saw a bright space up ahead.
It seemed that space and that space alone was being illuminated by the sun.
Lain moved towards it, drawn in by the light.
Suddenly, her view opened up… Revealing a fantastical sight.
“…Pretty…”
In front of Lain… Was a beautiful spring.
The water was clear, but carried a slight blue tint. And as the light from the sun reflected from the surface of the water, it looked in Lain’s eyes like shining beads of light coming down.
They shined as though the spring itself contained life, and Lain kept getting closer and closer without realizing it.
“…”
She crouched down and touched the water with her hand, and a fresh and cold sensation ran through her fingers.
And as the refreshing feeling spread throughout her body, the exhaustion weighing on her felt as though it was melting.
(…Maybe I said too much earlier… She’s not going to get lost, is she?)
There was a small change beginning to occur in her heart, as Lain looked at the surface of the water being shaken by a breeze.
The black fire burning deep within her heart was slowly losing its strength.
She started wondering why she was so worked up. As she thought back to it, it did not feel real, like it was something that happened to another person.
(…I’m sure she went back to where the teacher is. She couldn’t have continued to chase me.)
Despite her best efforts, the idea of Ririi chasing her and getting lost continued to creep up inside her head.
Ririi was smaller than her, so if she did chase her, that could mean trouble…
“…Let’s go back. I shouldn’t have broken the rules.”
Lain got up and turned her back to the spring, and strangely enough, she felt at ease, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Her body was brimming with energy as well.
“I’ll apologize to her when I get back. And to the teacher too.”
And as Lain made this decision… A strange phenomenon happened behind her.
Water was being lifted like it was being sucked into the air… And a large shadow hung over Lain.
◆
Suddenly, it was dark around her.
That was how Lain perceived what happened behind her. And she knew this feeling too well.
It was something that happened often when she walked outside. An adult walking behind her would block the sun and create a shadow, and when she was swallowed by a shadow, it gave the illusion that it was night all of a sudden.
Basically…
“…!?”
She felt an intense presence behind and turned around… To see something shocking.
“Y-you’re kidding…?”
A blue sphere filled her vision. Strangely enough, it was the same color as the spring she just touched. Even more strange, the spring suddenly disappeared, as though it had evaporated.
Lain pinched her cheek, wondering if this was a dream… But the sphere did not sit and wait.
“Booooooooooooo!!!!”
“Kyah!”
A sound Lain had never heard before turned into a shockwave that assaulted her. Lain was blown away, and hit a big tree hard with her back.
“Uu… It hurts.”
The intense pain made her vision flash for a moment, as her body felt numb like it was struck by lightning, except for the burning feeling on her back.
“Ahh… Ahh…”
Lain face twisted with pain, and what she saw in her blurry vision… Was two eyes on the sphere.
The big eyes stared straight at Lain.
(…Is this… The slime king…? I have to get up…)
She somehow managed to put together her disconnected thoughts, and twist them into one single line.
Her heart was calm at its core, despite the desperate situation. She felt both surprised about this, and thought it was only obvious. She could not imagine herself panicking.
She was only six, an age where not panicking would be strange. No one else in her class could remain as calm as a gentle breeze in a life or death situation. Only Lain had this ability.
Lain put her weight on the tree behind her, and slowly got to her feet. But the lower half of her body could not steady itself, and she slowly slid back down.
In the meantime, the slime king slowly approached her, as if eating the ground.
(Can’t get up… Then…)
She somehow managed to move her numb right hand to take her staff out of her pocket, and pointed it right at the slime king.
(The slime king’s weakness… Is lightning. My element…!)
Lain focused her consciousness on the tip of her staff. For a moment, both the desperate situation she put herself in and the giant monster creeping closer were blown away from her mind.
All that existed in her mind at this point were the staff of the highest grade made up of the S rank material ‘lightning beast silver fang’s skull’, and the tingling pain in her right hand.
Although not in the best shape, her right hand could still send out her best magic energy to her staff, as she practiced it hundreds of times.
(…Go!!)
As if a flower was blooming, a big, yellow magic circle appeared at the tip of her spear without a sound. In it the modification to turn her magic into the shape of a spear was written, something she did not learn in class.
…To Lain, the spear shape conversion brought back bad memories of losing to Ririi and having the spotlight being taken from her. But she figured she could overwrite a bad memory with a successful experience.
But outside the shape change, there was something else, something that was not there before. An acceleration modification that would usually only be taught to upperclassmen, but Lain mastered on her own.
(This… Is my full power…)
The slime king was now right in front of Lain. In a few seconds, it would engulf her with its large body. Basically, that meant death.
Lain fully understood this, and transmitted all the magic energy that remained in her body to the magic circle.
The magic circle then shined even brighter.
Lain blinked first, not wanting to miss this moment, and by the time she was done, the lightning spear had already finished piercing the slime king’s body.
The magic Lain unleashed with all she had did more than just pierce the slime king. It carved a round hole in its body, and also trees dozens of meters away.
(…Did I… Do it…?)
She saw the slime king drip to the ground with a large chunk of its body missing, and finally could breathe again.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and felt a big sense of accomplishment bubbling up from deep inside her. She was attacked by both a sense of relief after escaping death, and a sense of exhaustion from using up all her magic energy, and began to feel sleepy.
(…No. I have to be back before midday.)
She shook her head and slapped her cheeks to rouse herself. She took in fresh air into her lungs, rubbed her heavy eyes… And they suddenly opened wide.
“…Eh?”
The slime king was fully back to how it was before, and looked down at Lain with its dark eyes, that resembled tree hollows.
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