Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~

Chapter?40: Slime

Chapter 40

Slime

Gark Welter.

Originally a hunter, then after retiring he was a popular recruiter for the Explorers Association, and he was now the formidable Explorers Association Imperial Capital Branch Chief.

There was no person in the Capital that didn’t know of him.

It had been a long time since he had retired, but he was still known far and wide by current hunters from the time when he was active.

Freely manipulating a hard to manage weapon like the halberd, and annihilating any obstacles in his way whether monster or phantom, he was a man given the name 『War Ogre』.

His transcendent combat skills made him one of the highest certified level 7 hunters.

Withdrawing from the front, and with the loss of Mana Material resulting in a drop in power, his ability was still comparable to active hunters.

It was a bit of a custom in the Capital for hunters that got carried away and entangled with Explorers staff to receive severe punishment from Gark.

However, Gark was one of the key figures in the Imperial Capital. He had a certain position, and from the start he was busy involved in negotiations and the like with the Empire.

No matter how much power he had, primarily he wasn’t the person that should be expected to appear on a dangerous battlefield like this.

Feeling the atmosphere of a shrine after a long time, Gark seemed emotionally moved. Stunned, Sven pointed his finger out.

“Branch chief, you’re not a hunter any more, you know that right?”

“Yeah, of course. Well, there’s still a long way before I lose to the hunters these days.”

Gark frowned and beat his chest with his fist.

That figure. Bulging muscle with no excess flab covered by crimson armor, with a relic held in his hand. He was perfectly ready.

Ah, this guy’s hard to understand. The assistant branch chief goes through a lot. Sven sighed deeply.

It certainly didn’t seem like Gark had gone through a ten year blank period, and his strength was preserved.

He probably had a high natural ability to withhold Mana Material. His body still seemed to be trained. In Sven’s eyes he was still enough to pass as a hunter.

But while that was true, the front was another story.

The two men who seemed to be examiners from the 『House of Remnant Investigations』 looked around uneasily whenever they heard howls from the Phantoms.

The 『House of Remnant Investigations』 was a division of the Empire that investigated shrines and relics.

Investigations of shrine abnormalities such as this one was also under their control.

By it’s nature it had close ties with the Explorers Association.

However, most of it’s members were researchers and civilians.

The two that came with Gark wouldn’t be very different from an ordinary person in fighting capability.

As the two squat on the ground, scooped out dirt and talked about something, Sven spoke to Gark while he watched them.

“Those guys are?”

“I asked for a big budget increase this time. They wouldn’t take no for an answer. They won’t get in the way.”

To the words that wouldn’t allow a refusal, Sven was swayed for the time being.

It wasn’t the time for an argument, he would make a complaint after returning. Many of the members of the 『House of Remnant Investigations』 took a condescending attitude towards hunters, but Gark was here so there shouldn’t be

any problems.

They had better stay quiet within eyesight.

Branch chief Gark was a former high level hunter.

Even though he had been absent for a while, he wouldn’t get in the way. More than that, a former hunter that was part of various legends taking part would lead to increased morale.

And above all, he had no right to veto.

At the center of camp, he gave a report running down the situation from the beginning.

As Sven spread out the map and explained, Gark gave a low murmur.

His expression held relief that he was in time, and grasped the strong vigilance. One of the examiners spoke up at Sven’s report.

“A slime...? What appears at this shrine are wolves. Up to now there haven’t been any reports of other types of Phantoms appearing, and this area isn’t a suitable habitat for slimes.”

He understood all that.

When Iron Cross arrived at the shrine, they hadn’t known the information from Cry.

But the members that had arrived as reinforcements were investigating every possibility.

As he was about to say that, one of the examiners crossed his arms and opened his mouth.

An older man with a sharp look in his eye, his tone of voice exuded feelings of suffering.

“But, it’s the word of 『Infinite Variety』. That man never fails to miss strange occurences at shrines. ...Up till now, we’ve also had some terrible hardships.”

“Terrible hardships...?”

“Because of that guy that can expose accidents without any precursor, we’ve been treated as incompetent. Even in this case, if we didn’t increase the personnel and something happened then someone would be chased after to be held responsible. That’s why we’re closed in from every direction. Damn it...”

For some reason Sven felt some affinity for the man that treaded on the ground in agitation.

“It’s better to deal with it all at once. Don’t you think it’s stupid to be influenced by the words and actions of a man who only says he was unlucky?”

“...Oi, leave it there.”

“Ah, it was just a slip of the tongue.”

One investigator strikes the others shoulder and apologises.

However, hearing the mans words the eyes of the hunters that had been looking over changed.

It wasn’t as if their doubts had vanished, but the ridiculing factor was gone.

“But really, the chance of a slime appearing here is equal to zero. No, there are no shrines in the Empire that have slimes that could harm you lot. Of course, that’s the story for now. Unfortunately our predictions are outside the range of foresight. We can’t deny that this shrine could become specialised in slimes now, but, from the opinion of an expert it’s probably impossible.”

“Yeah, that’s seems about right.”

To the almost sarcastic roundabout way of talking Sven nodded. Next to him Gark was frowning but also didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t that shrines never went through drastic changes. But there were only a few cases up until now.

More than anything, if such a thing happened, it would be too much for Iron Cross to handle.

“Any other possibilities?”

“Who can tell. I don’t have the faintest idea what could appear. If it wasn’t an order from above, I would never have come to this place.”

The man shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

Even though the older man was in a higher position, the other looked at him reproachfully but said nothing.

Apparently their wills were united. They both wanted to return safely. Another party came back, and another portion of the map was filled out.

“If it’s unlikely a wild slime will appear, what about one that isn’t wild?” Gark raised his head and spoke to Sven.

“Creating slimes is one of an alchemist’s specialties. Certainly it’s improbable that a wild slime will come out, but it’s possible if there was an alchemist that created one.”

Sven gave Gark’s idea some thought, and then shook his head.

“...No, it’s doubtful. A good alchemist can make powerful slimes, but even so there is a limit. If you were going to pour so much money into researching powerful slimes, if it was me I would research 『Golems』 and 『Automata』.”

“I-If it’s slimes... if there are good things to say about slimes, Sytry-chan had said a few things though...”

The sole alchemist Talia cut in, but didn’t deny Sven.

An 『Alchemist』 used magic differently to a 『Magi』, and it had costs and took time. If you had time to spend on slimes, it was better to use it researching another field. That was common sense.

Sven turned his gaze towards the glass of dark liquid on her waist.

“...Either way, if worse comes to worst, we have this slime potion. It would be best if we didn’t have to use it.”

“Since there’s only one, we need to be careful.” Talia nervously clenched her fists and nodded.

The information source was just the word of one hunter. The basis behind it was not explained.

But all the people in that place took some amount of caution at the words.

As the unknown spots inside the shrine became accounted for, caution was turned towards the forest as well.

“...Speaking of which, that guy that went into the forest earlier-“ Was he back?

At the time he was about to verify it, a faint sound entered Sven’s ears.

It was a sound small enough to be lost in the wind. It disappeared in an instant, but it wasn’t misheard.

“It’s a single sound out. All hands, be alert!” Sven shouted out.

A single sounded whistle was the signal for the discovery of a monster. Since it was a brief sound, was there no time afforded against the monster?

The remaining hunters quickly went into formation and readied their weapons.

The investigation was already nearly over.

There were three parties left within the shrine. Most of the hunters were mobilised outside of it.

Gark grasped his Relic – the 『Blizzard War Fang』, and asked Sven with a stern expression.

“Oi, Sven. The whistle just now, where did you hear it from?” Sven was an archer. His eyes and ears were good.

It was difficult to detect the source of a sound when it was echoing inside, but in

these circumstances he wouldn’t be mistaken.

He composed his breathing, and glared.

His line of sight wasn’t on the shrine, it was in the direction of the thickets the brown haired hunter had left in.

“Inside the forest... it wasn’t the shrine. Shit!” The trees shook, and the ground quaked.

The sound of a great impact resounded from the interior of the forest.

The sound of the whistle wasn’t heard again.

The sun was already setting, and the dense forest that was dim at the best of times was getting harder to see in.

.

The Magi among the hunters each chanted light magic. Soft spheres of illumination were suspended in the air, turning away the darkness.

The two non-combatants of the 『House of Remnant Investigations』 fell back to

the rear. Sven took his bow and turned towards the direction of the noise. Then, a limping figure rushed out of the darkness.

“-...God... damn... it... it’s, coming.”

It was the brown haired hunter. However, his face was distorted, both arms were cut in half, and bones could be seen.

Blood was dripping. The armour he wore was gouged out, and the sword he had been carrying was nowhere to be seen.

As the man tumbled towards the formation, his party members ran over and pulled him in.

He was unable to fight. It wasn’t at the level of some broken fingers. Without fingers on either arm it was impossible to hold a sword.

“Henrik, cure!” “-....! Yes!”

At Sven’s order, the Lighter Henrik rushed over.

With a serious expression he checked over the wounds and was dumbfounded.

Both arms seemed to have been torn off, an ordinary attack would be unable to create such wounds.

The cross section was warped as if twisted, it was doubtful it could be sutured even if the arms had remained.

Sven also didn’t understand it.

Until now he had fought against a great amount of monsters, but what kind of attack would result in these wounds?

The sound of foliage being broken down steadily approached. The sound of trees breaking made it seem as if it was a large beast.

A faint white light extended from Henrik’s hand.

The jutting bones and dripping blood swelled, and in the blink of an eye the wounds were closed over with flesh.

While receiving the treatment, the brown haired hunter screamed out.

“Not a, not... it wasn’t, a slime! I-I know, that it – it will swallow you in. Stay away! Run!”

At the words, the party closest to the bushes changed their position to further away.

Then, as the fully prepared hunters lied in wait, the monster from the forest came into view.

Under the magical light sources, Sven widened his eyes in shock. “A .......slime?”

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It was far away from any creature Sven and the others had ever fought.

The sound of footsteps were faint, but if you listened carefully the strange sound of something damp and heavy creeping forward could be heard.

The body was large. In terms of height it was taller than Sven.

It’s body was deep red and humanoid. It’s body was larger than Sven’s, but it was more appropriate to say it was lumpy rather than muscular.

“Is it....melted...?”

At the bizarre form, Talia’s breath caught and she took a step back.

At her words Sven noticed that the creature before his eyes resembled the phantoms from the Shrine.

There was nothing preexisting to compare it with. But if he had to say, then it would be a 『Melted Wolf Knight』.

The arms, legs, fur, and armour, not only on the surface – more than half had dissolved into a viscous mass. It was nearly collapsing and could hardly maintain it’s posture.

However only the eyes remained clear, shining gold towards the hunters waiting.

It was a creature with it’s body in a liquid state.

Certainly if you only listed it’s features you might say it was a slime.

But, that form was much too violent to call it that.

Slimes were that sort of creature, but this life form had experienced a failure in the construction of it’s body.

As the monster passed by, nothing was left behind.

A part of it’s almost liquefied shoulder touched a tree. With just a touch, the tree shattered into fragments and fell.

It wasn’t magic. It didn’t launch an attack. It was only a touch.

Unknown whether blood or flesh, the surface of it’s body frothed and bubbled. At that ugliness, one of the examiners opened their eyes to the limit and covered their mouth.

It’s legs were not agile. It’s speed had allowed the injured hunter to escape. One of the hunters muttered while taking a step back.

“You nearly die?”

“No! At the time I ran into it, that was-“

It was the 『enemy』 that 『Infinite Variety』 had wanted to dispatch the clans strongest for.

That thought suddenly crossed his mind. Sven pulled out his bow and shouted.

“All hands, commence the attack! Bring it down by keeping your distance! Cry damn it, how is this thing a slime! Stop kidding around!”

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