The Slime Doesn't Die from Mana Transfer

It all began about four days ago.

Thomas and his companions had discovered tracks in the forest that matched their target.

The footprints were enormous—each nearly the size of Thomas lying flat on the ground. Judging from his experience, the creature must have been over ten meters tall… a genuine S-rank monster.

But even if it were S-rank, Thomas’s party had already prepared themselves for such a hunt.

The purpose of their mission was to gather intelligence about the target. Having found the tracks, there was no reason not to pursue them. They spent two days following those imprints until they arrived here.

Yet…

“I’m telling you, there’s nothing here.”

Kate muttered in complaint.

The clearing lay covered in snow—empty, silent.

And the monster’s tracks ended right here.

“Idiot, look more carefully.”

Chris stepped into the clearing, crouching to examine the ground.

“The snow here is obviously thinner than elsewhere. That means it was cleared once before. The snow you see now is from the past few days. In other words, those tracks were left about four days ago.”

“Then the monster’s hiding somewhere nearby?”

Thomas asked as he approached.

“I don’t know. But a creature that large couldn’t possibly conceal itself, could it?”

Chris thought aloud, frowning.

“In any case, let’s clear the snow from this clearing. Maybe something lies underneath.”

“You two should rest. Leave the heavy labor to me.”

Thomas planted his massive, door-sized greatsword into the ground, rolling up his sleeves to reveal hardened muscle.

“No. When it comes to sweeping, I’m a professional.”

Chris’s eyes gleamed with seriousness.

Up in the treetops, Kate yawned and stretched himself into a comfortable lounging position. He had no interest in competing for chores.

Chris snapped off a few branches and lashed them together with twine, fashioning makeshift brooms. She and Thomas then began sweeping away the snow.

Both worked quickly.

In less than ten minutes, the snow was gone, revealing the bare ground beneath.

Kate yawned again, glancing lazily down from his perch—only to freeze.

In the center of the clearing, once buried by snow, was a charred patch of earth.

The three of them recognized it instantly.

The burn marks left by a campfire.

“Check the surroundings. See if there are any cut trees.”

Thomas ordered.

“Found one.”

Kate sat up, his sharp eyes locking onto a stump at the edge of the clearing. The cut was uneven but clearly made by something sharp.

Someone had camped here.

“What the hell is this supposed to mean?”

Kate drawled.

“Don’t tell me that monster came all the way here, chopped down a tree, and made a campfire?”

“Shut your mouth.”

Chris snapped.

“Anyone with half a brain knows that’s impossible!”

“I was just trying to ease the tension. You’re wound too tight.”

“Enough. Let’s think seriously.”

Thomas sat down on the stump.

“By rights, no one should be wandering in this part of the forest. The only exception is that girl we encountered the other day. Most likely, this campfire was hers.”

“So her amnesia… was a lie?”

Kate asked.

“No. Rather than a lie, it was never something we believed to begin with.”

Chris rolled her eyes.

“That kid thought she was acting convincingly, but how could anyone just ‘appear’ in the middle of this forest? Survive a monster attack by sheer coincidence? And conveniently have amnesia on top of that? There’s no such thing as so many coincidences.”

“Then how do you explain this?”

Kate’s voice dropped to a chill.

“Could it be… that the girl was actually possessed by a powerful monster, trying to use her body as a vessel to slip into human society?”

“…You’ve read too many novels.”

Chris sighed deeply, not even bothering to argue further.

Thomas remained silent, arms crossed, staring at the fire’s remnants.

A girl appearing suddenly in the forest. Monster tracks that vanished. The traces of a campfire. A chopped-down tree…

The reasonable conclusion was that the child was not what she seemed. Perhaps the missing monster was tied to her.

And this was no ordinary forest.

This was the Dieppe Forest, in the northern borderlands of the Rhine Kingdom. Beyond it lay the Muscovy Mountain Range, splitting the continent into north and south. Beneath those mountains stretched the Great Barrier, erected to repel demon invasions.

The demon realm was barren, frozen, resource-starved, its soil infertile.

Before the Great Barrier was raised, demons raided southward every year. It was no secret that they never ceased seeking to destroy the barrier.

And now, in a forest bordering that barrier, an unknown girl had appeared.

Too many questions.

“We’ll search for two more days. If we find nothing, we’ll return.”

Thomas declared.

“Once back, we’ll report the situation to the capital. What happens next will depend on their orders.”

“Not return immediately?”

Chris frowned.

“Winnie is with that girl. Isn’t that dangerous?”

“There’s no need to worry about Winnie. She already distrusted that child. As long as she stays vigilant, nothing will happen.”

Thomas gripped the hilt of his sword as he rose.

But in that moment—

Kate suddenly moved.

With blinding speed, faster than the eye could follow, he drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it.

Whoosh—

The arrow was loosed so fast it seemed the motions of bowstring and draw had been skipped altogether. In a blink, it was streaking toward Thomas’s head.

At the very last instant—

Crack!

The arrow shattered.

An invisible wind blade had collided with it midair, intercepting its path.

Kate’s expression hardened, his eyes fixing coldly on a nearby evergreen.

He reached again for his quiver—this time drawing three arrows at once.

But before he could shoot, Thomas had already seized his massive greatsword. His body blurred into a black streak, surging forward.

“Haah—!”

The blade swept in a wide arc.

A tree trunk thick enough for two men to embrace snapped in half—not sliced, but smashed apart by sheer force.

As the great tree toppled, a white shadow burst from the canopy, soaring into the sky.

Thomas crouched low.

A moment later, with explosive force, his legs launched him upward. His tower-like frame shot into the air like a black cannonball, greatsword swinging down like a guillotine upon the white figure.

At the same time, Kate’s three arrows flew, loosed in a “pin” formation, all striking at once.