Somewhere, in the southern parts of the Bridging Forest,

…

…

…

“GAAAAA!! GET IT OFF ME!!!!!!”

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!!!”

“NO! NO! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! NOOOOO!!!!”

“AAAAA!!! IT’S RIPPING MY LEGS APART!!!!!”

“MAMA!!! MAMAAAA!!!”

“MY WIFE! THE SLIMES GOT MY WIFE!!!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Anguishing screams and cries echo in the Forest as the Slimes continue to ravage the evacuating players. The ravenous Slimes continue marching forward as they devour every player they could see.

“No, no! It got my foot!.... Help me, please!” one of the unfortunate players screamed. He pleaded for help as mid-sized Slime continued to gobble his foot. “Lorelei! Save me!” the player cried as he stretched out his arm, asking help from his friend.

“Just hold still, Paul! I’ll get that thing off you!” the friend replied.

In an attempt to save her friend from impeccable doom, the woman swung her sword and struck the Slime forcibly.

BONG!!

Unfortunately, the sword just sank through the Slime’s gelatinous body.

“Damn it!” the woman uttered. She tried to pull away her sword, but the Slime’s body kept swallowing the weapon. With all her might, and by using the full weight of her body, she attempted a final forceful pull.

SNAP!!

The handle of the sword snapped, leaving the sharp half vacuumed inside the Slime’s body. She stumbled to the ground, leaving with nothing but the handle of the sword in her hand. The blade continued to sink until it was fully absorbed inside the creature.

The Slime was unbothered, it continued to devour the helpless player.

“No, please, no! Please! I don’t want to die here! Aaaaaa!!”

The woman couldn’t do anything but watch her friend be eaten alive. She froze at the traumatic sight. She felt helpless as her body started to shake uncontrollably.

“Lorelei! Lorelei! Get a grip! The fight isn’t over! We’re being surrounded by these things!” another player shouted to the petrified woman.

“I - I… I don’t want to fight anymore… They’re too many. We - we are as good as dead!!”

The other player was disappointed by the woman’s defeated statements. “What the hell are you talking about!? Don’t lose hope! We can… AAGHHHH” But all of a sudden, a Slime pounced on that player, pinning her down.

“Lorelei! Lorelei! What are you doing!? Help me!!!! GAAAAA!!!”

The woman was so defeated that her body refused to respond to her friend’s call for help.

“LO-REEE-LEEEee….” the player was devoured completely.

The woman was left alone, surrounded by mobs of hungry Slimes. Tears rolled from her eyes as she started to accept her fate.

Suddenly,

The ground underneath her started to glow. She looked down and saw a Spell Marking starting to form in a small area around her.

“Purge Darkness!” an incantation was heard.

With that instance, all the surrounding creatures around her started jiggling violently. After a few seconds, the jiggling stopped and the Slimes exploded simultaneously.

The woman’s mind was too cloudy to comprehend the abrupt scenario.

After that, she saw a faint image of a player approaching her. With her slightly-dazed eyes, she tried to identify her savior. She saw a young man wearing a weird-looking Gauntlet in one of his hands. The Gauntlet has an uncomforting aura surrounding it, and its design is not appealing to a cultured eye. His other hand is holding a Sword made of a blue-crystalline material.

“Stand up,” the young man uttered in a monotonous manner.

Lorelei is slowly recognizing the young man, “Ni - Nikko… You’re Nikko, right?”

The young man didn’t answer; he continued warding off the incoming Slimes.

“Nikko! It’s… It’s you,” Lorelei uttered. Then tears started flowing like crazy from her eyes. “Where… *sob*.... Where is Mika and Lumine? They promised that they will take us to a better place.”

“No time!” Nikko unemotionally uttered. Abruptly, he grabbed Lorelei’s hand and dragged her away from the area. Though the intention was not stated, it was understandable that he was taking him to safety.

They ran around the Forest, heading in the direction of the Treetop Settlement.

“Are you taking me to your Camp?”

Nikko stayed silent.

Suddenly, Lorelei stopped in her tracks.

Nikko looked at her with confusion. “What are you doing?”

“We need to find the others. I can’t just go straight to safety knowing that the others are still in danger.”

“Tch~”

Suddenly, a group of Slimes came and surrounded them.

Nikko prepared and assumed a battle position. He moved his sword and pointed the blade in the direction where the Slimes were most coagulated. A Spell Marking appeared in the area.

“Petrify,” Nikko chanted.

The Spell Marking glowed and the Slimes inside the area of effect turned into stones.

“Nikko! Right there!” Lorelei shouted as she pointed another group of Slimes.

Nikko grabbed Lorelei’s arm again and ran away to avoid the incoming Slimes.

After running away for minutes, they found themselves in an area filled with corpses.

Lorelei was terrified by the sight. “Oh damn, it’s Tusk’s group,” she uttered.

All of a sudden, numerous Slimes came out from the shadows. Lorelei and Nikko were trapped.

“Ni-Nikko, you need to hurry and use your Spells on those Slimes,” Lorelei said with a shaky voice.

“The Spells that can kill them are on Cooldown.”

“What!?” Lorelei reacted. She dropped to her knees out of hopelessness. “So, it’s still useless, after all.”

Nikko stayed on guard as the Slimes continued to approach them.

Suddenly,

BOOOOOM!!

A small fiery explosion devastated a group of incoming Slimes.

When the smoke of the explosion subsided, images of four familiar players emerged.

A spark of hope filled Lorelei’s eyes as she saw the players. “Mika! Orixa! Lumine!”

“And don’t forget about me!” Mario proudly uttered as he prepared to swing his Hammer again.

BOOOOOM!!

A huge explosion was created and eradicated another group of Slimes. Bits of flames scattered in the area of the explosion.

“Mario-Buddy, can you please not use the Fuego Augmentation of your Hammer? You might burn the entire forest!” Orixa said.

“Oh, come on! Where’s the fun in that? Besides, you can just use your weapon’s Hydro Enchantment to extinguish the flames,” Mario responded as he prepared to smash again.

BOOOOOM!!

Orixa sighed.

When the numbers of Slime were thinning, Lumine, Mika, and Orixa approached Lorelei and Nikko.

“Nikko, you’re already here!” Mika greeted Nikko.

“Thank God - Mika, you came!” Lorelei’s sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry we’re late. But where are the other people from the Plain Settlement?”

Lorelei bowed her head as she explained the depressing situation, “The Slimes followed us in the Forest. This Forest was so dim that we were scattered helplessly. I don’t know where the others are. I don’t even know if someone is still alive aside from me.”

“Don’t lose hope!” Mika consoled Lorelei.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find the others!” Orixa added.

“I think it’s better if we split up,” Lumine suggested.

Everyone agreed.

“I’ll go that way,” Mario said as he pointed his finger in the Northern direction.

Orixa looked at Lumine, “I know you don’t have proper experience in fighting, Lumie. So, I’ll stay with you.”

Though a bit embarrassed, Lumine had to accept the truth in Orixa’s words. “Oookay - Sure! We can go in that direction,” Lumine answered as she pointed Westward.

“I’ll go with you, Mika,” Lorelei murmured.

“Okay! We’ll push further South,” Mika replied. Then, she looked at Nikko.

“West,” Nikko answered without even hearing Mika’s question.

“Okay! Let's go!”

They started moving in their assigned direction.

After minutes of searching, Mika and Lorelei found themselves in a thick part of the forest.

“Are you sure that there were players here?” Mika asked Lorelei.

“If my memory serves me right, this was the area where we split with Mrs. Cecilia’s group.”

“Okay. Let’s just keep moving. I know we can find them.”

But just before they could move again, a group of Slimes came to ambush them.

“Stay at my back, Lorelei!”

Mika assumed a Battle Position. She swayed both of her arms sidewards and with that, sharp Gygaltax Crystal Shards sprouted from the tip of her Special Armbands, transforming her gears into Improvised Katars.

A Slime launched and jumped toward her. While the Slime is in mid-air, Mika swiped her Katar and sliced the creature’s body in half. The Slime landed on the ground with cleaned-off bodies.

But then,

“Mika look!”

The sliced bodies started wiggling and suddenly, both parts sprung to life!

“Damn it, it just multiplied,” Mika mumbled.

Another slime tried to sneak behind Mika. The Slime launched and tried to pounce at her.

Fortunately, Mika was quick to react. She turned around and moved her arms, forming a slanted cross in front of her chest. The Gygaltax Shards fell off but they were replaced by much thicker crystals. The Gygaltax continued sprouting until they assembled into an Improvised Shield.

The Slimed slammed at Mika’s shield. It dropped to the floor, stunned. Mika kicked the Slime away from her.

The Slimes kept marching towards them.

Mika raised her arms straight forward - with the tips of the Armband pointing in the Slimes’ direction. Then,

PHEW! PHEW!

Gygaltax Shards started shooting from the Armband. The projectiles flew and hit the Slimes.

Unfortunately, the Slimes were unhindered. The Shards just stuck to their bodies.

“Mika, I think Physical Attacks don’t work with them. They are just absorbing the Crystals,” Lorelei pointed out.

More Slimes came to ambush them. They looked around and realized that they were already surrounded by mobs.

Mika searched for a way to escape the Slimes that were trying to trap them. She turned her attention to a tree near them.

“Do you have a glove or something? Or maybe a piece of thick cloth?” Mika asked Lorelei.

“Yes, I have a pair of Leather Gloves - but it’s only for me. Why?”

Mika aimed her Armbands at the tree and started shooting trails of Shards on its wide wooden stem.

PHEW! PHEW! PHEW!...

The trail formed a ladder towards the top of the tree.

“Quick! Wear your gloves and use those Shards as a ladder!”

Without further ado, Lorelei did the instruction.

Mika stripped a large piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt, revealing her slim waist and flat abdomen. She cut the piece in half and wrapped them around her hands. After that, she also started climbing the tree.

Not long after, they finally reached the thick branches of the tree.

“Thank goodness - those Slimes can’t climb this tree,” Lorelei’s sigh of relief as she continued catching her breath.

“We should keep moving.”

“Okay!”

With the unique structure of the trees in the Forest, they were able to cross the thick interconnected branches of the trees. They continued their search by bridging on the branches.

Moments later, they saw a glimpse of players on the forest floor.

“Look, Mika! It’s them!”

They looked closer and they saw a group of children clumped together, hugging each other, and being surrounded by mobs of Slimes. What caught their eyes the most was the brave boy standing his guard against the Slimes, protecting his friends behind him.

“Is that Bolt?”

“Yes, it’s him,” Lorelei answered. “But I can’t see his mother, Mrs. Cecilia, there. Maybe they also got separated from the group.”

“We should help those kids!”

“But how? Do you have a plan?”

Mika stuck her hand inside her Utility Sack and brought out an Item.

“A Spell Scroll?”

“Yes,” Mika replied. “I heard that Slimes are weak against attacks that are infused with Holy Magic. We can use this Holy Enchantment Spell Scroll to imbue our weapons with Holy Magic. Do you still have a weapon you can use?”

“Yes. I still have this small Battle Knife that I always bring anywhere.”

“Great!” Mika responded. “But we should be quick! The Enchantment only lasts for 3 minutes. We should make sure to clear those Slimes before the duration ends.”

“Understood!”

“I’ll use the Spell Scroll now.”

Mika unrolled the Scroll. The text inside the Item shone, signifying that it was already taking effect. Mika and Lorelei’s weapons started glittering in reaction to the Spell.  The duration of the Enchantment had started.

Meanwhile, on the Forest Floor, the terrified children kept crying as they huddled together in each other’s embrace.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” the brave boy yelled to lift his friends’ spirits.

One of the kids shouted, “Bolt! Look out!”

A Slime jumped to attack Bolt.

Bolt was able to perform a dodge roll, completely evading the attack. Quickly, he recovered and planted his feet on the ground. He remained on guard. Suddenly,

BLAM!!

A Slime tackled Bolt from a blindside. The poor boy stumbled to the ground.

“Brother Bolt!” A concerned kid cried.

Bolt was hurt badly. He tried to crawl away from the approaching Slimes.

Then,

PHEW! PHEW! PHEW!

The Slimes were hit by Holy-Infused Shards. And like a drop of water in intense heat, the Slime evaporated in thin air.

“Ate Lorelei!” one of the kids yelled when they saw the two ladies. Their tears turned into smiles when they felt that they were already saved.

“That’s… That’s Mikaila!” Bolt uttered. Slowly, he stood back on his feet.

“Bolt! Protect your friends! We’ll deal with these filthy Slimes!”

Note: Ate is a Filipino term used to address an older lady. Almost the same as Onee-san in Japanese.