CH 3

Chapter 3: Hammer VS Metal Slime

From the very beginning, he was never interested in dungeons.

Though he knew that a civilian could gain a lot of money by becoming an explorer of the dungeon, the dungeon itself was filled with danger, only an oddball would try to enter such a place.

There were still many prejudices about the explorer’s occupation. And Yuuma happens to be one of those people.

But then, he found an extremely rare monster right inside the tiny dungeon before him. He thought that defeating it might earn him a magic gem.

Since it was a rare monster, it should’ve dropped a rare magic gem too.

Some of the magic gems were traded for hundreds of millions. Thus he was wondering something along the lines of “Is this my chance?”.

He was painfully aware that using his brain wasn’t his forte, nor did he have a special talent. Even if he could enter an F-grade university, his life wouldn’t amount to that much.

But, his life might change for the better if he could get a large amount of money at once…

That kind of ambition suddenly crossed his head.

It took only a moment for Yuuma to make a decision as he ran back to his house immediately, rummaging in the cabinet for something that he could use as a weapon. According to his research on the site, slime was so weak to the point that there was no need to worry about injury when facing them.

Since they’re not dangerous, Yuuma had no reason to hesitate.

He took out the hammer that was brought from the home centre from inside of the cabinet. It was the mighty 1280 Yen worth of hammer, he went back for the third time in the hole after he found what he was looking for.

He stepped carefully into the hole while illuminating the inside with his flashlight.

Mamezo could only look at Yuuma with a curious look on its face.

「Uwaa! It’s really narrow.」

Inside the cave was barely enough for an adult. There wasn’t even enough space for him to raise his hammer, he could barely move around inside.

But, the same could be said for his opponent. The slime couldn’t escape too.

The slime raised its vigilance and stayed at the edge of the cave the moment they detected foreign existence entering the cave. Yuuma crouched down and glared at the slime with a turtle-like pose.

With a pose that allowed him to raise his hammer, he raised his hammer and swung it down toward the slime.

But, the hammer got repelled along with a dry metallic sound as it hit the slime.

「S-So tough!」

The slime turned out to be harder than he expected. Though it looked like metal at glance, at first he doubted whether it really was metal.

But after trying to hit it, he realized that the slime body was really that of metal. It was as if he tried to hit tough steel with his measly 1280 Yen hammer.

Can I defeat such a thing? was what he thought a moment before he saw the slime moving at fast speed. Though it couldn’t escape in such a confined place, he couldn’t hit the slime with his hammer either.

「Dammit! It keeps moving around.」

Yuuma couldn’t move very well either due to the confined space. When he was distressed by such a situation, the slime suddenly leapt toward him. He was really surprised when the slime struck his knee.

「OUCH!!」

It was so painful as if a metal ball just struck at his knee with tremendous speed.

「D-DAMMIT!」

He swung his hammer again but the slime dodged it easily this time and sprung toward Yuuma’s arm this time. Yuuma ended up dropping his hammer after the slime slammed onto his right arm.

The slime isn’t dangerous!? No need to be afraid of injury when facing them? They must be kidding me!

Yuuma crawled out from the cave in a hurry as he cursed in his mind. When he raised his face up as he tried to stabilize his rough breath, his pet dog Mamezo was approaching their master with a worried look on their face.

They raised worrying cries as they licked Yuuma’s cheek.

「Haah, haah… No good, Mamezo… The one inside turned out to be an atrocious monster… It’s dangerous, so you mustn’t approach the hole carelessly next time.」

Yuuma could barely brace his feet as he stood, walking back to his house. He took out an ice pack from the freezer and put it on the bruised part on his knee and right arm.

「Ouch… That’s a painful experience indeed.」

He heaved a sigh as he sat on the sofa, holding on to his smartphone while placing an ice pack on his knee.

He tried looking for more information about the dungeon monsters on the internet. The information about slime was pretty much the same.

According to his findings, slime was an extremely weak monster that could be defeated even by a kid. Something along the line of its movement being far slower than human, and not dangerous.

「THIS IS PURE BS! METAL SLIME AIN’T LIKE THAT AT ALL!」

For weak monsters in the shallow floor of the dungeon, it seems they could be defeated with punch alone. But that kind of method wouldn’t work on monsters on the deeper floor. According to the article that he found on the internet, they’re getting stronger and stronger the deeper the floor.

Even metal slime wasn’t defeated with his blow.

「So that metal slime is actually a powerful monster huh? Even though it appeared in shallow floor.」

But according to the article, even strong monsters could still receive indirect damage from magic.

Magic was a special power that could only be used inside the dungeon but it had confirmed that magic such as fire, water, or thunder could be used in the dungeon.

「Indirect attack… Metal… Since that’s the case――」

Yuuma was looking at the shrub in the garden again.

「I might be able to defeat that fu*cker if I burn it…」