Chapter 33: Slime punch (1)

“Annoying, annoying, so annoying-!!”

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Silvia, who had left the Opal Hall, was crossing the campus, seething with anger.
Nothing was going her way, and she was in a foul mood.

Just as she was about to take a walk with him, some stray cat-like b*tch appeared!
He said they were acquaintances and sent me back to the lecture hall alone!
And when I tried to show off my learning attitude, the class was canceled?

“Seriously, when it rains, it pours!”

Grumbling, Silvia headed towards the old annex far from the academy’s main building.

The Coral Hall, one of the academy buildings with an extremely low flow of people.
It was an annex facility built near it.

A quiet place where she had often played with her mother, Forte, when she was a child.
It was a quiet and peaceful place, perfect for cooling her head when she was feeling frustrated.

‘How on earth can I win over the professor?’

She fell into deep thought as she passed by the ancient statues and the fountain with clear water.

Come to think of it, simply having an outstanding learning attitude was not enough.

The relationship between Silvia and Professor Anastasia had started off on the wrong foot because of her own rudeness.
To repair what was broken, she needed a definite trump card.

But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with an answer.

‘She likes candy. Should I buy her a limited-edition lollipop set?’

The only ideas that came to mind were this childish.
Her outstanding genius, hailed as a rising star, was useless in times like these.

…But.

‘Why is it so quiet today?’

She had known for a long time that there were few people around. That’s why she came here alone when she wanted to rest her head.

What was strange was that she couldn’t hear the cries of the birds and small animals that she usually heard.

There were no songs from the orioles that used to chirp.
There were no cute antics from the rabbits and squirrels playing in the bushes.

She couldn’t even sense the movement of the flying insects.

A silence as if there were no living creatures around.

Even a cemetery in the middle of the night wouldn’t be this quiet.

“…Hmm?”

Silvia, who had suddenly discovered something, frowned and approached a nearby tree.

A bare branch hanging low towards the path.
A green liquid she had never seen before was smeared on its surface.

“What is this?”

She wondered, touching the somewhat viscous liquid.
It was an unidentified object that could never be found on the usual campus.

‘Is it… some kind of tree sap?’

She thought it might be something similar, given its stickiness.
The texture of pine resin was similar to this.

Of course, it was more watery and muddy than ordinary sap.

“Ugh, something’s unpleasant.”

Scrape, scrape. She shivered, wiping the liquid on the bark.

She had come here to calm her mind and body. She had no intention of wasting time touching a disgusting, squishy lump.

Silvia, frowning, quickly turned her back.
Then, leaving the tree with the ‘sap’ behind, she left the place.

As the distance between her and the tree widened.

Gurgle-!

The liquid droplets Silvia had wiped off wriggled and merged back into the original large lump.
Then, slosh, slosh, it shook its surface and sent a signal to its main body.

An innocent, unsuspecting prey.
That she had personally entered the hunter’s den.

‘Something’s strange.’

Silvia’s impression as she entered deeper into the campus.

No matter how few people there were, it was impossible for it to be this deserted.

Students might not come here often because they have no business.
But at least one or two gardeners tending to the ornamental trees, or guards patrolling the area, should be walking around.

‘Is it a day when access is restricted for some reason?’

But since I entered without any problems, it doesn’t seem like it…

“Student.”

“Kya!”

“What are you doing here?”

A voice suddenly came from behind.

Startled, Silvia let out a shrill scream and turned around.
Then, she quickly put on an awkward smile and tried to act nonchalant.

“Ah, hello? Hehe.”

In front of her was a young man in the uniform of an academy guard.
He was staring at Silvia with a strange expression.

The name ‘George Kapkhan’ was neatly engraved on the name tag on his chest.

“This is a very remote place. Did you come alone, student?”

Guard George Kapkhan asked, looking Silvia up and down.
At this, Silvia quietly nodded and replied cheerfully.

“The weather is really nice, isn’t it? And my class was just canceled. So I came here for a light walk.”

“…Is that so?”

“Excuse me, but is today a special day? I haven’t seen anyone around since earlier.”

Look, look. Silvia asked, looking around the deserted area.

The person in front of her was a member of the guard appointed by the academy.
He would probably know why the area was so quiet.

“Is access to this area restricted for some reason? I’ve been here a few times, but this is the first time it’s been this quiet.”

“First time. It’s your first time.”

“Pardon?”

Silvia tilted her head at the unexpected remark.
She had asked about the academy schedule, but she couldn’t understand why he was repeating her words like a ghost.

But the guard’s strange behavior was not over yet.

“First time… first time… it’s my first… time…”

“E-excuse me? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

George Kapkhan stood still, repeating the same word over and over again.

At the bizarre sight, Silvia took a step back and raised her guard.
The man was acting like a mentally ill person who was in pain, or a madman who had gone completely crazy.

And based on her common sense and experience.

It was definitely not safe to be near such a person.

“Hey! I asked if you were okay! If you don’t answer, I’ll…!”

She was in the middle of chanting a self-defense spell just in case.

Whoosh…

The sound of a gentle breeze blowing eerily.
Suddenly, a heavy silence fell upon the area.

The man who had been repeating the word ‘first time’ suddenly closed his mouth.
The guard, who had stopped talking, stood there like a wax figure, doing nothing.

Her spine tingled at the bizarre sight.

“Kruk…!”

The man, making a sound like he was clearing his throat, glared at Silvia as if having a seizure.
Then, thump, thump, he approached with a threatening gait and suddenly reached out his arm.

An ordinary female student would have probably collapsed in fear.

But Silvia was not an ordinary female student, but the top of the golden generation, who had achieved the 2nd rank.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

She quickly increased the distance and swung her arm from top to bottom.
And the next moment.

Boom-!

“Krr-heuk-?!”

The guard, his face contorted, fell to his knees on the dirt floor.
Silvia’s unique spell, gravity manipulation, had manifested and subdued him in an instant.

“Sorry, but you picked the wrong opponent, you strange old man!”

Silvia shot back, slowly increasing the intensity of the gravity.
As the man collapsed, unable to bear it, she glared at him and shouted.

“How dare you mess with me? The great Silvia of the Reticulum, who kicks the butts of guys like you!”

She had had similar experiences in the past.
She had often encountered idiots who let their guard down and hit on her just because of her small physique and innocent, cute impression.

Of course, she had taught them all a lesson without a single exception.

‘Even a heaven and earth net is a luxury for a guy like this.’

The heaven and earth net was a technique developed because she needed a focal point to concentrate her spell.
She wouldn’t bother using it against an ordinary person, unlike the next Hero.

She could just crush him with widespread pressure until he couldn’t even breathe, whether the magic power leaked or not.

As she was thinking that and gradually increasing the pressure.

“Krr-ruk… ki-ruk…!”

The guard, who was struggling under the weight of gravity, had a seizure, making a grotesque sound.

And exactly one second later.

Splat-!!

“…Huh?”

He was crushed like a fly hit by a fly swatter and burst into droplets.

Drip, drip, a sticky liquid poured onto the ground like a flood.
And small droplets splattered on the girl’s white face.

“Uh, huh…?”

Silvia, who was blankly touching it, turned pale and screamed.

“Hieek!!”

‘I-I! I killed someone!’

How did this happen! I didn’t even press that hard!
I’ve subdued people a few times, and I can distinguish that much!

“W-w-what do I do? What do I do?”

Panicked, Silvia just stomped her feet and couldn’t do anything.

She had defeated competitors with magic many times, but murder was a completely different matter.
Even if it was self-defense, she didn’t intend to kill him.

‘A-am I going to jail for murder?!’

For killing an innocent person, and an academy staff member at that?
Just as all sorts of ominous thoughts were spiraling in her mind.

Gurgle-!!

Suddenly, a strange gurgling sound was heard.
Startled, Silvia quickly turned to the source.

“Kyaaah?!”

Gush! A green liquid poured out and covered her before she knew it.
Then, like a wave swallowing a beachgoer, it swallowed Silvia in one gulp.

“Gah-heuk! Geh-heul!”

The soft, squishy, green slime lump, like a giant jelly.

Trapped inside, Silvia struggled and desperately tried to escape.

But due to its unique viscosity, she couldn’t move as if she were trapped in a deep swamp.
To make matters worse, the liquid lump began to secrete acidic fluid and attack her.

Just as it had dissolved the real George Kapkhan without a trace, it tried to digest Silvia completely and make her a part of itself.

But Silvia was by no means an easy opponent.

Gurgle-?

Unlike the other victims, the monster reacted with bewilderment at the girl who was not being digested meekly.

A full-body barrier that she had put up as soon as she was absorbed by the lump.
It was blocking all of the terrifying acidic fluid’s penetration.

Silvia was a talented student who had awakened her unique spell at a young age.
Protecting herself from the secretions was extremely simple.

The problem was that the monster also had its own countermeasures.

“Kuh?! Heo-eul!”

Silvia struggled, blowing air bubbles from her mouth.

The liquid monster, realizing that it couldn’t kill her by dissolving her, changed its strategy.
It shook Silvia inside its body madly, trying to make her unable to breathe.

‘I-I can’t breathe…!’

She was already trapped inside the lump and unable to breathe.
And now that it was pushing her to exhale the breath she was holding, she couldn’t bear it any longer.

But she couldn’t just suffocate meekly like this.

‘Kuh-eut!’

She concentrated her magic power with all her might and chanted an explosion spell.

There was no way she could break through this slime with force.
Then she had to cause an explosion from the inside to at least disperse the lump.

Finally, when a sufficient amount of mana had gathered.

Boom!!

Gurgle-?!
“Kuh! Cough, cough! Ugh!”

Silvia immediately caused an explosion and scattered the liquid monster into pieces.
Then, thump, she collapsed, wet and sticky, and coughed and retched repeatedly.
It was the first time she had known that air could be so sweet.

But the crisis was not over yet.

Gurgle! Gurgle!

The scattered liquids from the explosion began to entangle and slowly gather.
Then, crawl, crawl, they began to approach Silvia again.

“Hieek!”

Terrified, Silvia cast a gravity spell again and reached out her hand.
But unlike before, when it had a complete form, now that it had liquefied, it did not budge even under the heavy pressure.

Rather, as if applying the principle of surface tension, it used the pressing force to approach even faster.

‘W-what on earth is that?!’

A creepy magical beast she had never seen before.
Silvia, who was seriously feeling a threat to her life, recklessly threw offensive spells.

But none of the magic dealt any significant damage to the monster.
Every time a hole was blown through it by the magic, it would restore itself to its original state as if to mock her.

‘A fluid body!’

A type that spreads around like a stream, without a fixed physical form.

She had read about magical beasts with similar properties from time to time.
She had also studied the countermeasures and affinities for those magical beasts.

But, even though that was the case…

‘How do I deal with a fluid body…?’

With trembling arms, Silvia tried to recall her memory.
But no matter how hard she tried, no knowledge came to mind.

Silvia de Garcia was a self-proclaimed genius, a comet.
But at a critical moment, her immaturity and lack of practical experience held her back.

Now that she was really in danger of losing her life, she had completely forgotten what she had learned and practiced.

“N-no! Don’t come! Go away!”

Completely seized by fear, Silvia desperately shouted.
Despite that, the monster just continued to approach her stubbornly, as if mocking her.

Gurgle, the magical beast swelled up like a tsunami crashing on a beach.

Watching this, Silvia could only call out the name of one person.
The name that came to mind first in her fear, she shouted in a daze.

“P-Professor…!”

Professor Anastasia-!!

“Professor Anastasia? Are you her?”

A strange voice suddenly called out to me.
I stopped walking towards the main building and turned around.

“Yes, that’s me. But who are you?”

Mages I had never met before.
A group of people with solemn expressions, wearing blood-red robes, were surrounding me.

Of course, I didn’t have to guess their identity for long.

The strange eye-shaped emblem attached to the chest of their clothes.
As soon as I saw it, I could guess who they were.

‘The Klomes Academy Board of Directors?’

The so-called ‘Assembly of the Black Eagle’s Eye’, the general assembly of the school’s board of directors and its affiliated organizations.
They were an arrogant and secretive group who never showed themselves unless it was related to management.

“Nice to meet you. We are the personnel who have come under the orders of the academy’s board of directors. I am Vivian, the representative.”

The female mage at the head of the group introduced themselves, confirming my guess.
Then, tap. She touched the frame of the glasses on her nose and notified me in a business-like tone.

“So, could you spare us a moment, ‘new’ Professor?”