An orange light illuminated a throne hall, coming from twelve braziers standing on each side. A red carpet laid on the center, leading from a wide gate to just before a huge throne of dark steel. Numerous chairs laid beside the carpet, yet no one was sitting on them—only a few were present in the hall, and all of them were kneeling down in front of the throne.

Seated on the throne, a child gazed at the kneeling few. His right foot was on the cushion, his knee drawn to his chest. Meanwhile, his face rested on his arms. The youth seemed deep in thought.

Although he had acted confidently in front of the system, he wasn't sure if he could win. He held absolute confidence in his strength inside of dreams, but the opponent was someone even the system considered dangerous. Underestimating it might prove fatal.

“We might have a terrible enemy this time. Increase the alertness of the troops in the southern part of the kingdom and order the civilians to stay within their homes. For no reason at all should they go outside.”

As he said that, Himo turned to look toward the far south. In that direction, a peculiar feeling told him the rough location of the slime. He frowned.

“Also, notify the elite troops to be ready just in case. The enemy might prove worthy of fighting them. Report to me when there will be data about the enemy, I want to know its star rating as soon as possible.”

Those words gave shivers to everyone in the hall. Something requiring the elite troops? They couldn’t even imagine such a threat. Albeit skeptical of its existence, they followed the orders immediately.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

-----

A flat green ground blended into blue, blurring then into white stains. Even farther up, black spots hid behind those stains, followed by many lights watching from afar.

In a world that blended with itself, a green sphere concealed itself on the green ground. It looked left, right, up, and down. Safe from the child, the slime felt relieved. It gazed off in the distance. A feeling told it what to do—to defeat the child at his own game.

Before, all it could do was to stand still and not move; this time, however, it had access to its adult form. It was unbeatable. Running through its past memories, it assumed the form of a brown-haired adult woman. A camouflage was, after all, the bare minimum of prudence.

The slime chased after the direction provided by that feeling—toward the child. In a few seconds, it reached a wall of fog that covered its view. The fog started from a red line on the ground, all the way up to the sky.

The slime didn't hesitate. It walked through the fog in a single step.

And everything changed.

The former green ground turned into a charred terrain which stretched up to massive black walls. In front of it, countless building-sized black spheres floated in the air. Each sphere had a blue circle imprinted on it.

Some floated close to the ground, others as high as the wall. The moment the slime appeared, each sphere turned, their blue circles aiming at the intruder. And a voice resounded from behind the walls, sounding up to the slime. 

“Detected external threat. Proceeding the elimination.” 

It was a robotic, lifeless voice. One that signaled to the spheres’ blue circles to light up.

A sense of danger overwhelmed the slime, forcing it to jump as high as possible. It reached a single sphere’s height—

A blue sea of lightning blasted the place where it stood before; a pool of magma replaced the former charred ground, bloating and bursting as the gases sought to escape.

A hint of panic surfaced on the slime. It stretched a hand, a ball of fire appearing on it—and it sped off. The ball of fire crashed against the walls, bursting into a miniature sun. The red flames radiated a blinding light as they wrapped around walls and spheres.

The spheres fell down to the ground; the walls lost their previous splendor. Neither of them damaged heavily.

The slime stared at the nearly undamaged constructs for a second before calming down. Then, it dashed atop the walls. Beyond them, countless huge buildings spanned to the horizon, their height all equal. The empty roads gave an eerie feeling as if foreboding that anything could happen.

“The target overcame the walls.” The robotic voice sounded again. “Threat level raised to one star.”

The slime didn’t stop, leaping over the rectangular roofs of the buildings. To its surprise, the feeling that guided it to the child aimed straight to the center of the region—way out of its sight.

At that moment, twenty humanoid figures appeared on one of the roofs. Each of them wore an armored bodysuit and held a weird weapon; it resembled a mix between a pistol and a rocket launcher.

The slime felt their gaze but didn't consider them a threat. It felt mocked, instead. Each of them was but a normal mortal with no cultivation whatsoever—and they wanted to challenge it? Irked by that, the slime pounded on the foremost of them, its fingers turning into claws and slashing—

They had vanished. Their previous spot was empty as if they had never existed before. Stunned, the slime turned to see at each side, only to find numerous rockets darting toward it, a dark trail of smoke left behind each of them.

Too late to evade them, the slime enlarged its body into a massive green sphere to resist the attack. The missiles crashed on its green surface, exploding.

A thunderous burst spread from the impact, red fire enveloping the whole area. Minced pieces of the slime scattered to the near buildings, beating against their walls. The rest was reduced to ashes.

The twenty lifeforms smiled for their victory, some of them high-fiving each other. But their happiness was cut short when they noticed the regeneration speed of the slime; in but a moment, it was as good as new.

"The target possesses enhanced regeneration." The robotic voice made its appearance yet again, bringing dreadful news for the slime. "Changing tactics accordingly."

The twenty lifeforms vanished instantly from their spot. At the same time, several black rods arose from each building. Their tip resembled that of a sharp star screwdriver with two holes on the top.

This time, the slime felt a threat like no other. It morphed its back to create wings and shot to the sky, flying as fast as possible. Looking backward, it felt a mix of dread, shock, and self-mocking. It had first wondered how the buildings could survive its attack, but the sight below taught it how meaningless that attack really was.

A sea of white flames covered buildings, walls, roads, everything. The heat rose up to the sky, parching the slime slightly despite the high distance. Even so, the slime didn't surrender. It kept flying toward the child.

And the robotic voice returned again.

"The target is capable of flight. Employ the anti-aircraft guided missiles."

After the previous times, the slime began to dread hearing that voice. It sharply looked around until it spotted movement from below. The white flame had vanished, but countless missiles darted toward the slime like a cascade falling upward.

A single glance was enough—the slime felt that each missile could kill it. Panicking, it flew as high as possible and soon overtook the clouds. It aimed for outer space. When a black view appeared in front of it, the slime extended a hand, feeling as if grasping its escape.

And a white ray struck it from the side, destroying down to the last of its cells. Unbeknown to it, the child he fought against had built an automatic weapon made specifically for foes flying over a certain altitude.

In the end, the slime failed to enter even a single kilometer deep in the Orexis Kingdom.

-----

“Hmm?” Himo turned south and widened his eyes. “This feeling… is the slime dead? This quickly?” 

Just as he said those words, a man rushed in the hall and knelt down. “Your Majesty! There is news about the enemy.” He had a weird expression on its face.

“It died, right?” Himo smiled. “How many stars did it get?”

“Yes! It appears that the enemy barely classified as a one-star threat!”

Himo froze. After a second, he burst out laughing. “Barely one star! It seems that there wasn’t even the need to stop the civilians from leaving home; what calling the elite troops! Did the system lie to me, bragging that it was that strong?”

Chuckling, he returned his gaze to the man. “Good job. Now I will return, manage the kingdom in my absence as usual.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”