I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 141

(Where is this place…?)

The area is dark, resembling the sea at night, the sand on the beach is gray like moon dust, and the sea is black and unsettling.

And then, there’s an impossibly huge star floating in the sky.

It’s a stunning planet with red, blue, and green hues, like the ones that come up in an image search when you search for planets.

Then I understood. That is my core, my life.

The red star in front of me is probably the core I received from Rio.

Cracks begin to form on that star.

(I see, one of my lives is being lost… Sorry, Rio…)

The cracks on the red star spread, and it shattered into pieces, turning into light and disappearing.

As the light surrounds me, my body and consciousness are enveloped, fading into nothingness―――

–

When my consciousness returned, I found myself in the boss room, surrounded by ice.

(What’s the situation!? Is everyone safe!?)

There’s the Snow Woman before me, and she looks surprised. She must have thought I was already dead.

I muster all my strength and push the Snow Woman away with my tentacles!

“Guuuhh――――! Why!?”

Then, I throw the baby slimes out of the boss room with my tentacles.

These guys have few cores, so if they die even once, it’s really dangerous.

I’m sure Mika and the others will catch them outside.

I block the ice bolts with the earthen walls while constantly throwing slimes.

“What happened!? Father!”

Mika and the others rush into the boss room as the frozen slimes are thrown out.

“We’re retreating! Everyone’s frozen! Take us out of here!”

As expected of the human wave tactic. They quickly retrieved the slimes, and we retreated from the boss room.

–

“Father! What on earth happened!?”

Mika, who is typically the calm one, is panicking. On the other hand, I’ve managed to stay calm.

I then explained everything that happened to Mika and the others――――

“You bastards!! Why are you still alive when Father has lost his life?!”

Mika completely lost it…

“W-Wait, Mika… It was my fault. I was the one who tried to defeat her when the goal was only meant to test our abilities.”

“Haah… haah…! No, we exist so Father is able to do whatever you wish.

I’m also at fault for not being able to support you.

Everyone, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Father… This is all our fault…”

Everyone is apologizing to me, but it’s all my fault. Mika and the others had tried to stop me from the beginning. I didn’t listen, and now this is the result.

I have to seriously think about the consequences my actions have on everyone…

“Everyone, I failed today. But I learned many things. It didn’t end as horribly as it could have. Let’s consider this finished.”

Even if I apologize, everyone will probably just keep apologizing, thinking it’s their fault.

That’s why I need to put an end to this. It’s my responsibility.

“Alright, let’s head back!”

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

I arrived in the city of Spada and made my way to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Naturally, it was to gather information.

Kouga and Uri worked hard and have already reached the 30th floor. So, I should be able to get information on the Snow Woman.

After informing Natalie that we had reached the 30th floor, she took me to the Guild Master’s office.

“Cruz-kun, I’ve heard about your achievements. You’ve been quite helpful by completing so many requests.”

Logan-san congratulated me with a polite formality.

“Thank you. So, this time it’s about――――”

“You’re here about the boss, aren’t you? Let me give you the information we have.”

Oh! I guess this is the result of my consistent completion of requests, huh.

I’m so glad you shared that information with me right away.

I received information about the Snow Woman from Logan-san.

Most of it matched the information I had experienced.

She can cast two magic spells simultaneously.

When her health drops below 50%, she’ll use Ice Storm.

Since it’s an area-of-effect attack, it’s better to spread out if attacking with multiple parties.

When her health drops below 10%, she’ll use Frozen Realm Diamond Dust once.

During this, you will be frozen.

To deal with it, you should keep a mid-grade status recovery potion in your mouth.

If you have a strong earth-based magical armor, you might be able to resist it.

(What the hell… If I had just known this from the beginning, things wouldn’t have turned out like that…

What’s more, Mika’s team could have managed to defeat her after that…?)

“I see, that’s useful information.”

I try to keep my composure, though I feel like I’m going to collapse from the shock.

“Yes. Brave and his team are planning to challenge the Snow Woman next month. What do you think about teaming up?

If you team up, you should be able to defeat the Snow Woman with ease.”

Indeed, by next month, I’ll probably have obtained the earth-element magic armor.

“Is Brave really that strong?”

“Yes, all of them have enchanted their iron armor with earth magic, and I’ve heard they’ve gathered quite a bit of mid-level healing potions thanks to you. By next month, they’ll be fully prepared.”

“They should be able to defeat her on their own, but if they team up with you, they’ll do it easily.”

“In that case, may I join them?”

“Got it. I’ll let Brave know.”

If they can defeat her alone, we should just provide support.

If we can see them defeating the Snow Woman, it’s not a bad idea.

We should focus on preparing mid-level healing potions and our equipment.

Then one month later――――

● Number of own cores

1119（↓1）

[Postscript]

If proper preparations had been made, he wouldn’t have lost his life like this.

In the case of bronze armor enchanted with earth magic, damage taken is reduced by 50% and the damage dealt increases several times over.

Water-elemental monsters in regular zones would be defeated in a single strike.

Additionally, with the earth attribute enhancement, it becomes even stronger.

Furthermore, Cruz and the others’ bronze armor was not made using the [Metalworking] skill.

It’s of lower quality compared to those made by the Magic Armor Guild.

The armor of Cruz and his group is cast, while the guild’s is forged.

The strength comparison is forged > cast.

Thanks to level-ups and enhancements from devouring, they were able to fight much better but…

・Lack of elemental equipment

・Issues with the equipment itself

・Lack of information on the Snow Woman

・Fought without carrying any healing potions

With this many deficiencies, if it was another species, they would have died at the Ice Bullet or Ice Wall phase.

Even in a game, against a boss, even if you have a slightly higher level, without healing items, makeshift gear, and no knowledge of attack patterns, winning is impossible, right?

Chapter length 2651 characters.