I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 144

A week had passed since we defeated the Snow Woman in the Spada Dungeon.

I increased the number of mid-level status recovery potions to 100 and bought 10 more bronze earth magic suits, bringing the total to 30.

“Alright! Now the victory conditions are set.”

The team consisted of 500 members, the same as last time. This time, having too many would make it hard to move.

The recovery potions include 250 HP potions and 350 MP potions. While there isn’t exactly one for everyone, it’s enough.

Additionally, I will give the 100 people accompanying me intermediate recovery potions to endure the Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust.

Thanks to Logan’s information, we know that there is no difference in the Snow Woman’s abilities across dungeons.

Including Brave and the others, we were able to defeat her with 10 people, and even without them, we could push her to the brink of death.

Also, we’ve fully prepared in training against the Snow Woman. There’s no way we can lose this time.

I head off to confront the Snow Woman.

–

“You came, Cruz.”

“Yes. This will be the end, Snow Woman.”

“Indeed. There’s nothing more to say. Shall we begin?”

The Snow Woman gave a mysterious smile and fired an Ice Bullet.

“Wait a minute!”

I blocked it with Earth Wall and halted the fight.

“What’s this…? Aren’t we settling this once and for all?”

Having been interrupted, the Snow Woman frowned in annoyance.

“Sorry. But this time, I’m not the one leading the charge. Mika, I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to me.”

I left the vanguard to Mika and the other 100, then stepped out of the boss room.

◆◆◆◆◆

“Snow Woman, allow me to be the first to crush you.

You who destroyed my father’s core will pay with your life.”

Michael’s team split into groups of five and dashed around the room.

One takes the form of a Wind Wolf to secure mobility, while the other four handle offense and defense.

They were attempting to replicate Brave’s strategy, but with a hundred fighters.

Only the brilliant strategist Michael and the disciplined commander Gabriel could pull this off.

“Ugh! You’re keeping me from locking onto a target?!”

The Snow Woman fires Ice Bullets at a squad, but aiming costs her a few moments.

She can’t unleash Ice Bullets as fiercely as before.

When she focuses on one squad, the others launch Earth Spears from all directions, breaking through her Ice Wall.

They also block the Snow Woman’s line of sight with Stone Walls, preventing her from focusing her attacks on any one group.

Since the slimes all look alike, the Snow Woman relies on their colors. However, once her view is blocked, she loses track of her target.

“Grr…! Are my Ice Bullets no longer capable of doing damage…?”

Overwhelmed by Michael’s relentless assault, the Snow Woman steadily loses her health.

–

“Well, that should be enough. Everyone, fall back.”

Michael gathered the team at the entrance and began the retreat.

“So, you are switching out after all…?”

After losing nearly a third of her HP without landing a single effective strike, the Snow Woman wore a bitter expression.

“Of course. We’re not the only ones who want to crush you.”

Speaking with restrained anger, Michael turned and walked out of the boss room.

At the same time, Gabriel entered the boss room as Michael exited

I’m sure Big bro Mika already said this, but let me say it too.

Snow Woman! Today, your life ends here! By our hands! All units! Attack!”

Using the same tactics as Michael, Gabriel continued to corner the Snow Woman.

Gabriel vented his anger by overwhelming the Snow Woman, leaving her unable to fight back.

“So it’s going to stay like this until the Ice Storm seal is lifted! Still, it’s a sound strategy!”

Even though her attacks weren’t landing, the Snow Woman wore a delighted expression.

No, truly, she was enjoying this. She never expected to be on the receiving end like this.

She couldn’t help but feel excited by Cruz and his team, who far exceeded her expectations.

Just like Michael, Gabriel continued the one-sided assault on the Snow Woman.

–

“This is as far as we go. It’s not enough… but we can’t push it. All units, retreat!”

Gabriel’s team retreated after dropping below half health.

Then, the third wave, Raphael’s unit, entered the room.

“Pathetic performance. Couldn’t land a hit, could you? Now it’s our turn, and I promise it won’t be boring.”

Unlike the previous teams, Raphael’s group formed a 20-man line, while the remaining 80 split into four-person squads.

Since Ice Storm targets larger groups, the 20 serve as decoys and focus purely on defense.

Meanwhile, the dispersed 80 launched an all-out assault.

With four-member teams, even if four groups (16 people) accidentally bunch up, Ice Storm won’t target them.

They used a formation where 20 acted as heavy infantry, and 80 executed flanking maneuvers like cavalry.

“Grr… You’ve thought this through! Even found a way around Ice Storm, too?!”

With even the Snow Woman’s Ice Storm completely countered, there was little chance she could change the tide, as the slime army continued holding the upper hand.

“Naturally. You’re not allowed to do a single thing. The only thing permitted to you is falling.”

Though hit by Ice Storm, Raphael’s role is easy: if she dedicates herself solely to defense, she just needs to keep using Heal.

As the cavalry slimes wore down the Snow Woman, she continuously restored her own health.

The Snow Woman, on the other hand, realized that it had been discovered that “Ice Storm” automatically targets the most densely grouped enemies.

She couldn’t hold back her excitement, even as anxiety rose within her.

And so, with Raphael maintaining the advantage from beginning to end, the Snow Woman’s health was reduced to 30%.

“Alright, everyone. It’s now Uriel’s turn. Farewell, Snow Woman.”

–

The Raphael squad and Uriel squad exchanged places and re-formed their battle lines.

Naturally, Uriel is using the same strategy as Raphael.

“Let’s go, everyone. With Father waiting just behind, we can’t afford to look pathetic when switching out.”

“So you intend to continue from where we left off last time?”

Uriel’s usually gentle face shifts into a cold expression.

Of course, a slime’s facial expression wouldn’t be something the Snow Woman could read…

“Of course not. I simply chose the most effective route, to overwhelm and crush you.”

In fact, not a single recovery potion has been used by Cruz and the others.

Every squad diligently shaved down her health to a set threshold, managing magic, energy, and stamina so nothing would be wasted.

And Uriel’s squad, too, faithfully fulfilled their role and reduced the Snow Woman’s HP to 10%.

“Now then, this is the end. Let’s leave the finale to Father.”

◆◆◆◆◆

“Father-sama, everything is ready.”

Uri comes out of the boss room. The operation seems to be going smoothly.

Having been set up so thoroughly, failure is not an option for us.

“Alright, it’s the final round! Let’s go!”

We advanced toward the Snow Woman.

“So you’ve finally come. And your equipment looks different from before, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right. I’ve thrown everything I have into this.”

I’m wearing iron armor enhanced with Earth Magic Armor, and 26 of the child slimes are wearing bronze armor also enhanced the same way.

As for weapons, everyone except me is carrying either a sword, spear, or staff enhanced with Earth Magic Armor.

The strategy is the same as Rafa and Uri’s, but thanks to equipment enhancements, our combat strength has increased incomparably.

In addition, a slime acting as messenger is made to show itself to Mika’s group every minute.

In the unlikely event we get frozen by Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust, and the messenger doesn’t show up, Mika’s group is set to storm in.

“I see. Then, shall we make this the end?”

“Hey, hold on a bit. Since we’ve come this far, why not fix up your tattered state? I’ll give you that much time.”

The Snow Woman’s hair was disheveled, and her clothes were in tatters.

Her clothes might be beyond fixing, but she should at least be able to tie up her hair.

“How considerate. I don’t want to die in front of you in such a shameful appearance.”

The Snow Woman tied up her hair, and her clothes, perhaps by magic, restored themselves to perfect condition.

Come to think of it, she always looked perfect before every fight began, maybe it really is some kind of magic.

“Very well, Cruz. Shall we begin then?”

“Yeah, let’s start!”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll start with a big move! Freeze! Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust!!!”

The Snow Woman, already under 10% health, launched Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust as her opening move.

But——

“Sorry, but we’ve already prepared for that.”

We entered the boss room with intermediate status recovery potions already placed inside our bodies, wary of being hit with Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust the moment we charged in.

Each slime should have a green liquid, a medium-level recovery potion, floating inside their body. Of course, I have one too.

Before the freezing effect of Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust can occur, the green liquid disappears, restoring us to perfect condition.

“You’re not surprised, huh, Snow Woman? Did you already anticipate this?”

“No, I didn’t think it would be avoided this flawlessly. But I did expect Cruz to come up with a countermeasure.

You wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.”

She’s more composed than the Snow Woman of Spada. Still, it’s nice to know she had enough faith in me not to be shaken.

“I see. But this is where I show what I’m really made of.”

Standing at the front of the 20 heavy infantry role slimes, I withstood Ice Storm while slashing at the Snow Woman with a earth-magic-enhanced iron sword.

Against the yellow-glowing magic-armored iron armor, even Ice Storm barely does any damage, letting me fight while taking hits.

“Guh…! This power is completely different from before…! You’re far stronger than the ones from earlier!”

It seems she decided that Ice Wall was completely ineffective, and so she began firing Ice Storm repeatedly.

Still, she was just one against many.

With the accumulating damage, the Snow Woman’s movements steadily slowed down.

“Haa… Haa…! So this is… the end, huh…?”

Staggering unsteadily, she fired her final Ice Storm.

I shifted into a humanoid form and took the Ice Storm head-on.

“Thank you, Snow Woman. Thanks to you, I’ve become this strong. And by consuming you, I’ll become even stronger.”

I positioned my iron sword at my waist as if to pierce, then drove my whole body forward and stabbed it into her.

The Snow Woman was now only inches from me, impaled right before my eyes.

“Hohoho… You really have grown strong. It’s hard to believe how frail you were when we first met…”

As she slowly turned into particles of light, the Snow Woman wrapped her arms around me and embraced me.

“Yeah. It was the desire to defeat you that brought me this far.”

“Is that so? That makes me happy So I truly existed… in your heart.”

The Snow Woman closed her eyes and offered her lips to me.

When I claimed her lips—――――

“I love you.”

The Snow Woman smiled gently… and then became particles of light and disappeared――――

In the place where the Snow Woman once was, a large magic stone gleaming with a cold light remained.

–

I picked up the magic stone left behind by the Snow Woman and absorbed it into my chest.

Then――――

I felt a surge of overwhelming power, along with a deep loneliness in my heart.

(Amazing. So she was this powerful?)

Of course my physical abilities improved, but above all, my magic power had increased dramatically.

Also, my Water Magic and Fire Resistance skills had suddenly jumped to Level 33.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’d gained a new ability: [Dual Casting].

● Dual Casting

Enables simultaneous use of two different magic spells.

You were seriously strong, Snow Woman…

I actually fought and defeated someone this powerful?

If I could fight the Snow Woman again, I’d probably be able to keep battling from start to finish.

–

“Congratulations, Father-sama.”

“Dad, thank you for your hard work.”

“Yeah, thank you. I was finally able to defeat her.”

I replied to what Mia and Jet said.

“I don’t know the perfect words for this, but Father’s vengeance has finally been fulfilled. Everyone will be satisfied.”

“What? You were angry at the Snow Woman?”

“Of course! She took one of your cores, Father. Everyone’s been longing for the day we’d defeat her.

Don’t you feel any anger, Father?”

“No, I don’t. That was my own failure, and more than anything, I’m grateful she made me this strong.

Besides, just look at this power.”

After ascending to the 31st floor, we returned to the 30th and unleashed Ice Storm in a Monster House, slaying a large number of water spirits in a single blow.

After that, I used Frozen Realm: Diamond Dust, and the rest of the water spirits froze and broke apart.

“This power is amazing, even though it’s not their elemental weakness.”

With this power, we should be able to move through the fire zones past 31F with ease.

“Alright, let’s regroup with everyone and head home.”

Normally, skill levels do not exceed their maximum, but as expected for a boss, it seems the usual rules don’t apply.

《Traits》

● TO Thousand Over Core

Possesses more than 1000 cores. Abilities are enhanced.

● Progenitor

Has command abilities over its kin +α

● Storage:

Can store objects inside the body ignoring their weight. Capacity depends on strength.

● Ability Improvement:

Improves basic abilities and skill abilities.

● Dual Casting

Enables simultaneous use of two different magic spells.

《Skills》

Lv**: Full Drain

Lv**: Transmutation (Transformation & Ecstasy)

Lv22: Bludgeon

LV22: Pierce

Lv22: Slash

Lv22: Blunt Resistance

Lv22: Piercing Resistance

Lv22: Slashing Resistance

Lv22: Fire magic

Lv33: Water Magic（↑11）

Lv22: Wind Magic

Lv22: Earth Magic

Lv22: Healing Magic

Lv33: Fire Resistance（↑11）

Lv22: Water resistance

Lv22: Wind Resistance

Lv22: Earth Resistance

Chapter length 5842 characters.