The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank

Chapter 62: Gradual Growth and new monsters

Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Ryunakama”

That face was unmistakably mine, looking as similar as if I was looking in the mirror.

And…… Then I look below the face.

There…… It looked the same as before, a liquid. This is what made it so uncanny.

As the body of the human slime sunk to the ground, turning into a puddle, the head fell to the ground.

Human slime then grabbed the head and morphing a new head of liquid began rubbing its cheeks on it.

Can you stop playing with my face?

……Actually, isn’t this already a shadow slime’s domain?

「I see…… An interesting change.」

Marius laughed amusedly.

「Yeah, interesting……」

The human slime’s thought flowed to me.

『Head alone is no good?』is what it seems to be asking.

Though it wasn’t put into words, I managed to get such a message from the received emotions.

Well, not exactly, but……

「Well, looks like now you can talk with it.」

Looks like Marius heard that as well.

「……Yeah. What’s left is how do I contact others? Should I add some words at the end of the message?」

「Probably. The obvious choice would be adding 『Over』at the end of the message.」

「Well, I’ll try various options.」

What remains is to whom should I give clones of the slime.

I’d prefer people I can trust.

Luna, Manicia, Nin, Sinanis and Marius for sure.

Then, I probably should also give one to Feel, so we can get in touch with the militia.

Milena also might want one.

There are many adventurers coming to the blacksmith.

Even if she isn’t going to use it to contact me, having some means to contact Feel in the case of an emergency should be reassuring.

As for anyone else, well, I’ll think about it later.

「That’s all you needed, right? I’ll get back to developing new monsters. Will you help me with that?」

「Yeah, sure.」

Marius began arranging magic stones on the ground.

「What are we making today? Succubi? Or maybe Lamia?」

「No, I think I’ll leave those stones for later. And I also don’t have that much energy at the moment.」

「……Sorry, and I made you use it on the human slime.」

「What are you saying? Aren’t you my clanmate? Don’t mind it. And I’m recovering it bit by bit from the labyrinth, so don’t worry.」

「Fine then.」

The monsters should bring new adventurers.

Which should be good for the development of the town and the labyrinth.

As for the human slime, it honestly could’ve waited, as the ability wasn’t something that I needed right away.

……But if he has enough energy, then fine.

Recalling what I brought with me today, I gave the package to him.

「I bought a few parts and magic stones in town. Should be of D rank monsters.」

「Ooh, thanks. 」

Marius began working on monster creation while humming a melody under his nose.

A magic stone, parts, magic power, energy…… And combining those together, a new monster is produced.

「Shuuroro.」

A ghost-type monster cried out.

The face is a bit cute. Reaching out to it with my hand, I was able to touch it. Just as one could expect from that blanket-like form, it felt just like that to touch.

「It has substance, is it a ghost?…… It’s a D rank monster then.」

When I said that, Marius dropped his shoulders.

「Is that so? Aah, it took quite a lot of energy, but it didn’t get humanoid form……」

「……Were you hoping for something like a banshee? Is there anyone who will be happy to meet that?」

「I’m pretty sure. The world is filled with all kinds of people.」

I wonder if that’s true.

I guess I’ll ask guys in the town later.

Ghost-type monsters have various abilities at each respective rank.

To put it simply, with growth in ranks they become more incorporeal and invulnerable to everything but magic attacks.

There are some that can only be hit by skills…… Anyway, they are a huge pain.

And then, there are some with weird attacks, like those that appeared in the labyrinth of the city of adventurers.

Marius keeps trying, but putting ingredients together doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get a monster.

One failure follows another, wasting magic stones, monster parts, and energy.

At last, he grabbed the two remaining magic stones.

「Only two stones left, huh. ……I’d like to get a good one from these.」

「……Well, life isn’t that easy. But even if it’s no good this time, I will bring new materials next time.」

「I see. Thank you, Rude. Next time, when I get spare energy, I’ll make an item for you. Or we can buff what you already have.」

……So he can even do this.

This makes my imagination run wild.

Marius put a hand on a magic stone.

And just like before, a new monster was born. An orc.

The monster that is one tier higher than goblins. And it is one head taller than me.

While it had a pig face, it still had something dignified to it.

It even was already armed with an axe. Must be because of its species.

That’s probably an Axe Orc. It’s not unusual for monsters to have a weapon or item creation skills.

But well, since created items are made from the magic power, they will vanish when it runs out.

And since the performance is directly linked to the user’s ability, there is no telling how good the weapon might be. It’s not rare for such weapons to break when magic power runs low or when one cannot maintain their cool.

The axe orc seems to be pledging allegiance to Marius, as it keeps standing on one knee.

「Created monsters seem to possess a certain degree of intelligence and on top of that seem to be emotionally attached to the guardian.」

I saw axe orcs in the open, and they weren’t this docile, and what is more important, they were incredibly stupid.

While this orc acts almost like a knight. Of course, I have no idea what it’s actually thinking, but it doesn’t appear stupid at all.

「Not really. According to my knowledge, some monsters don’t get attached to the guardian.」

「But for now there seems to be no problem. And what does that change? They won’t listen to orders or something?」

「I’m not sure. But that’s interesting in its own way, no?」

「……Is it? Isn’t it easier if they are obedient and loyal?」

「No, no. Gradually gaining their loyalty and getting them attached is what is interesting.」

I don’t really get it. Marius looked quite amused, perhaps imagining such a situation?

I check the map of the labyrinth with Marius.

At the moment, the first five floors of Avancier Orchard Labyrinth are filled with goblins and slimes, and then fiedlzauruses from the 6th to 10th floor.

Here and there magic ores and herbs are installed.

They seem to respawn in set intervals, but to be honest there are too few of them. Since the number of adventurers keeps growing, the herbs will soon be a huge deficit.

「Is it possible to bring ores and herbs that are collected in this very labyrinth here?」

「No. They have to be created naturally. I already tried this.」

I see.

He already said that it is impossible with monsters, so the principle is the same.

「I see…… It’s quite rare for labyrinth monsters to drop magic stones, but sometimes it does happen. Then what?」

「I guess, since it had a magic stone, it was that much closer to having a real body. I don’t have a complete grasp on all laws of labyrinths, but it seems that the system that spawns monsters periodically goes in a bit of overdrive. The resulting monsters are slightly stronger than normal and drop magic stones. But it’s still no good. It’s different from real monsters.」

「Is it different from unique and rare monsters?」

「Yeah. What I mentioned is a phenomenon that can happen on any floor, with the monster born being just a bit stronger than usual. While unique and rare monsters are a completely different thing, an abnormality occurring on specific floors. In my labyrinth, rare and unique monsters can be found only on the 5th and 10th floor. Not sure about the 15th floor since I’m yet to place any monsters there.」

I think it will get a unique monster as well.

I guess it’s a common feature for every labyrinth.

「For now, let’s decide on spawn points for the new monsters. Though the axe orc is going to be lonely…」

「How about grouping the orc with goblins?」

「Yeah. That’s probably the best we can do. What’s left is to get a bit more ore and herbs. Now, if only I can get enough energy to create monsters from the stones that I bought, and we should be able to do a great restructuring.」

A smile was hanging on his lips.

I’m also looking forward to that moment.

It’s oddly satisfying, somewhat similar to that gradual growth of adventurers, upgrading equipment with the earned coin.

Gathering materials, gathering monster parts and slowly upgrading.

……Before I got to my current equipment, that’s pretty much how I lived.

Recalling the past, gave me a bit of a nostalgic feeling.