Chapter 423: Miniature Wonderland

"You know, despite being in a literal snow globe, it's surprisingly warm inside here…" Vee commented as we approached the gate. "And no, that's not the enchanted clothing talking."

"I guess we have the master of this place to thank for that. Not that I can feel a difference, to be honest, I'm always at the perfect temperature."

"Yes, yes. Brag more about being a slime… More importantly, this miniaturized environment is kind of bad for us; we can't exactly use our normal methods to beat it."

"I'm not opposed to going through it the intended way. Besides, we don't want to finish it before we've got you at your maximum race level, so skipping ahead would probably not benefit us in the long run."

After I said that, I tried to see if I could somehow allocate more experience to Vee. Our bond was a permanent addition outside the usual party system, and in theory, thanks to [Companion Growth] being uncapped, it was generating pure profit in terms of experience points. Usually, I'd openly admit to being greedy for experience myself, but I knew this was an important moment for Vee, and I wanted to help her reach it as soon as possible.

And I can send her my complaints for Mother and Gramps. Why is my application still pending!?

The skill itself offered almost no feedback, so I tried creating an actual party and including Vee and myself. My gold adventurer tag, along with Vee's, had various functions that we had pretty much neglected after the teleportation mishap. I eventually came right, and while I couldn't outright give her ninety percent of the experience, I could at least skew it in her favor.

"Thanks…" Vee murmured, obviously having noticed what I was doing.

"Hey, what are friends for? Of course, we still need to worry about beating this place first, and that's without a lot of our [Dimension Magic]."

"Well, it's a good thing a certain crazy slime accidentally upgraded my [Corrosion Magic]. Also, our skills seem to still work pretty fine for the most part, thanks to the system guidance."

Maybe for those of us who still have the skills… I've been taking a lot of them apart. Then there's stuff like [Mana Dominion], which outright says I get no further support from the system.

Of course, while I was internally complaining, I wasn't actually worried, as I always had my trusty slime to fall back on, and in that regard, I was stronger than ever. With [Slime Puppetry], I could easily conquer this entire frozen fortress town.

We reached the gate and stood at it, as if we expected it to open, but the massive double doors remained entirely motionless. Eventually, I gave it a good knock, but there was still no reaction.

"Maybe the mechanism and joints are all frozen," Vee suggested.

"Then I'll try warming it up while putting a bit more muscle into it."

My body began to swell as I withdrew more and more slime. My body was now a hulking mass, which I lurched against the door in the gate. I probably could've used [Acid Slime] to melt through. Still, I didn't want to accidentally piss off the labyrinth master, especially after they displayed the ability to shrink anything and everything inside this globe.

I wasn't just using raw slime power and a few borrowed monster traits; I had also activated [Blaze Slime] so that if it was frozen, it would soon be freed from its icy prison. With a bit of elbow grease and the audible sound of wood creaking and ice defrosting, the massive double doors finally budged and parted to open the way.

"You know… We probably could have climbed the wall. Or flown. Like how we got here," Vee finally said.

Having completed my task, I shrank down to a more appropriate size and gave Vee a bit of the stink eye. "Well, we could have, but I don't think the owner would've appreciated that."

"You raise a good point… I suppose we might have been attacked by the defenses or something if we tried. This was definitely the safer option… Anyway, let's go inside and see what we've been waiting for!"

Vee scuttled in through the gap, and I quickly followed after her. She had come to a halt and was now marveling at the scenery inside.

"Wow… I knew this place looked magical from when we looked at it from outside the snow globe, but seeing it up front and in person gives off a totally different vibe!" Vee said excitedly.

It looked like an idealized city, beautifully crafted and dusted with frost that made it sparkle like jewels. The streets were paved, the buildings ornate, far more than even noble districts I'd toured in the past.

However, the beautiful atmosphere we had been admiring came to a screeching halt when we saw a yeti-like monster step out of an alleyway. It seemed to immediately sense our presence and let out a guttural roar as it charged at us.

Vee was the first to react, and her figure blurred, appearing behind the monster whose head was lopped cleanly off, and an ominously glistening thread looped between her front legs.

"Whew, it feels like it's been a while since I got to see some action on the front lines. I'm glad I'm not rusty—"

Vee's commentary was cut short as we heard another batch of monstrous roars echoing in the distance. Those cries then spread, drawing more into the cacophony until it sounded as if the entire fortress town were shouting in anger together.

"I guess there's no chance of sneaking around. Sounds like we woke up the entire place."

"Oh, don't pretend like you were going to sneak around," Vee replied. "I can already imagine you wanting to go full exploding slime on these monsters. If anything, this makes our job easier. I'm sure they will be coming for us."

"You're probably right about that. Although I wonder if killing the monsters here is all we need to do? It seems a bit too simple for a labyrinth…"

"Well, I certainly hope we don't need to seal a demon away, if that's what you're suggesting. Anyway, look sharp, some more monsters are coming our way!"

Hurtling down the scenic streets was a pack of more of those yeti-like monsters, although seeing these ones, they were quite different from the ones I'd experienced in the mutation dungeon. Yes, those yetis had been mixed with other creatures to make all sorts of abominations, but these were strangely almost more grotesque in a way. If I had to describe it, it was like a werewolf gone wrong.

Well, that's a question for later. Right now, it's monster-killing time.

I waved my arm, sending out a large blob of slime that disconnected from my arm. As it flew through the air, it twisted and shaped itself, splitting into distinct portions. In almost no time at all, a pack of wolves had formed from the shapeless slime mass and were now racing down the street to intercept the yetis.

"Wow, you're really showing off now. Since when could you do that!?" Vee exclaimed in surprise.

"I told you I had [Slime Puppetry]..."

"You did, but I didn't expect this. You can now turn slime bullets into creatures!"

"Oh, trust me, I can do a lot more than that. Watch…"

The slime wolves were now in melee combat with the yetis, who were armed with either elongated claws or makeshift clubs. They tried to crush or tear the slime wolves, but with such malleable bodies, they would just reform as if instantly regenerating from their wounds.

It quickly became apparent that these yetis couldn't put up a fight against practically immortal foes, even with their savage attacks increasing in ferocity with their growing rage. At this point, Vee was still watching, although I could sense her interest dwindling. That's when I made my dramatic reveal.

The wolves each pounced on a yeti, and their forms changed, wrapping around their targets and engulfing them. When I sensed Vee's shock, I triggered the next part, and explosions echoed throughout the city, and each of the wolves blew their targets to smithereens.

"Holy crap… I mean, I expected the explosions eventually, but not like this. I thought you needed to prime it and whatnot, but you somehow turned all the wolves into bombs?"

"They were nitro slime from the beginning. I only primed them when they were ready to explode," I answered and followed up with a very brief rundown on how it worked. Needless to say, Vee was dumbfounded at the extent of my new ability.

"I swear, maybe I should ask to become a slime…" Vee muttered.

"If you think the explosions are impressive, you haven't seen what else I got from the demon labyrinth."

I threw out another blob of slime mass, this time appropriately colored black, and turned it into more wolves. I wasn't sure why I kept making wolves when I could make anything, but it felt nice to represent the first opponents in my starting locale. Anyway, I had the black wolves attack the next batch of yetis that found us, and this time, I didn't waste time playing around.

Almost instantly the wolves revealed their monstrous natures and latched on, and that was when the lifeforce draining began. The blobs of black slime began to bloat as their targets were drained, then split into more black blobs, which then turned into more wolves. Rather than being impressed, I sensed almost a chill from my spidery companion.

"Damn… That's almost like a monster plague. You can proliferate your slime wolves just like that?"

"Well, I'm sure most opponents wouldn't be dumb enough to let my slime feed off them like that, but yes. It's got caveats, of course, like it has to be a living target, no golems or undead, and they only grow in proportion to the lifeforce of the creature. For anything weaker than, say, a goblin, I'd be better off just eating the monster meat normally."

"Can't you also feed off plants, though, from the brown slime? If you combined all three of your eating methods together, you could devour an entire region."

"If I added pink slime, I could eat undead, too."

"You're just proving my point…"

"I mean, just because I can doesn't mean I will."

"I'm not saying you would… Just that it's a bit scary to think about. Like what's stopping you from doing that?"

"The same thing stopping you from teleporting into the emperor's home and secretly placing [Rift Thread] in his bathroom."

Vee paused for a moment before suddenly bursting out with laughter. "Okay, okay, I get your point. Sorry, it was a bit of an intrusive thought after seeing your slime multiply like that. A bit of my own personal call of the void, if you catch my drift."

"I thought you said that that was getting the urge to jump off a cliff…?"

"Same difference. It's about intrusive thoughts. Anyway, let's stop fooling around and focus on getting the job done."

"You're the one fooling around," I said with a bit of a snicker. "I've been having my [Sub-Cores] continue fighting throughout this conversation."

"Oh, you bloody cheating slime. Sorry that not all of us can be in ten places at once. I might have eight eyes and eight legs, but I've only got one body and brain to work with."

I was about to poke some more fun at her when I paused, as one of my pack of wolves had actually been defeated. I didn't have a clear line of sight to the area where it happened, as I was having them target enemies through alternate senses, such as touch and tremor. Still, at least I knew the area where it happened, because the slime suddenly went missing, and more of my slime converged on the area while I headed there myself.

"We might have a bit of trouble. Or at least something that can beat my slime wolves."

"That's a bit alarming… Can I get some buffs?" Vee asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Of course, and I'll do you one better than that."

I began casting various protection spells on Vee, but I also handed a [Sub-Core] over to her. If she kept this on her, then as long as she didn't exceed my maximum range, I could always offer her my full support.

Thankfully, Vee understood what I was implying and accepted it after growing a little larger so she could carry it without hindering her movement. I had suggested it in the form of some clothing, but Vee still didn't want too much slime in contact with her body unless her life depended on it. So our solution was for the slime core to dangle around her neck like a necklace, joining her adventurer tag as part of her decoration.

The core's orders were simple: protect Vee and assist her with spellcasting. If her life were in danger, it would even withdraw as much slime as possible to shield her by any means necessary. Of course, while it appeared to be just a naked core, it actually had a layer of protective slime around it. Sure, my cores are much more durable nowadays, but I wasn't ignorant enough to leave them completely undefended.

As we approached the location, I felt more slime somehow being destroyed, and this time I was in range to get a vague sense of what we were facing. It felt much thinner in terms of presence, and it had far less lifeforce than the yetis we'd fought so far.

As we turned one last corner, we came face to face with the creature and witnessed it defeating my latest pack of slime wolves. The creature also resembled the yetis, but it was thin and emaciated, with patches of its fur missing entirely and its arms fiendishly elongated.

"Is that some kind of wendigo?" Vee asked, her tone a bit off.

I had no reply to her sudden question, as I was more curious about how it had defeated my slime minions. Thankfully, it was right in the middle of a demonstration, and I received a pretty straightforward answer. When its claws tore through the slime, the gashes erupted with an intense, icy energy that froze them solid in place before they shattered into crystalline dust on the wind.

"I thought you couldn't be frozen?" Vee whispered, evidently spooked by what we just saw.

"I can't, but my wolves only had [Necrotic Slime]. I'd need to give them the full [Primordial Slime] mix to stop everything. Of course, I could just mix them with [Cryo Slime] now that I know this… thing… exists."

"Well, whatever you do, please do it quickly, I don't want to get anywhere near that!" Vee pleaded.

I nodded and stepped forward. "One dead wendigo-thing coming right up."