Chapter 125 - Punishment (4)

Brooks Besilza was underestimating Squishy.

No, he had very little information about Squishy to begin with. Everything he knew came from the preliminary draft of the paper Gracie had given him.

A slime that could extend tentacles and use magical devices. As for the strength of its tackle, he could only estimate that from watching it ram into the barrier when he had trapped it.

He knew nothing of the slime’s other varied abilities. That it could reshape its tentacles, or extend them farther by using mana. Above all, he had no idea how much it had grown since disappearing from the Mage Tower.

So when a tentacle suddenly lengthened and grabbed his staff, Brooks Besilza could not help panicking.

“L-let go!”

He flailed his arm about, trying to shake off the tentacle gripping his staff. Whatever his magical prowess, however, his body had only an old man’s strength. He had no hope of overpowering Squishy’s tentacle, which could lift Paulen’s specially made dumbbells.

Squishy snatched away his staff.

“Ah! Give me back my staff! You damned sli—Ugh!”

HUMMMMM!

Sensing something ominous, Brooks Besilza hurriedly thrust out both hands and raised a magical barrier.

BOING!

The instant Squishy stole his staff, it launched a Bounce Jumping Tackle. The most powerful attack it could currently muster slammed into the mana barrier.

Without his staff, the magical barrier’s defenses were weaker. The Bounce Jumping Tackle, imbued with the greater strength Squishy had gained by evolving into a Mighty Slime, shattered it.

CRAAASH!

THUUUD!

“Guaaagh!”

Squishy’s tackle struck Brooks Besilza squarely in the torso.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶That’s right! Smash through anything that bastard puts up!

[Squishy Queen]▶Magnificent, my kin!

▶I was dodging all this time to build up momentum!

▶Hooman doooown!

▶Revenge accomplished, lmao.

The viewers cheered as Squishy shattered the defensive barrier and counterattacked in a single blow.

“Cough! Cough! Gah! Ugh!”

Despite taking Squishy’s tackle, Brooks Besilza was still alive, though coughing up blood. His mana barrier had absorbed most of the impact. Even so, enough force had remained to leave the elderly mage on the verge of death.

“No... Cough! I—I can’t die to a mere slime. That can’t happen! After everything... everything it took me to get this far!”

He had thought he would win easily. If he could just get the slime alone, he would dispose of it in an instant.

It was only able to keep dodging because this confined space prevented him from using powerful magic. He had thought he could wipe it out at once if he accepted a little injury himself and blasted it away.

But the result was the exact opposite.

'I won’t accept this. I can’t! I’m the master of the Mage Tower! The master of the Mage Tower! Losing to a pathetic slime like this? Me? Brooks Besilza!'

Not a legendary hero, a Paladin, a Saintess, or even the magical-device mage Gracie.

Losing to a mere slime was something that must never happen.

HUMMMMM!

Brooks Besilza gathered his mana. Forcing himself to control it despite the excruciating pain that made doing so nearly impossible, he reached toward Squishy.

He needed no complicated spell formula. Only the simplest attack formula, fueled by the sole desire to destroy his opponent.

He was about to pour all his remaining mana into Arrow, which fired a condensed mass of pure mana, when—

-How truly ugly, Brooks.

SLICE!

Brooks Besilza’s hand was severed.

“G-gah. Gaaaaaagh!”

Screaming at the pain of losing his hand, he turned toward the voice. There stood Smartass, emerging from a black space.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What? Smartass, why’d you show up?

▶Aww, it was just getting good.

[Squishy Queen]▶Smartass! Do you mean to steal my kin’s prey?!

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy’s punished him plenty, yep. Sorry, but now it’s my turn for revenge.

▶Ah, lol. Can’t say no to revenge, lmao.

▶Was that hooman Smartass’s enemy back when he was a hooman?

▶Yep, that’s right.

Originally, he had intended to keep watching. But seeing Squishy smash the mana barrier and Brooks Besilza cough up blood, nearly dead, made Smartass want to finish him off himself.

“A-a lich... Why?! You should have vanished along with the Saintess!”

-You fool, Brooks. How can you say that after seeing who told you my identity?

“Urgh! Yes, you were all lying! Covering up an evil lich instead of destroying it! They’re unfit! That elf bitch! The Saintess who was there! All of them! Evil creatures!”

-How laughable. You think nothing of harming others for your petty greed, yet you say that.

“Shut up! Shut up! What I—I do is justified! I’m not like you, clinging to your wretched life instead of dying! My beard! Give me back my beard! The position of Tower Master was mine to begin with! You tried to steal it! Gah! Turning into some evil lich!”

Brooks Besilza rambled incoherently. With blood still pouring from his severed wrist, he could not even organize his words.

The sight of him spouting nonsense as his face grew pale made even Smartass feel more pity than anger.

-Truly pathetic. Even watching you makes me pity you.

Smartass asked Squishy through the chat.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, mind if I finish him off?

Having already shattered his magical barrier and landed a blow, Squishy felt it had punished him enough.

▷Sure!

It gave permission immediately.

[Free Spirit]▶Thanks.

Smartass used mana to lift Brooks Besilza into the air.

“W-what is this?! Let me go! Let me go this instant!”

SNAP!

As he snapped his finger bones, a new black space appeared in the secret workshop.

[Free Spirit]▶I’ll go deal with him, then. Squishy, wait here a moment.

▶Do you really have to go somewhere else?

[Free Spirit]▶Not really something Squishy should see.

[Squishy Queen]▶Then take him elsewhere at once!

▶Lmaoooo.

+++

Smartass took Brooks Besilza to a quiet forest with no villages nearby.

“L-let... let me go... Let go...”

Having continually lost blood from his severed wrist, Brooks Besilza no longer had even the strength to shout. Paying him no mind, Smartass spoke.

-Brooks, I once wondered how I would kill you if I ever did. And the best method I could think of was...

HUMMMM!

A barrier formed around Brooks Besilza.

“Hah, hah, this is...”

-To finish you with an explosion, just as you tried to kill me. Oh, that barrier is there to keep your filthy body from dirtying the forest.

“Urgh! Ventus! Ventuuuus! You’re just a lich who couldn’t even die! I’m the master of the Mage Tower! How daaare you!”

HUMMMMM!

Brooks Besilza tried to resist, drawing on the last of his mana. But Smartass no longer wanted to watch the petty man struggle.

-Explosion.

BOOOOOM!

An enormous blaze erupted inside the barrier with the explosion.

+++

After Smartass disappeared with Brooks Besilza, Squishy remained alone in the secret workshop, thinking.

'Smartass is amazing! So strong!'

It was a thought it had had many times before: just how strong Smartass was.

The slime had originally meant to punish Brooks Besilza with Bounce Tackle. But he had blocked it easily. And when it tried to find another chance to attack, his continual spells left no openings.

His attacks were easy to dodge, but that did not make him easy to attack.

Having attacked Smartass’s magical barrier many times, Squishy could tell that Brooks Besilza’s mana barrier matched his in toughness.

Squishy had not been certain that even its strongest attack could break through. That was why it had waited for an opening and counterattacked the moment Brooks Besilza’s offensive briefly stopped.

Unlike Squishy, however, Smartass had cut off Brooks Besilza’s hand the instant he appeared.

So fast.

Even Squishy had only noticed his arrival after the hand was severed. That alone made it instinctively sense that Smartass was far stronger than it was.

If it had been stronger, it could have attacked and defeated its opponent immediately, without worrying about the mana barrier. But it had not been able to.

Even when it had tried to protect Gracie, its attack had been blocked because it was weak.

And so—

'I want to get stronger!'

Squishy’s desire to grow stronger burned anew.

+++

After Brooks Besilza and Squishy vanished, the party continued waiting in the same place. Def and Amelia cried out Squishy’s name in alarm, but Nellin and Paulen calmed them down.

“Hey, don’t worry. We’ve got Ventus, remember?”

“That’s right, Your Holiness. Lord Ventus is watching over Squishy, so it will be all right.”

“I-it will, won’t it?”

A few minutes later, a black space appeared before them: Smartass’s Warp.

-I’ve kept you waiting.

“Hello, everyone.”

Smartass emerged with Squishy resting on his hand, accompanied by Fresia.

“Squishy!” they cried together.

'Def! Amelia!'

BOING!

Hearing them call, Squishy hopped down from Smartass’s hand. Once Nellin had confirmed it was safe, she asked him,

“What happened to that bastard?”

-I dealt with him.

“Yeah? So you got your revenge. Where’s the body?”

-Sorry, but this is all I have. I blew up the rest.

Smartass handed over Brooks Besilza’s severed hand and the staff Squishy had stolen.

“Hah, how are we supposed to explain this?”

As Nellin pondered that, Paulen spoke up.

“We can say I cut off his hand with my sword. It happens to be his right hand, so we can say we took his staff then as well... And we should say Miss Gracie finished him off.”

“M-me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s probably best. A descendant kills the enemy who trapped her ancestor. It makes a good story.”

“Though the ancestor himself was the one who actually killed him. Hehe.”

“... Fresia. Are you mad?”

“Yes. Something this important happened, yet he handled it alone without waking me. I’m very hurt and angry.”

-F-Fresia. That was because I didn’t want to disturb your sleep...

“You needed my help to enter the Mage Tower like this anyway. If you were going to wake me, you should have done it from the start. I too... could not forgive the man who trapped you, my love.”

-Ah! S-sorry. I won’t do it again.

“Hey, you came all this way just to rub your romance in our faces? It’s late. Go home. We’ll handle the rest.”

“You’re right. We should continue this conversation once we’re back.”

-F-Fresia...

Smartass felt as though he were breaking into a cold sweat, though he could not actually sweat. And Fresia was not his only problem.

▶What’s this? Smartass is staying with that hooman?

▶So he really is a hooman-fucker now?

▶Smartass used to be a hooman, so isn’t it fine?

▶Is it?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, weren’t you companions? But you’re living together? How did that happen? Could she be your mate, Smartass?

'Urgh! They found out about this too, after all.'

The viewers had discovered he was living with Fresia—something he had been keeping hidden for as long as possible.