In the forest, Momonga and Naohara watched the scene unfold with clear interest.
Herohero walked up to the soldier. Faced with the man's terrified expression, he felt no trace of pity.
The three of them had seen everything the soldier had done earlier. For someone who took pleasure in torturing and slaughtering others, Herohero felt that sparing him from slowly dissolving in slime and instead allowing him to serve as an experimental subject was already a great honor.
The soldier, of course, had no idea what kind of "honor" he was being granted. Cold sweat poured down his face as he stared at the unknown monster before him.
He recognized the skeleton from earlier as an Undead. Judging from its appearance and the intelligence it displayed, it had to be a high-tier Undead, likely at hero-level strength.
As for the purple slime creature in front of him, he had no idea what it was. The slime constantly dripping from its body effortlessly corroded the ground. And since it stood beside those two monsters, it clearly wasn't simple either.
The soldier didn't even consider the possibility that it was a Slime. Sure, it looked like one, but what kind of Slime had such terrifying corrosive power? What kind of Slime could speak?
In this world, Slimes were the lowest-tier monsters. There was no such thing as some ancient black ooze-like race of overwhelming power.
Herohero looked at the soldier and slowly raised his arm, preparing to press it directly onto the man's face.
The soldier struggled wildly, but his body didn't respond at all. He tried to scream, only to realize he couldn't even speak. The only thing left to him was the ability to think.
Earlier, he had been thankful he could still think.
Now, he wished he had simply fainted.
To him, the slime coating that palm was death itself. It could corrode even the ground. He didn't dare imagine what would happen if it touched his face.
He prayed his comrades would notice he was missing and come looking for him.
What he didn't know was that the other soldiers were already almost completely dead. Immobilized by Naohara's magic, they had long since been slaughtered by the enraged villagers. They had gone ahead of him.
No miracle occurred.
Under the soldier's despairing gaze, the purple slime arm covered his face.
There was no pain. No suffering.
His mind simply went blank, and he lost consciousness.
His headless body fell to the ground. There was no blood. Under the powerful corrosion, it had been completely dissolved before it could even flow from his neck.
Herohero remained in that position without moving. He didn't speak, as though he were thinking about something.
Naohara and Momonga watched with anticipation. Whether their hypothesis was correct depended on this moment.
At that instant, Enri covered her sister's eyes. Her own face had gone a little pale as she watched, but she showed no other reaction and continued standing quietly to the side.
Naohara and Momonga exchanged a surprised glance. They had expected her to feel nauseated, but she handled it far better than they thought, which made them appreciate her even more.
"Haa…"
After more than ten seconds of stillness, Herohero finally reacted and let out a breath.
"Blackie, how was it?"
"What's the result, Herohero?"
Naohara stepped forward, looking at him expectantly. He was genuinely curious about the outcome of the experiment.
Momonga felt the same. After all, this concerned their plans for the future.
"It worked. But the result isn't very good."
Herohero spoke with a hint of regret. The experiment had succeeded, but the outcome left him disappointed.
"I devoured his brain and obtained his memories."
"But there's barely any useful information in there. Just a pile of disgusting stuff. That guy's level of depravity was honestly beyond expectation."
Herohero couldn't help complaining. He was genuinely repulsed by what he had seen.
Their original plan had been to use Herohero's devouring ability to gather general information about this world.
As a Slime, Herohero hadn't possessed such an ability in the game. But now that they had arrived in this world, recalling the racial description of the Ancient Black Ooze, the three of them came up with the idea.
Ancient Black Ooze: The oldest and most powerful among Slimes. Possesses terrifying corrosive abilities. Can easily corrode opponents with its slime, devour living beings, and obtain their memories and abilities.
There had been no accidents. The experiment worked.
"All right. We never expected to get any valuable intel from this guy anyway. It was just a test."
Naohara sounded unconcerned. The important thing was that the method worked. The rest didn't matter.
"Exactly. Next time we just need to find someone with a bit of status."
Momonga nodded. He was genuinely pleased. Intelligence about this world had been their biggest weakness, but now they had a solution.
"Yeah. Let's just hope the next one isn't another pervert. I don't want to go through that again."
Herohero joked.
"Haha, don't worry, Blackie."
"With the soldiers in the village all dead, it's time to look for our next target."
Naohara gazed into the distance. His dark golden dragon eyes appeared, allowing him to clearly see another squad of soldiers heading toward the village.
"Isn't that convenient? Our next target just showed up."
A cold smile formed on his face. Momonga and Herohero followed his gaze. The three exchanged looks and let out low, chilling laughs at the same time.
"Is this what it feels like to have protagonist luck?"
"Looks like we're pretty fortunate."
Momonga and Herohero were laughing, but there was something in their tone that made it unsettling.
After speaking a bit more with them, Naohara turned and walked toward Enri, who was standing obediently off to the side.
Standing in front of her, he realized he was a full three heads taller than the girl, looking down at her completely.
"So? Do you think we're cruel?"
Naohara asked, and without thinking much of it, placed his hand on her head and began gently patting it.
Momonga and Herohero exchanged speechless looks. Inwardly, they couldn't help thinking that Naohara's head-patting habit was getting worse.
At this rate, would he eventually start patting their heads too?
The image made both of them shudder. Why were they even imagining that?
"God-sama must have His reasons."
With Naohara standing so close, Enri spoke excitedly. Her face was bright red, as if steam might start rising from her at any moment.
"What if we just wanted to kill him?"
Naohara asked again with a faint smile.
"Then I still think it's right. He deserved it. Anyone who harms my family… I won't pity them."
Enri glanced at her little sister, who was hiding in her arms, and answered seriously. There was a firm, unwavering resolve in her eyes.
"Family, huh?"
At that answer, Naohara's gaze softened noticeably.
Family was the most important thing.
On that point, Naohara agreed completely. Anyone who harmed family deserved no mercy.
He was very satisfied with her response.