It was a roar that would send chills down an ordinary adventurer’s spine and put them on guard merely hearing it.

However...

▶It’s pissed lolol

▶Of course it’s pissed. It headbutted a slime and cracked its fucking skull lol

▶Wouldn’t that normally make it wary?

▶That thing doesn’t have the brains for that.

▶Finally, a fight between scrubs worth watching.

▶Scrub fights never get old. Always something new.

To the viewers, it sounded like nothing more than a roar full of bluster from a creature that didn’t know its place. It was rather like watching a Shih Tzu bark at a wolf.

Of course, the slime hearing it firsthand never let its guard down or underestimated its opponent.

'Coins!'

Its only thought was to defeat the Moon Kobold before it so it could grow stronger and see a wider variety of things.

The Moon Kobold bared its teeth and readied its sharp claws. This attack was meant to kill its opponent outright, not catch it and toy with it.

BOING!

The slime dodged the Moon Kobold’s attack just as it had inside the cave.

CRACK!

The Moon Kobold’s claws struck a tree near the spot the slime had vacated, gouging deep furrows into the thick trunk along their path. It had accomplished that through raw physical strength alone.

Though it fell far short of the viewers, the Moon Kobold was still a mutant monster dangerous enough to pose a serious threat to humans.

But even an attack like that had to land to do any good.

The slime bounced across the ground, dodging this way and that. As it evaded the Moon Kobold’s attacks, it recalled what it had learned so far: the words of Fenrir, who had taught it to hunt with Body Slam, and the words Godric’s Party used when coordinating their attacks on monsters.

Exploit an opening.

Right after a monster attacked, when it missed its target and left itself exposed—that was the moment to strike.

BOOING!

Using Bounce Tackle once more, the slime launched itself at the Moon Kobold, aiming for its chin this time.

But its opponent wasn’t so easily caught this time. The Moon Kobold quickly redirected the arm that had missed, trying to swat the rising slime away.

BANG!

A powerful explosive crack rang out.

"Grragh!?"

The Moon Kobold intended to knock the slime away and immediately follow up with another attack. Instead, when its hastily swung hand collided with Bounce Tackle, the hand was flung back with considerable force.

The recoil merely sent the slime back down to the ground, giving it an opening to attack again.

BOOING!

The instant it touched the ground, the slime unleashed another Bounce Tackle that slammed into the Moon Kobold’s abdomen.

"Graaaooogh!"

The Moon Kobold clutched its belly in agony. A blow powerful enough to crack a skull had struck it square in the abdomen. Pain twisted its guts and overwhelmed it so completely that it could scarcely breathe.

▶Now’s your chance! Go go go!

▶Lmao that’s gotta hurt like hell lol

▶It put up a better fight than the red goblin.

The viewers, too, were certain the slime would win this fight.

'Finish it!'

The slime bounced toward the Moon Kobold to finish it off.

"Grrugh! Grooh! Graaagh!"

With searing pain in its abdomen, the Moon Kobold no longer looked down on the slime. Quite the opposite: it now regarded the slime as a powerful opponent and felt intense fear.

The knowledge that it would soon lose its life made its pain-racked body tremble and convulse.

"Graaagh! Graagh!"

The Moon Kobold flailed its claws wildly, as though screaming, Stay away! Stay away!

Even the slime couldn’t anticipate the movements caused by those utterly unexpected spasms.

SLASH!

By sheer chance, the Moon Kobold’s claws injured the slime, shearing off part of its body.

'It hurts!'

It had been a long time since it had felt pain. But the pain didn’t stop the slime. It had already experienced far worse: the pain of poison, and worse still, the pain of overusing Sensing until its very soul hurt.

Compared to that suffering, this was nowhere near enough to cow the slime. It only made it angry.

'Bad!'

BOOING!

A Bounce Tackle fueled by the slime’s anger struck the Moon Kobold in the face.

THWACK!

The furious Bounce Tackle caved in the Moon Kobold’s face, just as it had the Scarlet Goblin’s. As its life ended, the arms that had been flailing in spasms dropped limply to the ground.

The moment the slime finally defeated the Moon Kobold, a message appeared.

[You have acquired 30 coins.]

The system informed it that it had defeated a monster meeting the requirements.

Thirty coins. Three times what it had earned for defeating the Scarlet Goblin.

That brought the slime’s accumulated total to 82 coins, with 77 coins currently in its possession.

'Coins! I got coins!'

BOING! BOING!

Completely forgetting the pain the Moon Kobold had inflicted at the end, the slime happily bounced in place again and again.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy~ Are you all right? Does it hurt?

As the slime bounced in delight, Madam Cat's Cradle—Arachne—asked after it with concern.

▷I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt!

It wasn’t lying. The Moon Kobold’s claws had sheared off part of its body, but the blow hadn’t reached its core. The missing portion had already regenerated, leaving not even a trace.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, did you get coins?

▷I did! 30 coins!

▶Oh lol Three times the red goblin.

[Squishy Queen]▶Well done, my kin! Keep growing with that same vigor!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Gahahaha! This is all thanks to my excellent teaching!

▶Then why can’t you raise your own kids right?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Shut up!!!!

Having defeated its intended target and earned coins to boot, the slime was in an even better mood. Now there was only one thing left to do.

▶Finally, a fresh mukbang. Been a while.

As the victor, it simply had to eat its prey and return.

+++

"Haaaah~."

When morning came, Def sat up and let out a great yawn. Rubbing his eyes, he looked beside him. As always, the slime was sleeping there on the bedsheet.

He gently stroked it.

"Bouncy, time to get up."

The slime awoke with a faint shiver.

BOING! BOING!

Then it promptly climbed onto Def’s head.

"Are you in a good mood today, Bouncy?"

Def asked because its leap onto his head seemed more lively than usual.

BOING!

"You are, huh? Hehe. Maybe something good will happen today."

With the slime on his head, Def finished breakfast with the others and headed to the guild.

"Hehe! Orcs again today, Boss?"

"Yeah."

"Hmph, there aren’t any other D-rank requests we can handle anyway."

"Sometimes I wanna do a different request, you know!"

"I know how you feel, Sgol. But for other monsters, we’d have to take a carriage a long way out. ... Hm?"

The moment Godric entered the guild, he noticed the unsettled atmosphere. Tension hung among the people inside.

"Is that really true?"

"I heard it last night too. That was one hell of a roar."

"But wouldn’t it just be a kobold or a wolf?"

"Would everyone be acting like this over just that?"

"The old man at my inn kept shouting that a Moon Kobold had appeared."

"A Moon Kobold? What’s that?"

"A kobold mutant?"

"Let’s wait for the guild’s announcement. What good will standing here talking about it do?"

Deciding he wouldn’t learn the details merely by listening, Godric spoke to Sgol.

"Sgol, go ask around."

"Yes, Boss!"

A little while later, Sgol returned after talking to people and summarized what he had learned for Godric.

"A monster’s roar could be heard all the way in the city last night! Apparently, they think it was an incredibly rare mutant called a Moon Kobold!"

"That’s why everyone’s so worked up?"

'Just over a monster’s roar?'

"Is this Moon Kobold really strong?"

"No, from what I heard, it’s about C-rank! But once it grows, it gets incredibly strong—enough to reach A-rank!"

'A-rank?'

A-rank was a designation given to monsters that truly deserved to be called monstrosities.

S-rank was reserved for monsters beyond the normal scale, living natural disasters on the level of the black dragon known as the calamity. Below that was A-rank: not quite a natural disaster, but still requiring considerable fighting strength to defeat. It was a rank bestowed on monsters among monsters, creatures even veteran adventurers wouldn’t dream of taking down alone.

'No wonder they’re making a fuss.'

Just then, the receptionist spoke loudly enough to be heard throughout the guild.

"Everyone! Please listen! The guild has just reached its assessment!"

At the receptionist’s voice, the restless guild fell silent at once, and the adventurers listened closely to what followed.

"The roar heard last night has been confirmed as that of a Moon Kobold! Furthermore, we believe that the Moon Kobold is currently very close to its ‘transformation’!"

"What?"

"Is that true?"

Tension spread through the guild at the receptionist’s words.

The guild’s reasons for judging that the Moon Kobold was close to transformation—in other words, evolution—were as follows.

According to old records, Moon Kobolds were normally difficult to find. They were quite timid creatures and seldom ventured beyond their own territory. If one began actively going outside, that was a sign of impending transformation.

Once a Moon Kobold grew enough to transform, its temperament also became vicious, and it attacked everything around it. Since there had been no further news after the roar, the guild concluded that it hadn’t yet reached that stage.

Thus, the guild decided to post a Moon Kobold extermination request with an extraordinary reward. They estimated where the roar had come from and designated that area as the likely location of the target.

Considering the potential danger, the reward was comparable to that for exterminating an A-rank monster. There was also no need to accept the request individually at the reception desk. Whoever killed it first would claim the reward.

"Everyone! We’re counting on you!"

As soon as the receptionist finished speaking, most of the adventurers left the guild at once. The tension and anxiety over the Moon Kobold’s discovery vanished. With gold coins in their eyes, they raced off to hunt it.

Of course they did—it was a sweet deal that paid an A-rank reward for killing a C-rank monster!

"B-Boss! Let’s hurry too!"

Watching the adventurers rush out, Sgol urged Godric onward.

"Hurry where?"

"To kill that Moon Kobold or whatever it’s called, of course!"

"You think we can do that, Sgol? We’re still D-rank. A C-rank monster would be hard for us to kill."

"But the money..."

"Heh, Sgol, you’re an idiot."

"What! Hawein, what did you say!"

"Didn’t you see the people leaving? There was even a B-rank adventurer party. You think we can compete with them?"

The B-rank party was one of the city’s veteran parties. Its strength couldn’t even be compared to Godric’s Party, who were only now taking down orcs through teamwork.

"Tch."

"We’re not getting greedy. We’re going to hunt orcs. Understood?"

"Yes, Boss..."

At Godric’s words, Sgol nodded with his lips stuck out in a pout.

"A Moon Kobold... S-scary, Bouncy."

'Scary? Why?'

The slime tilted its body in puzzlement, unable to understand why they were afraid of a monster it had already defeated.