While Godric’s Party stared at the lesser troll in shock, the slime’s attention was on the chat.

▶It’s a knockoff troll! A knockoff!

▶LOL, aw, poor thing. Don’t call it a knockoff, hahaha.

▶It’s not a knockoff troll! It’s just one stage of evolution!

▶But it’s weaker, right? How’s it weaker than before it evolved? LOL.

The chat was revealing a truth humans had yet to discover: lesser trolls were an evolved form of trolls.

Trolls were naturally large and possessed regenerative abilities, but their bulk also made them sluggish. Some trolls, wishing to move faster and catch their prey, evolved smaller bodies and weaker regeneration in exchange for greater speed.

When a lesser troll evolved once more, its appearance changed according to its environment. It grew larger than before without losing any speed.

Those living in forests became forest trolls. Those living in snowfields became snowfield trolls. Those living in deserts evolved into desert trolls, gaining the intelligence needed to use the system.

In other words, lesser trolls were both an evolved form of trolls and an intermediate stage. That was why trolls who had evolved far enough to use the system couldn’t stand seeing lesser trolls mocked.

It was practically an insult to their own past selves!

▶That stage is preparation for a leap forward! Huh? Don’t you know you have to crouch before you can soar higher?

▶Since when do trolls soar? LOL.

▶Is this the arrival of the legendary sky troll?

▶Hahahaha, how do you become a sky troll? Jump every day?

The slime watched the chat, as entertaining as ever, while carefully approaching the lesser troll at Godric’s Party’s pace. Once they were close enough...

“Bouncy, we’re counting on you.”

BOING!

Taking Def’s words as its cue, the slime picked up speed and charged at the lesser troll.

BOING! BOING!

It closed the distance with two powerful jumps.

“Grr?”

As the lesser troll noticed the slime and turned its head...

BOING!

The slime slammed into its belly with Bounce Tackle.

THWACK!

“Grraaagh!?”

The sudden impact made the troll’s eyes widen, and it staggered back several steps.

Though smaller than an ordinary troll, the lesser troll was larger and heavier than any monster the slime had fought before. Bounce Tackle couldn’t send it flying or knock it down in a single blow, but it was enough to focus its attention on the slime.

“GRRRAAAH!”

Enraged, the lesser troll stamped its feet down, trying to crush the slime that had attacked it.

THUD! THUD!

BOING! BOING!

The slime bounced nimbly out of the way.

“Good! Let’s move in!”

At Godric’s signal, Hawein, Sgol, and Def rushed forward and surrounded the lesser troll.

Godric and Hawein attacked with longswords, Sgol with a sword shortened to suit his small stature, and Def with a two-handed axe. Each watched for the right moment to swing. Their coordinated assault was possible only because of the slime’s well-timed support.

Wounded by the relentless attacks, the lesser troll tried to strike back at Godric and his companions, but...

BOING!

Every time, the slime intervened with an impact too powerful to ignore, drawing its attention.

Cuts to its skin that it could regenerate, or a slime whose blows were powerful enough to twist its insides—it didn’t need to think about which to deal with first. Yet the slime deftly dodged its attacks every time.

This continued for more than five minutes.

“Hah, hah... Why is this thing so tough?”

“Whew... Lesser or not, a troll’s still a troll.”

“No matter how much we hurt it, it r-regenerates, Boss!”

“Keep at it! Thanks to Bouncy, none of us has been hurt yet!”

They had attacked the lesser troll for five minutes, swinging their swords without pause. But merely cutting its skin couldn’t overcome its regeneration. Even the internal injuries inflicted by the slime’s intermittent Bounce Tackles partially healed while Godric’s Party continued attacking.

The lesser troll stubbornly endured, refusing to fall. Meanwhile, the members of Godric’s Party, fighting alongside the slime, were running out of stamina.

‘It won’t fall down!’

Unlike the monsters it had fought before, the lesser troll was still standing. The slime, too, thought it was tenacious.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Oh, LOL. That knockoff troll’s holding up pretty well, hahaha.

▶Squishy’s attacks, sure, but how are those humans supposed to hurt it? LOL.

▶Isn’t it getting time to recover while the humans attack?

[Free Spirit]▶Doesn’t seem like it. The knockoff troll’s moving a little slower than at the start, too.

▶E-enough... It’s taken enough already...!

▶Hey! It’s not that bad!

Just as the viewers suspected, the lesser troll was gradually tiring. Its wounds were healing, but regeneration consumed its mana and stamina.

If it had faced either the slime or Godric’s Party alone, it would have had no trouble. However, the slime’s Bounce Tackle hit harder than expected. Combined with the many small wounds inflicted by Godric’s Party, it forced the troll to spend far more mana and stamina on regeneration than usual.

The lesser troll therefore tried switching targets to Godric’s Party, who looked easier to handle. Every attempt failed.

Even when it raised an arm to attack Def...

BOING!

THWACK!

The slime read its intent and launched a Bounce Tackle into its side—a powerful blow that cracked its ribs.

Whenever it focused on Godric’s Party, the slime attacked without missing the opening. In the end, the lesser troll had no choice but to try to kill the slime first.

Another five minutes passed.

“Grrh...! Grrk...!”

The blue lesser troll panted harshly, its body spattered red with its own blood. Its constant regeneration was also gradually losing effectiveness.

“Hah, hah... Good! It’s looking tired, too!”

“K-keep going!”

“Damn it! I’m never taking another troll extermination request!”

“Huff! Agreed.”

Godric’s Party was also breathing hard after the prolonged battle. The slime kept drawing the troll’s attention so they wouldn’t be attacked, but being close enough to take a hit still put them under considerable strain. That tension and pressure drained their stamina as well.

The slime was the only one there with much stamina left.

“Careful, everyone. We can’t let that thing fall over the edge.”

After ten minutes of fighting on the move, the lesser troll and Godric’s Party had reached the vicinity of a cliff—the one they had passed while talking on their way there. A powerful current flowed below it.

Godric had warned them because if the lesser troll fell, they would lose their proof of the kill.

“Let’s be careful, Bouncy!”

‘Okay!’

At Def’s words, the slime swiftly bounced over to take up a position on the cliff side instead.

“Grr...”

Meanwhile, the lesser troll keenly felt the danger it was in. If it attacked Godric and his companions in front of it, the slime would strike from behind. The battle had already left both its stamina and mana nearly depleted. It knew that at this rate, it would die.

And so...

“GRRRAAAAAH!!!”

“Ugh!”

“What the hell?”

“M-my ears!”

The lesser troll suddenly looked up at the sky, bellowed, and charged at Godric and his companions. The unexpected sonic attack disrupted their concentration, leaving them unable to react immediately.

BOING!

The slime hurriedly used Bounce Tackle on the lesser troll’s back.

THWACK!

“Grrrgh!”

CRACK!

Its vertebrae shifted out of alignment with an audible crack.

THUD!

The charging lesser troll lost its footing and collapsed.

But its attack wasn’t over yet.

WHOOSH!

From where it lay, the lesser troll reached out and grabbed Hawein’s leg. It happened too suddenly for him to dodge. He had stepped back when the troll fell, but he hadn’t expected it to reach out in a desperate struggle.

Still on the ground, the lesser troll gripped Hawein’s foot and swung its arm in a wide arc.

“Waaaaah!?”

“Hawein!”

With his leg trapped and no way to resist the troll’s strength, Hawein was flung sideways.

“Hey! Wai—Aagh!”

Sgol, standing in Hawein’s path, was caught up in it too. The two collided and tumbled across the ground.

‘Hawein! Sgol!’

Seeing the two rolling on the ground after the lesser troll’s attack made the slime angry.

‘You’re bad!’

BOING! BOING!

The slime quickly bounced across the lesser troll’s back and head.

BOING!

Then it delivered a full-strength Bounce Tackle to the troll’s face.

CRACK!

Its face caved in, and its neck broke with an audible crack.

Had it suffered that injury at the start, its regeneration could have healed it. But with its mana and stamina depleted by the relentless attacks, it no longer had the strength to regenerate this wound.

The lesser troll let its crushed head drop and went completely limp.

“Hey! Hawein! Sgol! Are you all right?”

“Hawein! Sgol!”

After confirming that the lesser troll had stopped breathing, Godric and Def hurried over to them.

“Ugh! Fucking troll bastard!”

“I let my guard down at the end. Heh. I still have a long way to go.”

“What are you trying to look cool for? You sent me flying, too!”

“That’s your fault for not dodging.”

“You little...!”

Seeing them bicker, Godric relaxed.

“Looks like you’re not badly hurt.”

“No. That’s not entirely true, Boss.”

Hawein shook his head and pointed at the leg the troll had grabbed.

“It’s swollen. Hurts.”

Just above Hawein’s ankle, where the lesser troll had gripped him, a dark bruise bore the imprint of its hand. Def looked at the swollen leg and asked anxiously,

“H-Hawein, are you okay?”

“Fortunately, I don’t think the bone’s broken. Hehe. Looks like the lesser troll had run out of strength, too.”

BOING! BOING!

The slime, which had remained beside the fallen lesser troll, came over to Hawein and Sgol as well.

‘Hawein! You’re hurt!’

Through its life at the mansion and its time with Godric’s Party, the slime had learned about injuries from a human perspective. It was worried, but there was nothing it could do for the injured Hawein.

Dejected, it tilted its body forward.

Hawein grinned at the slime and reached out to stroke it.

“Huff... It only turned out this bad because you wore the lesser troll down so much. Thanks, Bouncy.”

The slime quivered. It was sad that Hawein was hurt, but happy to be praised.

A little later, they decided that the slime would stay with Hawein, whose leg was injured. Godric, Sgol, and Def approached the fallen lesser troll to cut off a trophy as proof of its extermination.

Just then...

“GRRRAAAAAH!”

A roar filled with rage rang out.