The next day, Amelia, Paulen, and Gracie took the slime to the laboratory the master of the Mage Tower had prepared.

The room contained all sorts of tools for magical experiments, along with scrolls inscribed with magic circles and magic stones. One glance was enough to tell that it was a mage’s laboratory.

“Welcome, Saintess Amelia, Paladin Paulen.”

“Is this where you’ll examine Quivery?”

“Indeed. Even I find this slime extraordinarily fascinating. It may well be a new species.”

“Quivery, a new species of slime...”

“First, would you hand the slime to me?”

“Of course.”

Holding the slime in both hands, Amelia passed it to Brooks Besilza.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What’s he trying to find out?

▶At best, won’t he just find out it’s a Bounce Slime?

▶Lmao, the stupid hoomans don’t even know what species Squishy is lol.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Perhaps he’ll discover just how adorable Squishy is instead?

▶You really think so?

[Squishy Queen]▶How dare a mere human presume to examine my kin! Such insolence! How revolting!

▶So what are you gonna do about it?

[Squishy Queen]▶Smartass, you rascal! Why haven’t you kicked this pest who picks a fight over everything?!

▶Lmaoooo.

▶Lol, he’s “fair” as long as you’re not insulting him~.

Brooks Besilza carried the slime over and set it in the center of the magic circle he had prepared.

‘Examine? How?’

Having understood the conversation, the slime was growing more and more curious about just how he intended to examine it.

BOING!

“Stay still. Then everything will be fine.”

‘For me, that is!’

‘Stay still!’

Watching the slime stop bouncing and remain still, Brooks Besilza confirmed once again that the slime before him truly was intelligent.

‘A pity, but it can’t be helped. Become a sacrifice for my happiness.’

Brooks Besilza moved away from the magic circle and addressed the three of them.

“Step back a little farther.”

As he spoke, he extended a hand toward the magic circle and sent mana into it, activating it.

HUMMMM!

A dome-shaped barrier of mana formed around the magic circle.

“What exactly is that barrier?”

“A safety precaution. This circle was originally designed to examine living monsters of unknown identity.”

That was a lie. Brooks Besilza had created this magic circle just yesterday, specifically for today.

“Now, let us begin the examination.”

Once the dome-shaped barrier was in place, the magic circle began to glow.

‘Wow!’

The slime gazed in wonder at the glowing magic circle on the floor.

▶Hey, ease up on the blinding light.

▶How’s this supposed to tell him anything?

▶Dunno?

The viewers, too, were watching with keen interest when it happened.

CRACK! CRACKLE!

An ominous sound, like sparking electricity, began to come from the magic circle.

“Th-this can’t be!”

Right on cue, Brooks Besilza began putting on an act of profound shock.

“What’s happening?!”

“This is impossible! Why is the magic circle going out of control...?!”

Brooks Besilza acted as though he had no idea what was happening. No one present could tell that it was a performance.

“What?!”

“Q-Quivery!”

“Stop! You mustn’t approach it now! You could get caught in it!”

“...! Your Holiness!”

At Brooks Besilza’s warning, Paulen caught Amelia by the arm, stopping her as she tried to approach the magic circle.

“Paulen! Let go! Quivery is in danger!”

“T-Tower Master! Is there anything I can do to help?!”

“Gracie! Stay where you are! Interfering could make things even worse!”

If Gracie stepped in and tried to control the flow of mana, she might discover that he had staged the whole thing. Brooks Besilza barked at her to keep her from interfering.

“E-explode?! No!”

▶Explode?

▶Wait, is Squishy in trouble?

▶Lmao, death-by-explosion ending?

[Squishy Queen]▶No! My kin! Get out of there at once!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Aaaaaaah! Squishyyyyyy!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Hey! Break that stupid barrier and get out!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Slam it! Smash that barrier and get out now!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Squishy! You’re in danger!

In the urgent situation, the monsters who regularly watched the slime’s stream—apart from the trolls—shouted warnings.

‘Break it?’

Reading the chat, the slime used Bounce Tackle to try to escape the barrier.

BOIIING!

But even its Bounce Tackle failed to break the barrier.

‘It’s useless! That barrier can easily withstand attacks from an A-rank monster!’

The slime used Bounce Tackle again and again, but the barrier did not break.

“The barrier! Please take down that barrier now!”

“If I do, everyone will be blown away along with this room! Keeping the barrier up is the only way to limit the loss to that slime!”

The ominous crackling grew louder and louder.

“No! Quivery!”

‘Good! Time to make it explode!’

As Amelia screamed, Brooks Besilza was inwardly smiling in triumph when it happened.

HUMMMMMMM!

A black rift appeared directly above the dome-shaped barrier.

“Wh-what is that?!”

A black rift had suddenly appeared in midair. The unexpected development left Brooks Besilza flustered.

A skeletal hand emerged from the black rift. The instant it appeared, the powerful aura of death pouring from it filled the room.

‘This aura...!’

An aura of death—the aura given off by the undead. And this was no ordinary undead aura. Its intensity rivaled at least that of a death knight, chilling even Paulen, a Paladin, to the bone.

“Your Holiness! Miss Gracie! Get behind me!”

Paulen stepped forward, drew a sword and shield from his Inventory, and readied himself for battle.

“Paladin Paulen! What are you...?”

“It’s an aura of death, Tower Master! At least as powerful as a death knight’s.”

“Wh-what?!”

‘Why would an undead like that suddenly appear here?!’

The situation had changed so abruptly that Brooks Besilza could only watch, unable even to detonate the magic circle.

Then the skeletal hand emerging from the black rift pointed its index finger down at the dome-shaped barrier. A straight beam of black light shot from its fingertip.

CRAAASH!

The black light shattered the dome-shaped barrier in an instant, then split into several branches and scorched the magic circle.

CRACKLE!

“Grrrgh?! Aaaaaagh!”

The magic circle was scorched with merciless violence. But the effect did more than prevent it from exploding: it also forced the mana Brooks Besilza had connected to the circle to control it to flow backward. Screaming in pain from the sudden mana backflow, he collapsed to the floor.

“T-Tower Master!”

As the black light faded from its index finger, the skeletal hand extended farther out of the black rift. It reached downward—toward the slime.

“Q-Quivery!”

“Your Holiness! You mustn’t rush forward!”

“But Quivery...!”

Paulen wanted nothing more than to rush out and secure the slime himself. But to his senses as a Paladin, the unknown being before them was far too powerful.

‘Why has it come here? Is it after Amelia?’

Especially since it radiated the aura of death unique to the undead, he could not rule out the possibility that it was targeting Amelia, the next Saintess. What if it attacked her the moment he moved toward the slime? As a Paladin, he could not allow that to happen.

‘Wow!’

Meanwhile, the slime watched the skeletal hand approach with boundless curiosity. It did not find the hand particularly threatening just because it was coming toward it. After all, to the slime, a human hand and a skeletal hand were simply things with similar shapes!

▶What’s that now?

▶No explosion ending? Boring as hell.

[Squishy Queen]▶Are you unharmed, my kin?!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Hey, Bones. Was that you?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶How am I supposed to travel from the Demon Continent to the Dersia continent?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Then who’s this other pile of bones?

▶Isn’t this where the know-it-all comes in to explain?

▶Hold on! Even I don’t know what that is.

▶Lmao, you don’t know either?

▶Oh, come on lol.

The skeletal hand continued descending until it grasped the slime in one hand. Then, flexing its fingers, it began to knead the slime, squeeze after squeeze.

“...?”

“...?”

As it kept kneading the slime for more than ten seconds, everyone in the room seemed to sprout a question mark above their head.

‘Squeeze, squeeze!’

Only the slime was pleased, enjoying being kneaded as usual.

Then it happened.

[Squishy.]

The slime heard a voice much like the system’s.

[It’s me. Smartass.]

‘Smartass!’

A monster it had only ever encountered in the chat window. The slime was startled to hear the voice identify itself as Smartass.

[Got a favor to ask. Could you turn off the stream?]

‘Turn off the stream? Why?’

At the sudden request, the slime tilted its body quizzically.

Feeling the slime’s questioning tilt through his skeletal hand, Smartass immediately continued.

[Don’t want the other viewers seeing what I’m about to do. It’s embarrassing.]

‘Embarrassing!’

Embarrassment was an emotion the slime had never experienced itself. Still, having observed human life from its time at Count Rudendion’s mansion right up to the present, it understood the concept.

Above all, this was a request from Smartass, who had helped it time and again and always treated it kindly.

‘Okay!’

The slime switched off the stream at once.

As soon as Smartass confirmed that the stream was off, he thanked the slime.

[Thanks, Squishy.]

Then Smartass emerged fully from the black rift. He was a skeleton wearing a tattered robe. Yet he possessed a powerful aura of death and mana that made the air tremble, and he floated in midair—the lich who had once been Ventus Frail, The Mage of a Thousand Spells.

Smartass released the slime. At the same time, he enveloped it in mana and gently levitated it.

‘Wow!’

With its entire body wrapped in mana and floating in the air, the slime marveled at the experience and delighted in it.

The slime settled gently onto the bones of Smartass’s upturned palm.

“It can’t be...”

A powerful aura of death and immense mana. A robed skeleton. Mana control so adept that it could levitate not only itself but another being as well. Amelia knew of a creature capable of such feats.

“A lich!”

A monster said to be the fallen end of a great mage. A creature that had not appeared even once since one had been slain hundreds of years ago—practically a legend. A lich. Though she had never seen one in person, the skeleton before her radiated a terrifying presence.

“A l-l-lich?! But liches are monsters from legends!”

At the word “lich,” Paulen gathered his mana and reinforced his entire body, ready to protect Amelia whenever the lich attacked.

Then Smartass’s jawbone moved, and a sinister voice echoed through the room.

“I sensed an unusual mana and came to investigate. I never imagined its source would be a slime. And to find a Saintess and a Paladin here together, no less.”

Smartass’s performance had begun.