Chapter 211: The 28th Floor, Myriad Forest, The Lamia Tribe, and the Indian Ban?
....
"The possibility exists, but it's likely real. Just think about the details he posted on the forum," Sora reminded him.
Seito recalled the forum post. The player claimed to have spotted the 28th-floor Labyrinth Boss. It was described as an entirely black, solid-state Slime that could shift into a fluid form at will, allowing it to hide anywhere on the 28th floor with ease. After all, once a Slime becomes liquid and dives into the bottom of a lake, finding it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
There was another peculiar trait. The player mentioned that when he struck the Boss with his longsword, it didn't lose a single point of HP.
Seito surmised that the Boss either had an absurdly high defense stat or was simply immune to physical damage. He bet on the latter. Being a Slime capable of liquefying meant standard physical strikes would likely just pass right through it.
However, for a player like him who wielded the power of Space, such gimmicks were of no concern.
With that thought, Seito glanced at the gathered Harbingers. "Let's all go check it out together."
He didn't want to overthink it. Once they found the Boss, they'd just delete it from existence. The Harbingers nodded in unison, and the group initiated the teleport.
God Domain, 28th Floor: The Myriad Forest.
This was a continent entirely swallowed by lush greenery. There were no vast oceans on this floor, but it was dotted with countless lakes of varying sizes.
The Safe Zone here was the territory of the Lamia Tribe. These beings had the upper bodies of beautiful women and the lower bodies of serpents—and the tribe was exclusively female. Players who were "enthusiasts" of monster girls often frequented this floor to flirt.
The Lamias were generally friendly toward humans. However, there was one group of players whom the Lamia Queen had personally banned from ever setting foot on the 28th floor: the players from India.
Legend had it that an Indian player had once caught a dog-like monster in the wild and... well, "done the deed" with it. A patrolling Lamia had witnessed the act and reported it to the Queen in horror.
Seeking context, the Lamia Queen had consulted a Eastern Server player who was on good terms with the tribe. That player had offered a simple scale of depravity:
"There are five levels of perversion: Mild, Moderate, Severe, Super-Severe, and Indian."
Upon hearing this, the Lamia Queen decisively expelled all Indian players from the 28th floor! Once the news spread, other floors ruled by female NPCs followed suit, banning them from their domains as well. One could only imagine just how legendary their reputation for "eccentricity" had become.
Back to Seito's group.
The appearance of an Emperor accompanied by eleven Harbingers in the Safe Zone naturally drew the attention of every player in the vicinity.
"Look! Isn't that the Harbingers and God Seito?"
"Looks like Seito got the Boss intel too. He's here for the hunt."
"I wonder if they'll actually find it. I heard this Boss is incredibly slippery."
As the players whispered and gathered, a Lamia exuding an air of nobility and looking to be around sixteen years old slithered forward, stopping in front of Seito.
"Emperor Sei, welcome to the Myriad Forest."
[Liu Meier (Lamia Princess)]
[Level: 90]
Seeing her information, Seito replied politely, "Greetings, Princess Meier."
"Hehe," Meier giggled. "Emperor Sei, are you really here to subjugate the Boss, the Hidden Water Slime, like the other adventurers are saying?"
"You know of it?" Seito asked.
"Mhm. The Hidden Water Slime is the most cunning monster on the 28th floor. Our entire tribe is well aware of its existence," Meier explained.
Seito fell into thought. The Princess had identified the Boss by name, and it perfectly matched the "Slime" description from the forum. This confirmed the player hadn't been lying.
Seito looked at the Princess. "Princess, we'll be taking our leave then."
"Alright. Be sure to visit us as guests once the Boss is defeated," Meier replied with a sweet smile.
"We will." Seito nodded and led the Harbingers out.
They exited the Safe Zone and headed toward the reported coordinates. Ten minutes later, thanks to Seito's Spatial Shift, they arrived at the Verdurous Heights—the exact area where the Boss had been sighted.
"Seito-kun, how do you plan on finding it?" Maple looked at the sprawling forest and felt a headache coming on. Searching this place inch by inch would take forever.
"Everyone, back up a bit. I'm going to flush it out!"
Seito already had a plan. The Boss was too crafty for a conventional search, so he decided to blanket the entire Verdurous Heights with a Spatial Storm to force it into the open!
Covering a single sub-region like this was child's play for him. The moment the Boss showed itself, his Spatial Perception would lock onto its signature, and he would teleport in for an instant kill.
The others nodded and moved back. Those who could fly took to the air, while Maple summoned her pet turtle, Syrup.
"Syrup~!"
The non-flying Fatui hopped onto Syrup's back and retreated to a safe distance. Once they were clear, Seito kicked off the ground and shot into the sky.
Whoosh—!
The wind howled, whipping Seito's hair and his divine raiment. A violet light began to pulse within his eyes.
"Spatial Storm!!"
Voom!
Centering on Seito, a colossal tempest of spatial energy erupted! Soil and trees across the entire Verdurous Heights were uprooted in an instant. Countless leaves swirled into the air as the ground itself was torn asunder.
In the blink of an eye, a massive crater nearly a hundred meters deep was carved into the earth!
Zip!
Right at that moment, a streak of black fluid burst from the churning mud, darting toward the distance with desperate speed.
"Hmph! You think you can escape?"
....
Thank you for reading.